screen resolution setting in preferences question

AH
Posted By
Andre_H.
Nov 1, 2008
Views
2071
Replies
10
Status
Closed
I’m using a new Mackbook Pro 15.4 (released Oct 2008) and need help with the default screen resolution setting in the preferences. It is set at 72 pixels/inch as the default. Do I want to leave it as such or is there an ideal setting for the 15.4" Macbook Pro?

Thanks
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preference question resolution screen settings

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Welles_Goodrich
Nov 1, 2008
It doesn’t make any difference at all. If you primarily print you may wish to change that setting to 300 or whatever your normal print ppi would be but if you save for web the only thing that counts is actual pixel size. Resolution is meaningless.
B
Buko
Nov 1, 2008
It doesn’t make any difference at all. If you primarily print you may wish to change that setting to 300 or whatever your normal print ppi would be.

No so.

This setting needs to be set to how many PPI the monitor res is so when you do a show actual print size Photoshop knows how big to display the image. 72ppi is a throwback to when most monitors actually displayed 72ppi. now most monitors are 96ppi and some of the newer ones are 120ppi. so you need to find out what is the screen resolution of the monitor and put that number in.
DK
Doug_Katz
Nov 1, 2008
Is there a place (i.e., System Profiler) that tells us what our monitor ppi is? Or must we consult the user guide? Or on line somewhere?

Thanks.
R
Ram
Nov 1, 2008
Doug,

Both of my monitors are 86.95652173913 ppi at 1280×1024. The number changes at other resolutions, obviously.

Determining that factor is essential if you want Photoshop’s "Print Size" to give you a WYSIWYG representation on your screen.

Enter that figure in Photoshop > Preferences > Units and Rulers > New Document Preset Resolution: > Screen Resolution.

= = =

How to calculate it, courtesy of the late, lamented John Slate:

John Slate – 3:08pm Jul 15, 05 PST (#7 of 10)

If you want to get exact about displaying print size:

Open a new 500 pixel x 500 pixel file in Photoshop, and set it to 100% (view actual pixels) if it does not come up that way.

Get out a ruler and measure the image on screen in inches.

Divide 500 by the measurement.

This is the resolution of your screen.

Move the decimal point 2 places to the right in that number, and write it down somewhere. Call it your monitor factor.

For InDesign or Illustrator viewing actual size assumes a monitor of 72ppi, so to fine tune actual size in those apps, divide your monitor factor by 72 to get the % view you need for those apps to see same size.

For Photoshop, divide your monitor factor by the resolution (in ppi) of whatever image you are working on to determine the right zoom percentage for that image.
AH
Andre_H.
Nov 2, 2008
Thanks for the reply. This answer is what I believe I’m looking for. It seems to dovetail perfectly with what I remember hearing on a Lynda.com tutorial some time ago.
AH
Andre_H.
Nov 2, 2008
I just found these links indicating that the 15.4" Macbook Pro at 1400×900 has a ppi of 110.27 or 110.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Device_PPI>

<http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html>
DK
Doug_Katz
Nov 2, 2008
Thanks, Ramón. Appreciated.
B
Buko
Nov 2, 2008
My Apple Cinema HD 23 is about 98
P
Phosphor
Nov 2, 2008
Thanks, André for those links.

They, in turn, led me to the following links. Both offer some good info (tough to find all gathered in one place), and are good jumping off points for further research. Problem is, they’re both about 3½years old

It’d be nice to find similar pages that are more current; Gotta go hunting, I guess:

<http://forum.weblamp.net/index.php?topic=4324.0>
< http://www.behardware.com/articles/561-1/technical-aspects-l cds-overdrive-contrast-and-viewing-angles.html>
R
Ram
Nov 2, 2008
You’re welcome, Doug. 🙂

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