Display Enhancements in Windows 7

Windows 7 now supports WDDM 1.1, which reduces memory consumption for Windows Aero and provides improved display performance, improved video overlay presentation, a better viewing experience on TVs and widescreen laptops, and improved reliability and ability to diagnose problems. Windows 7 includes improved support for high-dot-per-inch (DPI) monitors, and users can configure DPI settings by using the enhanced Display utility in Control Panel.

In Windows 7, the Display utility uses scaling percentages instead of the raw DPI values for a more intuitive user experience by allowing users to adjust their text size and other elements to make it easier for them to read their screens. The correlation between the scaling percentages and DPI settings presented by the Display utility are as follows:

• 100% scaling equals 96 DPI
• 125% scaling equals 120 DPI
• 150% scaling equals 144 DPI (this High DPI option is new in Windows 7)

Similar to Windows Vista, advanced users can still access the Custom DPI Setting dialog box in Windows 7 to specify a custom DPI setting for their monitors. To open this dialog box, select the Set Custom Text Size (DPI) setting.

Beginning with Windows 7, however, DPI settings can be configured on a per-user basis instead of on a per-machine basis. In addition, DPI settings can now be changed without the need for rebooting the system, although a logoff/logon is still required for the changes to take effect. Windows Internet Explorer 8 also includes native support for High DPI.

DPI settings can now be configured during deployment by configuring the <DPI> setting under <Display> in the Unattend.xml answer file to a value of 96, 120, or 144. Note that some applications can have rendering issues at nonstandard DPIs. To resolve such issues, Windows 7 (like Windows Vista before it) includes support for automatic scaling (also known as DPI Virtualization) to enable ISV applications that are not yet DPI aware to be displayed properly. Automatic scaling can be disabled on a per-application basis by selecting the Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings check box on the Compatibility tab of the application's Properties dialog box.

Other display enhancements found in Windows 7 include support for integrated display brightness control, a new Display Color Calibration (DCC) tool, and an enhanced Windows Touch technology that supports multi-touch. For additional information on display enhancements in Windows 7, see the Hardware Design For Windows 7 page on Windows Hardware Developer Central (WHDC) at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/hwdesign/HWdesign_Win7.mspx.