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I have/had a problem with my desktop not showing icons, namely spacing properly in Windows 8.1 and 10.

In the process of trying to fix this, some of the suggestions talked about laptop (Acer Aspire S7-391) screen resolution/native resolution. This laptop has native resolution of 1920x1080.

When I check either Control panel in Windows or Intel HD graphics control panel, it does indeed show my resolution is 1920x1080 but when I check my real resolution, for example websites or Youtube's video stats, it shows 1280x720@60Hz.

My question is why this happens. Why does Windows show one resolution when the output is clearly different.

I tried disabling Intel graphic driver which sets resolution to fixed native resolution without option to change it but still outputs 1280x720.

I also changed driver to Acer driver for my laptop (VGA_Intel_9.17.10.2867_W8x64_A) as well as the latest Intel HD4000 driver (15.33.38.64.4252). Neither helped.

How do I get my native resolution as output resolution on my Acer Aspire S7-391?

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    What exactly makes you think your "real" resolution isn't "real"? If the control panel says your screen resolution is 1920x1080 then chances are your real screen resolution is 1920x1080. Websites do not have reliable ways to detect your screen size are frequently wrong. I would certainly trust your graphics driver - that is actually controlling your screen resolution - than a website that gets third-hand information that came from the graphics driver in the first place anyway.
    – qasdfdsaq
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 14:28
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    Press Win+R to open Run window -> type dxdiag.exe -> go to Display tab. Which resolution do you see there? Also you said you disabled internal graphics. Have you clean-installed your drivers (using tools like DDU)?
    – Jet
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 18:20
  • @qasdfdsaq - Because that website detects the resolution of 1024x768 when I change it to that in windows. Youtube still shows 1280x720 though.
    – rlab
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 20:20
  • @Jet - That window shows 1902x1080. No, I just disabled drivers, reverted them to there most recent Acer drivers, then updated to new drivers via Windows driver update and finally updated to the latest drivers which are actually from Intel site.
    – rlab
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 20:20
  • Update: I made a mistake, my Youtube videos weren't automatically loaded at 1080p, my screen is in fact 1920x1080. That resolution check website still confuses me a bit. I am happy to give bounty to either of you who answers the question below or this question might as well be deleted as it was a mistake on my part.
    – rlab
    Commented Aug 25, 2015 at 20:45

1 Answer 1

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I believe that there is no problem.

The correct total screen resolution is shown by the Control Panel Display applet and by the graphics control panel and by the dxdiag utility.

However, websites report the resolution as given by the browser's JavaScript window.screen object (see reference), which is the adjusted size that is usable in the browser for displays in full-screen mode.

This size is lower than the values reported by the computer, since the browser uses up a part of the screen for its own adornments, such as borders and toolbars and sidebars etc. , and Windows itself is also taking up a part of the screen with its taskbar etc.

In short : Windows shows the correct values and you have no problem. Do not replace your Windows display drivers, or you will create real problems.

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