Thursday, November 12, 2009

notebook <= 1.6 aspect ratio

The consumers have taken over!

It turns out that nobody actually uses their computers for computing anymore, they all just watch videos. In 2004 it was special to have a notebook with a widescreen. It wasn't my desire, but I purchased a Compaq R3000Z with a 1680x1050 15.4" screen -- 1.6 aspect ratio. It's a tad bit too dense. I'm a fanatic about running LCDs in native resolution so I'm eager for new desktops (on Linux) to do all the scaling for you.

Back to the current situation. You can no longer get a 1.33 (4:3) aspect ration notebook screen. Worse... the old 1.6 aspect ratio isn't wide enough for those watch movies on their computers... so a new 16:9 or 1.78 is a must. This is now driving the market. 50% of the screens are 1366x768 -- the same as my refurb 32" TV. It's out of control.

Recap:
1.33 (4:3) is gone, dead...
1.6 (16:10) is very rare now
1.78 (16:9) is "all that"

I'd actually prefer something that I could see more than 5 lines of source code on at a time. A good start is more than 1000 pixels high. To do that in the current market I'd have to buy something as wide as a truck. Gone are the days of my old work laptop's 1400x1050 (D610).

You can still get 1.6 aspect ratio in high end notebooks, but it takes lots of looking in addition to the money:

Lenovo T400 (14" 1440x900)
Lenovo R400 (14" 1440x900)
Dell E6400 (14" 1440x900)
Apple Macbook Pro (15" 1440x900)

Their are some with 1680x1050, but you'd have to get a pretty big notebook to make the pixels big enough for my eyes.

The 1.6 aspect ratio thins the herd... To maybe 5% of the notebooks out their.

My Desire:
14 or 14.1" screen at 1440x900
2.4+GHz Core 2 Duo
DDR3 Memory (would go to 4GB)
7200RPM HD 320GB
Lightweight (no CD/DVD would be a plus)
Good battery life

The cheap route -- Dell Vostro 1520.
no DDR3, big 15", and not light... but does have 1440x900 (WXGA+)
(BTW, I really appreciate Dell not telling you the resolutions and instead giving you these acronyms)

The Dell E5400 starts cheap, but you pay $99 to get away from Vista. :( I probably should be getting Win7 for testing -- not to actually use mind you.

I think what I really want... A Macbook Pro 15" shrunk down to 14" and the cost shrunk would be nice too.