Screen Calculator: Monitor, Mobile & Notebook PPI and Screen Size Spreadsheet

[brahman]

Hi,

I just whipped up a spreadsheet to calculate PPI, dimensions, and size of a screen.

I uploaded it to my dropbox here, if you would like to use it:
https://www.dropbox....Calculator.xlsx?dl=1

Purpose is to figure out and compare the pixel densities of different monitors, notebooks, mobile phones etc and also to compare their sizes through the area and side calculations.

So now you can easily calculate how much more viewing area you have when you upgrade your mobile f.e. from a 4 inch to a 5 inch screen.

I would also like to calculate the aspect ratios, but I don't know how I can calculate the aspect ratio from the resolution.

F.e. resolution is 1920 x 1200 or 800 x 600 and how can I calculate the aspect ratio from that (obviously 4:3 on the 800 x 600 screen).

Help would be appreciated.

Thanks and enjoy!

[brahman]

Update to version 1.2:

Many sample screen sizes included
Calculation of Aspect Ratio
Improved formatting
Short explanations

Really great to compare screens with different sizes and aspect ratios.

F.e. I was really surprised about the screen area of the 800x600 Nook Simple Touch with 4 : 3 aspect ratio.

[tomos]

Really great to compare screens with different sizes and aspect ratios.

-brahman (February 06, 2015, 02:03 PM)

this is really nice

[cranioscopical]

Thanks, brahman!

Thoughtful as always   

I was going to try to help, and had removed my socks in preparation, when I saw your second post.
 

[brahman]

Thank you for your kind words.

[brahman]

OK, you guys inspired me to get a version 2 out:

Version 2 has calculated Aspect Ratios, an additional Ratio column (f.e. 1,33:1, which is equivalent to 4:3) so that one can easily compare different Aspect Ratios (1:1 is square, 2:1 has one side twice as long as the other).

Furthermore I added different tabs for Smartphones, iPhones (with all iPhones), iPads (with all iPads), Tablets & E Readers (with almost all Kindles, Nooks, and some other tablets), Monitors (with many sample sizes and resolutions), and Ratios & Resolutions (with many different display resolution standards from VGA up to 4K).

There are also improvements in formating, error checking, and explanations when mouse over column headers.

I hope you will find it useful.

Format has changed to Excel 2007 and you will find the spreadsheet now here:

https://www.dropbox....Calculator.xlsx?dl=1

Enjoy

[cranioscopical]

Thanks again, obviously you put a lot of work into that.

[I had a minor error when opening the file in Excel 2007. It was corrected thus, Repaired Records: String properties from /xl/sharedStrings.xml part (Strings)]
 

[brahman]

I made it in Libre Office and Libre as well as Softmaker had no complaints.

But that doesn't mean anything, of course...

After all it is Excel's own format, so it has a right to complain .

Glad you liked it. Every few years I need to make a decent spreadsheet, otherwise my skills are getting too rusty.

[tomos]

This is very helpful -
looking at the Acer Aspire Switch 10 and trying to figure out the options:



thanks brahman

[brahman]

Hi Tomos -

my pleasure

Please note that 1,778 is 16 : 9, so 1,779 : 1 is almost 16 : 9. That means this model will be slightly longer yet slimmer than the other two.

This may be useful when you want to read in landscape mode.

[tomos]

^yep, that's what I was trying to figure out (I was suprised they had the same model with different ratios).
But also the ppi - not sure if higher is necessarily better if I want to use the desktop on that size screen

[brahman]

If you go to the monitor section of the Screen Calculator you'll see that most monitors have around 90 ppi, a Full HD 1920 x 1080 24 inch - which is todays most commonly used external viewing device - has 92 ppi.

Your lower two devices have around 150 and the top one 224 ppi.

In order to make fonts and graphic elements visible, the manufacturers usually scale up the dpi by 120 or 130% in these small devices.

I have had an 8 inch Onda and currently use a 10.1 inch Pipo Max M9.

I always wish the screen would be bigger to reduce eye strain and therefore I am now eyeing an 11.6 inch Onda Vii6W dual boot (Android/Win8.1) tablet with keyboard.

(The link above is for a reputable dealer)

But really I would wish for a 13 inch tablet . I feel no pressure and can wait for a few months. These new dual boot puppies are quite hot right now and will be a big game changer, I think.

I think Windows will gain ground in the tablet and phone market big times. Maybe we'll get a deja vu of the netbook development: The first ones came out with a specially adapted Linux distro, then Windows seriously started entering the game and within a short time you could barely even find the Linux ones. We'll see...

People report good things about the Win 8.1 on tablets though, and I think Win 10 will clinch the deal and Android's dominance will abate a bit. MS gives out the Win 8.1 Bing for tablets version almost free, so there is no more cost advantage for Android, but you'll get a task centered highly usable Win operating system with nearly seamless usability from desktop PC to notebook to tablet to phone.

I think it may work out for MS that way ... (and I am writing this even though I am a big fan of Android)

Now the small investment with which one can obtain Android apps could work against it: My 100+ Dollar investment in apps versus the 10,000+ $ investment in software in the last thirty years won't be too much of an incentive to stay with Android (but it would be a strong discouragement to change to anything Apple).

[tomos]

Yeah, I'm worried about the size too - but cant find anything bigger, and as good, in the same price range here... Mostly they're either cheaper with a crappy screen, or much more expensive with much higher specs and (maybe) a good screen.
Might be best to wait another while like you say, and see what comes on the market.

I always wish the screen would be bigger to reduce eye strain and therefore I am now eyeing an 11.6 inch Onda Vii6W dual boot (Android/Win8.1) tablet with keyboard.

-brahman (March 02, 2015, 10:37 PM)

damn, ye get such good offers over there :-(
- I cant find any products by Onda in europe ... wait, I tell a lie:
it is available on ebay - shipped from NZ Oz though...
Maybe I will wait

[brahman]

The store above selling the Onda ships worldwide for that price directly from China .

That's why I noted, that this is a "reputable" shop, where people have had good experiences, so you have some assurance that you can buy from it (hint: with 45 days Paypal buyers assurance).

But if you think that you want some services not available from an out of country shop, then obviously you must look elsewhere.

The keyboard is extra and not yet available and probably will not be as good as the Acer keyboard IMHO.

[tomos]

^ah okay, thanks Brahman. (I just saw the dollar sign and thought 'USA')

[brahman]

And BTW I am not from the North American continent LOL

[tomos]

had a very quick look at netbooks in a shop today.

And yeah,
10.1" is way too small for windows desktop :-)
13.3" netbooks were the first size that seemed really usable to me for desktop.
14.6" was the next size up that they had in stock - it's a nice size, but not very portable.

With netbooks @13.3" and smaller, the 16:9 ratio kills it for me - it's just soooo narrow heightwise
Many of the builds have space for a 16:10 screen, space that was covered with glass in some models - dead space unfortunately e.g.



(review link in image - I'm not sure why they think it's reasonable @ €500, but that's unfortunately the state of affairs here - but that's veering very off-topic...)

[brahman]

I know, that's why I have a Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 with a 14 in screen. It was a great deal and it has been very good.

14 inch screensize I found optimal for travelling - you can even watch a movie and won't strain your eyes too much when reading or working. But when I am somewhere for a few months I always buy a monitor and then use the Thinkpad as a desktop with the monitor plugged into the HDMI port.

[brahman]

Here

http://www.idealo.co...ist.sortKey=minPrice

you'll find a nice selection of 14 inch notebooks...