Pixels?

[short shifter]

On my canon A85 i have an option to change the pixel count, which in return allows me to take more or less pictures. So my question is, if im taking pictures knowing i want to have them printed on standard 4X6 paper, what pixel count should i use?
2272 X 1704 or 1600 X 1200 or 1024 X 768 or
640 X 480 . And if i want to print on 6X8 paper? Also i have a postcard option which is also 1600 X 1200 whats the difference between that and the normal 1600 X 1200? I looked in my users manual before asking this question here and didn't get much of an answer.

Thanks for all your help. This is my first digital camera, and trying to learn everything about it. It was highly recomended for its ease of use, so hopefully that holds true.

Thanks for your help,
Jay

[Photo-John]

I would recommend always using the highest resolution and maximum quality that your camera offers. It's easier to buy more memory than it is to make a low resolution image look good. I'm speaking from painful experience, here. When I first started using a digital camera, I didn't take it seriously. The digital camera was for snapshots and my 35mm SLR was for serious photography. I took a low resolution picture of some muddy racers after a World Cup mountain bike race and I've been kicking myself about it ever since. The photo was beautiful. But the low resolution meant that it would never be good for anything but posting on the Web. Lesson learned.

So yes, you can use a lower resolution setting and get more photos on your card. But what's the point? You bought a camera with a certain amount of resolution so why not squeeze as much quality out of it as you can? Buy yourself a couple of 256 megabyte memory cards, copy the files to your computer regularly, and don't worry about how many images your cards will hold.

That's my advice ;)