How do LCD screens handle different resolutions?

[johnbro23]

This is a question that just arose out of curiosity. So my MacBook Pro has 1440 x 900 resolution, but when I switch it to, say, 1024 x 768, the pixels are all there. Are the pixels that flexible that they can just morph into different densities? Or does the software just enlarge anything on the screen? I.E. a 400 x 400 image on a 1440 x 900 res screen would be enlarged to something like 500 x 500 on a 1024 x 768 res?

 

[SuperCompu2]

Its a case where at smaller resolutions clusters of pixels become one pixel, for example at 1440x900 each pixel is on its own, but at 1024x768 4 pixels would represent one pixel. They would all show the same color as the one's around it thus making the bigger picture.