Melanie, I believe that the screen resolution is a function of your graphics card, not the computer itself. You should be able to upgrade the card. As best as I can determine, the sexy new 3D graghics cards do not really effect the speed of what we do - it is the CPU speed that most effects render times. If you have an old graphics card, you may be able to increase the speed of your monitor display as well as the color resolution with a new one. There are others who know, but I am guessing that you can get what you need for<$50.