[kacir]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

166dpi is not low when referring to LCD. My laptop screen tops out at just over 100dpi (guesstimate).

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

actually, Nate is right, 160dpi resolution is quite good. print resolution is 300dpi (this is "high res"), and web (computer screen) is 72dpi. 160 for text is completely respectable and noticeably better than a computer moniter.

We are talking about typography here, and more specificaly we are discussing wether some typical typography conventions can be applied to a 6" e-onk screen.
From the point of view of computer displays 166 dpi is great
From the point of view of what is needed for reading from the screen, 166 is very good.
But when we discuss if the 166 dpi is enough to render nice smooth outlines of a small letter in a serif font, 166 is definitely not enough and the font does apear as if having jagged edges.
A good dot matrix printer has the maximum resolution 160 dpi and you would not call this "high resolution", would you?

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

300dpi is low ??? what do you consider high ???? i ask that in all sincerity ; when i treat an image for a print job, i work in 300dpi.

Yes, it is low.

You are talking about two separate issues.
One is Letters on the page - the typeface, and I will return to this issue a little bit later.
The other is CMYK or GrayScale bitmaps.

You need at least 300 dpi for bitmaps [250dpi is bare minimum for good quality], because in a typical magazine (or book) offset print you print the image at the resolution of 125 lpi. It means you print the image as a series of small colored dots that have 1/125 inch distance between them. But you have to create those dots with a "printer" - fotosetter that creates those transparent foils that are used to create etched steel rolls used to print an actual page. So the fotosetter that creates those sheets of clear film has *at least* 1200dpi to be able to print those dots with good enough accuracy. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_to_film
Nowdays, you have machines that use laser to "draw" dots or images directly on the sheets of metal covered with a photosensitive layer. Those sheets are then developed, just like an old fashioned photograph would and then etched in acid and used on "printing"(**) rolls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_to_plate
An example of such machine: http://www.heidelberg.com/www/html/e...r_family,specs
Please notice the resolution: 2,032/2,400/2,540/3,200/3,386 dpi

(**) we are talking about offset printing here, so the paint is transfered from that "printing" roll on another roll made from rubber and then it is transferred on paper.

When you create a file to be used to print those transparencies the fonts and the vector graphics (those Corel of Illustrator images) are represented in vectors. And those vectors are RIP-ed (Raster Image Processed) and printed with the same resolution as dots for bitmaps - 1200 to 3600 dpi. And THAT is what I call high resolution.

Even a laser printer has nowdays at least 600dpi and even then, when it prints vector graphics (fonts) it uses various clever tricks (like RET) to make the outline of the font apear even crisper and smoother than 600dpi.

Also keep in mind that on the computer screen there are lots of tricks applied to make text look nice. Like antialiasing, hinting (aligning to the pixel borders) and other black magic. Computer screen can make up the lower resolution by using lots of shades [of grey] - antialiasing. The printer, on the other hand, can only print completely black areas. A defined area on the page is either covered by a paint (a baked-in toner, a die, wax, thermotransfered plastic goo or whatever) or it isn't.

Disclaimer: Most of the things I have written about have proper english terms (that I do not know ). I have used descriptions because I did not use English when I worked in DTP.