If you're keen on doing anything visual with your PC, it pays to have your monitor looking as good as possible. Display tweaking options, though, are usually hidden away either in a monitor's confusing OSD or amid dozens of options in graphics drivers, meaning that making your screen vibrant and accurate has been something of a dark art.
Windows 7 is far more display friendly: tools to adjust gamma, brightness, contrast and colour balance are displayed in a wizard that works in conjunction with your monitor's onscreen display to assess and correct your display settings. It may mean having to negotiate your monitor's menus, but the tools and evaluation options make screen calibration easier.
Microsoft's own research has found that plenty of users run their PCs at a resolution lower than native: ostensibly because onscreen text is too small to read comfortably on high-resolution screens. Consequently, it's now possible to increase the size of onscreen text by up to 150%, and the new Magnifier tool can zoom in on sections of the screen by more than 1000%.
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| Windows Media Center has also been enhanced, but it won't play retail Blu-ray discs natively. |
Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't been as accommodating with Blu-ray. While it's possible to burn Blu-ray discs, Windows 7 won't play retail discs natively. PC manufacturers will need to bundle dedicated software.
Windows Media Center has also been enhanced. The initial setup wizard enables you to select what kind of screen you're using and how it's connected, whether HDMI, DisplayPort or VGA. It's then possible to use the same calibration options that are available in the Control Panel to ensure that, no matter what screen you use, it will look as good as possible.
Also in our series, Windows 7 the complete guide:
Part 5: The new XP Mode
Part 4: Playing DivX and XviD files
Part 3: Will your PC actually boot any quicker?
Part 2: Raw performance benchmarks
Part 1: Good news for gamers?
Also see: The 30 Best Features of Windows 7