15 Oct 2010

Why do new laptops keep losing screen height ?

This one has bothered me for quite a while now. Every single laptop on the market today is a 16:10 aspect ratio, with the 4:3 ones all but disappeared. While it might make sense for people who use their laptop solely for watching movies, it gets pretty annoying for any kind of work.

The situation gets more farcical with netbooks. On my Acer aspire one, with a resolution of 1024x600, I’m unable to reach the “Save” button on most modal windows.

Here is an explanation by Lenovo why 4:3 aspect ratio is gone for good.

By cutting everything in the same aspect ratio, they have less waste per large sheet of glass. Since these manufacturers make more selling TV displays than laptop displays, the PC vendors have almost zero say in this change. 4:3 is not coming back.

The post goes on to list a very usable suggestion as well - to move the task bar to the right (or left). The extra 30 pixels or so are a life saver.