1680X1050 vs 1920X1200

It is not an uncommon thing - I too think that 1920x1200 is too high a resolution for a 17" display and find it very uncomfortable. That resolution to my eyes only really looks nice on something more in the size of 24"-27".

The issue with stepping down the resolution is also an age-old problem with LCDs. The only way they can do it is to merge multiple pixels to make pseudo-pixels at the reduced resolution, and that will always be at the loss of sharpness and definition. An LCD will always look its sharpest and crispest at its true native resolution.

So if it were me, I would return it if you can and opt for the 15". If you need a bigger monitor sometimes, you can get a perfectly nice 25" or so monitor for a few hundred dollars and use that when you need the bigger screen.

Every LCD display is blurry when it is operated at a resolution setting lower than its native (highest) resolution setting. This is the inescapable consequence of using the fixed number of physical pixels in the display to try to simulate a smaller number.

The 17" 1920 x 1200 display has 133.2 pixels per inch; the 15" 1680 x 1050 has 128.6. The difference in the size of non-resizable text on the two screens is really minimal. The standard 1440 x 900 15" display has 110.3 pixels per inch, and there's a considerable difference in the size of menu bar text, dialog boxes, tool palettes and toolbars in many apps, etc. between that screen and the two higher-res models.

The magnificent 27" Apple Cinema Display and 27" Thunderbolt Display, at 2560 x 1440, have 108.8 pixels per inch, making them a very close match for the standard-res 15" MBP.

Thanks eww - I actually meant to specifically say I would go with the 15" in the default resolution (not the high resolution). Just as you say, the high resolution 15" is almost certainly going to also look uncomfortable to anyone who finds the 17" native resolution uncomfortable.

The downside for me personally is they do not offer the anti-glare at the 15" default resolution, and I would prefer an anti-glare of the glossy screen (but, you never can have everything).

The only solace I can afford you is that you can use the COMMAND + and COMMAND - functions to adjust text size in browsers. It keeps text crisp when you read forum posts like these or the New York Times.

Ciao.