I have a new 1920x1200 Dell Precision 6300 17" 16:9 screen

I also have a 4 year old 1400 (ish) x 1050 15" 4:3 on a Latitude D505.

Viewing angle on the former is quite good.

I have no problem with size on either at normal scaling. In fact I much prefer the higher resolution. Can take a while to get from one side of the 17" to another

They do often come with 120% scaling which in Windows means really crappy scaling of icons in the systray etc so I turn that off straight away.