Displaying Colors; Video Modes - Toshiba Satellite 200 Series User Manual

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What's Really Going On?
How Does the Screen Display Information?
and off subpixels is like blending the primary colors to create other
colors.
A pel formed by several pixels
The smallest element that your programs can control is called a
pel. Pels are arranged on the screen in a grid-like fashion. Depend-
ing on the video mode a program selects, a pel may be a single
pixel or several pixels.
The pel size determines the clarity of the image—called screen
resolution. Larger individual pels reduce the total number of avail-
able pels, resulting in lower resolution. Smaller pels increase the
number of pels that can fit on the screen, resulting in higher resolu-
tion and a clearer image.

Displaying Colors

The pel size also determines how many colors the display can pro-
duce. By combining pixels of different colors within a pel, the dis-
play can produce many more colors than are available within a
single pixel. Therefore, larger individual pels increase the number
of colors available to the display.

Video Modes

Video modes are sets of industry-standard rules about resolution
and the maximum number of distinct colors that can be displayed
simultaneously on the screen. Programs that adhere to the rules of
a video mode will run on any system that supports that mode.
Most display adapters provide several video modes. The
computer's SVGA-compatible display adapter supports all VGA
modes and some SVGA modes.