2013 ultrabooks, infestation of the 16:9 menace

[MobiusPizza]

First of all, my apologies, I am just here to rant and vent my frustration with the death of the 16:10 ratio

All 2013 ultrabooks by Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo, Samsung so far, all of them, have 16:9 resolutions. None of them have any unique selling points (USP) whatsoever, they are all homogenous except their look.

Ultrabooks are not media consumption devices, it's far cheaper to buy tablets for that. They are meant for productivity and provide occasional entertainment for road warriors.

16:10 is no question a superior resolution to 16:9 for productivity. Even watching movies, 16:10 can fallback to 16:9. I don't understand why 16:10 isn't more popular. These ultrabooks are not budget products, it is ridiculous we pay US$2000 (yes Samsung ATIV you are overpriced) for some of those offerings and none provided 16:10.

The only salvation is from Apple Macbooks, all of them sensibly have 16:10 ratios. Apple offers a 13.3" Macbook Air 2013, but its 1440x900 is not good enough for productivity. As an Apple skeptic for as long as I remember, I can't imagine I am saying this. 2013 Macbook Pro Retina will hopefully be released soon to save poor souls from senseless engineering choices by major OEMs.

Many users, journalists and even Linus Torvalds were seen begging for return of 16:10 from 2011, 2012 and now 2013. Everyone else making 16:9 is not an excuse, it's stupid for not realising the potential of a USP. For the sake of humanity OEMs should really take notice.

 

[Zodiark1593]

The saddest part is that there are smartphones which put to shame 99% of all laptop displays, not to mention tablets. Why a $600 gets the better display than a $2000 gaming laptop is well beyond me.

Probably the best laptop display currently is on the retina Macbook, but as a gamer, that laptop is out of the question.

 

[blackened23]

Yeah, it really seems that Apple is the only portable computer vendor taking the time to ensure proper functionality and quality in their machines. I can't tell you how many ultrabooks i've used with trackpads that don't, well, track properly. 16:9 displays. Non functional WiFI (dropping out constantly). Bad keyboards. HDMI limited to 1080p (and I use a 1600p screen at home). Disgusting.

It really is sickening. I didn't go to apple because i'm a blind fan, but when Windows ultrabook mfgrs can't get their shit together - i'm going elsewhere. It's sad that the macbook pro R is probably the best portable computer one can buy. And i'm stating that as someone who would prefer to buy an ultrabook from a traditional vendor - but I have not found a good answer for that, yet. Maybe that will change with Haswell ultrabooks, we shall see.

 

[capeconsultant]

I have a 24 inch Dell 16x10 monitor and I LOVE it! I hate 16x9. Once again, they screwed up big time with that.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Yeah, it really seems that Apple is the only portable computer vendor taking the time to ensure proper functionality and quality in their machines. I can't tell you how many ultrabooks i've used with trackpads that don't, well, track properly. 16:9 displays. Non functional WiFI (dropping out constantly). Bad keyboards. HDMI limited to 1080p (and I use a 1600p screen at home). Disgusting.

I had always been a big fan of stylus based tablet PC. My current laptop is a Lenovo X220T I bought 2 years ago. Lenovo notebooks are probably the best in terms of inputs; they have proper Synaptics touchpads and the proprietary TrackPoint joystick-like controller inherited from IBM has an established fan base.

However I haven't been really a big fan of the laptop. Back then 16:9 began going mainstream. The X220T ran fast, has good OEM software and it's sturdy. However, the 16:9 screen format alone was the Achilles' heel: Despite being a tablet PC, using Microsoft OneNote a pain. One cannot take proper notes as it is like writing on a paper half of the width of an A4. With the anaemic verticle estate of only 768 pixels, any sort of productive work such as typing and reading documents, coding required twice the effot.

It was a total shame.

 

[Infohawk]

I'm not sure I've ever noticed the difference. What is the practical difference between these specifications for users?

 

[corkyg]

I have three computers - two have 4:3 screens and my Lenovo laptop has 16:9. I actually prefer it because I can easily work on two pages side by side verically. On the 4:3's, the split has to be horizontal. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

 

[Bateluer]

I'm not sure I've ever noticed the difference. What is the practical difference between these specifications for users?

Some pixels. 1440 vs 1600, 1080 vs 1200. Its pretty minimal. Its better to have a high quality 16:9 display than a TN 16:10, for example.

 

[MrX8503]

I hate 16:9 as well. I can't stand that aspect ratio for a computer monitor unless its 2560x1440. I'm happy that Apple still has 16:10 laptops available.

The truth is that OEMs save money with 16:9 and they forced it upon the consumer. The other problem is that there isn't a big enough outcry about laptop display aspect ratio nor display quality, so we get shit.

I can GUARANTEE that we wouldn't have HIDPI laptop monitors if it wasn't for the rMBP.

 

[raildogg]

I am liking Apple laptops more and more. I'm falling for their tricks.

 

[Binky]

Agree with OP. Long live the square(ish) monitor!

 

[marcplante]

Isn't the 16:9 resolution a result of our use of PC screens for video which is scaled to 1080? This contributes to standard panel sizes. Even 16/9 is a compromise since Movie aspect ratios are by default wider, hence letter-boxing on most (all?) discs in standard resolution.

4x3 was fine in an SD TV world, (though we didn't really watch much video on our PCs in those days) I suppose it was also a byproduct of maufacturing scale at the time.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm with OP in principle, but we've been griping about this for a few years now, and frankly I'm having a harder and harder time mustering up the energy to keep yelling at this Cloud.

But don't even get me started on "The Cloud!"

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm with OP in principle, but we've been griping about this for a few years now, and frankly I'm having a harder and harder time mustering up the energy to keep yelling at this Cloud.

But don't even get me started on "The Cloud!"