InformationWeek SMB TechEncyclopedia

The maximum resolution of a monitor or printer. In a flat panel display, the native resolution is significant because, unlike a CRT, which can display several resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, etc.) at the same quality level, the highest (native) resolution of a flat panel provides the best quality.

     When given a resolution lower than its native resolution, the flat panel has two display options. In order to retain the most sharpness, it can display the lower resolution in the screen's native resolution as a rectangle in the middle of the screen with surrounding borders. However, in most cases, it scales the lower resolution to fit the entire screen and has to create pixels via interpolation. The display quality of the latter approach varies considerably among brands. Even on the same monitor, one non-native resolution may display better than another. For example, on a flat panel with a 1280x1024 native resolution, 1024x768 may look significantly better than 800x600. See flat panel display.