Wide Screens are NOT the Bee's Knees!

[RealBlackStuff]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-101 ... ag=nl.e404

[GomJabbar]

"Wide Screens are NOT the Bee's Knees!"

Sure they are. That's all you can see with them!

[hausman]

Wide Screens are NOT the Bee's Knees!

Because T60 FlexView remains the champion.

[TheRedFox]

aside from gaming or movie watching, I would agree that wide screens aren't that great. you can read more lines of text at a time with a 4:3 screen. in theory anyway, though I suppose you can read about the same number of lines with a XGA as a WXGA. I think they're also right about it being easier to read text if it wraps around a narrower screen. I'm glad that I have a 4:3 screen.

[jdhurst]

I would have happily waited to get a Vista machine (it took months for software to properly catch up). But I purchased in mid-2008 and I think I got one of the last T61p with 4:3 screen. Sometimes I cast a bit of a glance at widescreen, but while I am working, 4:3 fits my own needs best. The T61p also goes in my briefcase (which was best for a T30). So I still work out of one single bag and carry my entire working office in. Widescreen would not fit. ..... JDH

[Marin85]

I bought the ThinkPad in my signature as I thought that a ThinkPad with a wide screen would be even nicer than "just" a ThinkPad. In particular the Z61p was one of the very first laptops at all with 15.4'' WUXGA display. And while I like the great resolution, I came during the last 2 years and something to the conclusion that wide screen is pretty too much contra-productive for me. I think it is a bit too wide to use it during a flight provided I´m flying in economy class which I always do for short distances, it is also a bit too heavy and bulky and just too wide to bring it to lectures. Now, the most contra-productive part in my opinion is that from a normal distance a straight look covers only part of the display, in my estimation that part corresponds more or less to a 4:3 15'' display. While the wide form factor offers some extra space, I don´t really think this extra space is that much of a benefit and so useful. Even for a programmer, I could hardly imagine that going from a 15'' display to a 15.4'' cet.par. would add any utility. What is more, this extra space is rather attention distracting during work because in order to "see" that part or what is "going on there" one has to change the angle of his look or to move his eyes right/left or to increase his "view" distance to the laptop. I hope my next notebook will be a T60p 15'' IPS UXGA

Marin

[mgo]

A few months ago I raided my local pawn shop and bought two really nice 17" and one 19" Dell 4:3 monitors with the matte finish. They are great additions to my ThinkPad stable.

They also had a terrific (but dusty and smudgy) HP 22" wide screen monitor for just $200 which I also bought, despite the fact that is is one of those glossy things.

With the lighting at the right angle, the monitor looks ok, without too much distracting reflections. I have to say the wider screen is growing on me, especially with the "flip to the side of the screen" feature in Windows 7.

[Marin85]

While I prefer 4:3 laptop displays, I could hardly imagine 4:3 17'' or even 19'' display In the upper diagonal range, screens seem to look much prettier in a wide format than in a classical aspect ratio. I guess just because of the size of the screen most people increase their distance from the screen overproportionally to the extra space on the side, so that they are then able to "see" the whole screen and enjoy and use its real estate.

Marin

[jdhurst]

I wasn't real clear in my earlier post - my T61p has a 14" screen (and 4:3).

However, my IBM Desktop has a 17" monitor and it is 4:3. I see nothing wrong with that at all.
.... JDH

[RealBlackStuff]

My HP LP1965 19" LCD monitor has a 5:4 ratio, which is quite close to 4:3.
It's max. resolution is 1280x1024. Anything higher would give me a headache.
I hate widescreen, I also hate widescreen TV!

[sparta.rising]

I like my widescreen for two full paged documents side-by-side

[mattbiernat]

the hardest part of the transition from my T60 to X300 was not the quality of the screen but the aspect ratio. my T60 4:3 just feels so much better than the X300's widescreen...

[ajkula66]

mattbiernat wrote:

the hardest part of the transition from my T60 to X300 was not the quality of the screen but the aspect ratio. my T60 4:3 just feels so much better than the X300's widescreen...

If your T60 doesn't have an IPS LCD, then your comment is extremely logical...

All jokes aside, I'll be posting some comparison pictures within the next couple of weeks...brand new W500 (WUXGA) vs. old IPS LCDs (A31p/T43) vs. non-ThinkPad TN panel (HP)...I'm certain that it will be interesting...

[mattbiernat]

i never used IPS.

[dr_st]

I like my widescreen for two full paged documents side-by-side

Two full-paged documents side by-side are not really suited better for widescreen than for 4:3. At least if the page format is A4. Maybe Letter is closer to the widescreen 8:5 aspect.

[Marin85]

That´s an interesting observation. I have always tried to use my WUXGA to set two documents side by side but I have never felt comfortable with the result... For that matter: is a 15'' 4:3 screen higher than a 15.4'' screen (when opened)?

Marin

[dr_st]

By a lot. 15.4" 8:5 is even a bit shorter than 14.1" 4:3.

[Marin85]

By a lot. 15.4" 8:5 is even a bit shorter than 14.1" 4:3.

Thanks, I suspected that. So, widescreens cut out too much valuable space compared to the corresponding 4:3's. I often wish I could have more vertical space in my ThinkPad screen as I have to work with lots of articles, papers etc. Even for the little programming I do I feel much more comfortable with classic aspect ratio screens because I have better overview over the code. As of now I´m not able to find any real advantage of 15.4'' screens but only disadvantages...

Marin

[TheRedFox]

the taller your screen is the better for programming (IMHO). you can look at more lines at a time.

[bill bolton]

The wider your screen is, the better it is for creating diagrams (and similar).

Cheers,

Bill B.

[yak]

the taller your screen is the better for programming (IMHO). you can look at more lines at a time.

