So I am looking to buy my first laptop, and the best performance for the price seems to be from the Dell Inspiron right now. So I am going through picking my components, and I get to the resolution page. I have two options: 1280x800 and 1680x1050. I had kind of been planning on the 1440x900 resolution, but that wasn't an option.

I plan to do some light gaming, but I'm not getting a dedicated video card. I will probably watch some movies on this screen as well. So, the grand question: Which resolution is better for a 15.4 inch laptop? My initial thoughts were to get the higher one, because I like high-res screens, but I'm not sure if it would slow my computer down, seeing as there will only be integrated video. Anyways, thanks for any help/opinions in advance.

Higher resolution. You said gaming is not a prioirty so why sacrifice screen space for something you are only going to do 5% of the time? And, you can always bump it down (interpolation is somewhat less of a problem on newer parts, anyway)

I like the 1680x1050. . .

Ok, yeah, thanks for the response. I just really wanted to make sure I'm not going to lose any performance.