monitor versus tablet display: Can anyone explain why a photograph looks sharper on the 9 inch display on my Samsung tablet than it does on my 21 inch HP monitor?

msnydernyc

Can anyone explain why a photograph looks sharper on the 9 inch display on my Samsung tablet than it does on my 21 inch HP monitor?

BebuLamar

msnydernyc wrote:

Can anyone explain why a photograph looks sharper on the 9 inch display on my Samsung tablet than it does on my 21 inch HP monitor?

The Samsung tablet has more pixels and the pixels are closer together. I think the Samsung 9" has 1920x1200 screen while you may have only 1920x1080 or even less with your 21" screen.

therwol Loc: USA

BebuLamar wrote:

The Samsung tablet has more pixels and the pixels are closer together. I think the Samsung 9" has 1920x1200 screen while you may have only 1920x1080 or even less with your 21" screen.

Some 21 inch monitors and even some laptops have 4K displays. We don't know what the OP is looking at. It may be that the magnification of the larger display reveals the true sharpness of the images. Another possibility is that the display resolution on the monitor is not set at the native resolution, and that will affect sharpness. For example, I am typing on a 27 inch 4K display. If I set any other resolution, including 1920x1084, it introduces a softness in the images. 4K makes some things look too small for my eyes, so I adjust the magnification in the settings to 150%, and this doesn't affect sharpness.

BebuLamar

therwol wrote:

Some 21 inch monitors and even some laptops have 4... (show quote)

The OP said 21" HP monitor. I don't know that HP made a 21" monitor with higher resolution than 1920x1080.

therwol Loc: USA

BebuLamar wrote:

The OP said 21" HP monitor. I don't know that HP made a 21" monitor with higher resolution than 1920x1080.

My example was merely to say that if you use a monitor at anything other than native resolution, the images can become blurry. Some people even feel that 1920x1080 results in icons and text being too small for their eyes. Instead of adjusting the magnification in the display settings, they adjust the resolution, and this can result in images that look blurry.

BebuLamar

therwol wrote:

My example was merely to say that if you use a monitor at anything other than native resolution, the images can become blurry. Some people even feel that 1920x1080 results in icons and text being too small for their eyes. Instead of adjusting the magnification in the display settings, they adjust the resolution, and this can result in images that look blurry.

That why I said at most his monitor is 1920x1080 and possibly less depending on the monitor and how he set it up. The tablet however I think is fixed at 1920x1200.

Najataagihe

The answer is viewing distance.

Folks usually have their larger monitors WAY too close, so they see the individual pixels far more easily.

I would almost bet you are viewing your monitor no more than a foot farther away than you view your tablet.

Try comparing the pictures with the monitor across the room.

therwol Loc: USA

BebuLamar wrote:

That why I said at most his monitor is 1920x1080 and possibly less depending on the monitor and how he set it up. The tablet however I think is fixed at 1920x1200.

The point I'm making is that every monitor should be viewed at its native resolution, whether 3840x2160, 1920x1080, 1024x768 or whatever. Any deviation from native resolution results in blurring of the image on the screen. When you go into the display settings in Windows, you are told the recommended resolution if you go to change it. If everything is too small to read at the native resolution, you can magnify everything in the same setting window. This isn't the same as changing the resolution.

Is this relevant to the OP's situation? I don't know. Not enough information.

therwol Loc: USA

Najataagihe wrote:

The answer is viewing distance.

Folks usually have their larger monitors WAY too close, so they see the individual pixels far more easily.

I would almost bet you are viewing your monitor no more than a foot farther away than you view your tablet.

Try comparing the pictures with the monitor across the room.

Try another trick. Look at a photo on the monitor and then look at the same photo on the tablet. Use your fingers to magnify the photo on the tablet to get further into the detail. Is there really a difference when compared side by side?

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Another reason is simply the smaller the display, the sharper it appears!