Exactly. As a programmer, this is my main reason for sticking with my T60 for as long as I can.

It all depends on what do you do with your computer.

"The problem is choice." Or rather lack thereof. New computers can only be had with wide screens.

[basketb]

the taller your screen is the better for programming (IMHO). you can look at more lines at a time.

The wider your screen is, the better it is for creating diagrams (and similar)...

So, with a WUXGA screen I get the best of both worlds?

[RealBlackStuff]

The other (my preferred) solution is using an external monitor that can pivot 90 deg.
My HP LP1965 can do that, and when I pivot the screen, I have the whole height of the rotated screen.
Perfect for programmers.
I would not want to work professionally on a laptop! (I used to be a mainframe programmer for about 30 years).

[Marin85]

So, with a WUXGA screen I get the best of both worlds?

Probably, if it is 17'' (say W700)...

The wider your screen is, the better it is for creating diagrams (and similar).

While I don´t really like my WUXGA, I have to agree here that it is great for diagrams, big flow-charts, Simulink. But also for Autocad, Maya, 3dsMax... It really depends on what you intend to use your laptop for. But for myself I couldn´t really utilize the extra space in wide

[pianowizard]

In my opinion, widescreens are excellent either for ultraportable laptops, or very large desktop replacement laptops that don't need to be moved around often. Specifically:

Ultraportable laptops: 12.1" and smaller @ 1280x768, 1280x800, 1366x768 or 1440x900:

1) These provide just enough real estate on the road. The vertical pixel counts are equal to or more than XGA (1024x768), while the horizontal pixel counts are much higher than XGA. So, these widescreen laptops are as good as or slightly better than the X2*, X3*, X4* and X6* Thinkpads vertically, and much better horizontally.

2) Because the screen is wide, it's easy to make the keyboard bigger. It's more difficult to make the keyboard reasonably big for small 4:3 laptops, e.g. the 10.4" 4:3 S30 Thinkpad has a keyboard that sticks out, and the 240/240X/240Z (also 10.4" 4:3) has a super thick screen bezel to allow the use of a keyboard that's much wider than the screen.

3) For the same diagonal length, widescreens are shorter than 4:3 screens, so a widescreen laptop can be used on a tray table on a plane more comfortably.

4) For the same diagonal length, widescreens have smaller surface areas than 4:3 screens. Thus, widescreen laptops have smaller footprints than 4:3 laptops, assuming that all laptops have display bezels of the same width. (Unfortunately, this space-saving advantage also gives manufacturers an excuse to squeeze more junk into the display bezel, resulting in laptops that actually have larger footprints than older, 4:3 laptops.)

**My favorite laptop in this category is the HP mini 2140, a powerful netbook with 10.1" 1366x768. Its relative low price adds to the appeal - I've never liked the idea of traveling with ultraportables that cost over $1K.

Desktop replacement laptops: 17.0" and larger @ 1920x1080 or 1920x1200:

1) These oversized laptops are way too heavy to carry around for most people, but as desktop replacements, I prefer them over 15.0" 4:3 laptops because the screen is larger and therefore can accommodate more pixels without making the pixel density too high. A conventional 15.0" 4:3 laptop screen maxes out at 1600x1200 with 133.3 pixels per inch, whereas a 17.0" widescreen goes up to 1920x1200 with 133.2 DPI. Of course, the 15.0" 4:3 screen made for the R50p Thinkpad is even higher res (2048x1536), but the pixel density is uncomfortably high for most people, which is why I don't use my 2048x1536 T43p much any more. I wish there were 19" 2048x1536 laptops!

2) The laptop is so wide that it's possible to add a numeric keypad, which some people (not me though) find useful.

3) I'm sure that some people would prefer connecting a small laptop to a high-res external LCD, but such an arrangement takes up a lot more room.

**My favorite in this category is the Dell Vostro 1710 (17.0" 1920x1200), which I plan to buy to replace my current Compaq desktop.

On the other hand, 4:3 is better for medium-sized (~14") laptops, because:

1) 1400x1050 and 1600x1200 are available for the 4:3 aspect ratio, which offer more vertical real estate and total pixel counts than the 1440x900, 1600x900 and 1680x1050 available for widescreen laptops between 14.1" and 15.4".

2) 4:3 laptops in this size range are also less awkward to carry around.

**My favorite laptops in this category are the 14.1" 4:3 T4* and T6* Thinkpads, especially when they are modded to have a 1600x1200 screen.

[basketb]

Great write-up, pianowizard. Just curious whether you left out the 15.4" WUXGA screen on purpose (T61p). For me, that's the perfect desktop replacement for home uses where it actually is not used on a single desk but around the house (my UXGA A31p was and I would assume a 15" T60p is equally well suited if you prefer the 4:3 ratio). I agree that I wouldn't want to carry the 15.4" wide (or any other 15" laptop for that matter) around on business trips. I even find my 14" T60p too heavy to comfortably carry around on long (or even short) business trips.

[pianowizard]

Great write-up, pianowizard.

Thanks. I had already expressed most if not all of the above opinions on this forum before, but they were scattered over multiple threads, so I thought it would be nice to put all these musings together in one place.

Just curious whether you left out the 15.4" WUXGA screen on purpose (T61p).

Yeah, I purposedly left that out because for a desktop replacement unit with WUXGA, I much prefer 17.0" over 15.4". On the other hand, like you said, 15.4" laptops are way too heavy to be lugged around, so it doesn't belong to the third, "medium-sized" category that I listed above either. My view is that 15.4" is good for people who want a desktop replacement but have very limited desk space, and/or who need to carry the laptop occasionally. If there is plenty of room on the desk and if the machine rarely leaves the desk, then 17.0" is better because the pixel density is lower, and movies also look better on a bigger screen.