Miscellaneous laptop discussions : High res screen on a laptop or a battery v-card

High res screen on a laptop or a battery v-card

Ok, two questions in one. first, whats the benefit of having a high resolution? Obviously it will make the screen better looking but I don't want tiny little letters and tiny numbers in excel. I have my desktop at 1280 and thats perfect for me. But is there something else Im missing, why would I want a 1400 res?

Also, if you had to choose between a better graphics card or a better resolution what would you choose? I will game a little but nothing serious. But I do want a smooth running laptop for vista.

I just ordered and this is what I have
1.8 ghz
2 gig ram
128 vcard
1280 screen res
dvd brnr.

I can still swap some specs and what I would do is drop the vcard down to intel 3100 and up the res to 1400 res.