No more non wide screens?

[duke1]

Why is everyone switching to wide screen? On a 17" or 20+ i can see having wide screen.. but on a 14" or 15" ? The screen looks to small.

[dr_st]

Global trends in LCD panel manufacturing. For the LCD panel manufacturers it's simpler and cheaper if everything is using the same form factor, and the large 16:9 TV markets drive the trends.

[ThinkPad560X]

You could still buy a T60/R60 standard 14" to 15". I also belive that these were the last ThinkPads to feature the standard LCD not counting the X60 witch I think the X61 was the last and the X200 came with widescreen. I kinda got use to the widescreens now, It makes screen viewing on my T40 look small compared to viewing on my T60 Widescreen.

[dr_st]

Indeed the standard screens were gradually phased out during the 6x series. There were some 14" 4:3 T61s and some very rare (and apparently never marketed in the US) 15" 4:3 R61s.

Comparing a T40 14" 4:3 to a 15.4" wide T60, of course the former will look small - it's a smaller screen.

[pianowizard]

I kinda got use to the widescreens now, It makes screen viewing on my T40 look small compared to viewing on my T60 Widescreen.

Since the OP is still learning about the basics of laptops, I would like to point out for him that a 15.0" 4:3 screen actually has a larger surface area than a 15.4" 16:10 widescreen. A 15.6" 16:9 widescreen is even smaller:

15.0" 4:3 --> 108.00 square inches

15.4" 16:10 --> 106.59 square inches

15.6" 16:9 --> 103.99 square inches

For comparison, your T40's 14.1" 4:3 screen is 95.43 square inches.

[ssd_thinkpad]

The 15 inch 4:3 displays have more vertical height than 18 inch 16:9 displays. You can easily check this out at displaywars.com

[Tasurinchi]

It's not that I dislike wide screens, but I personally find resolutions like 1600x900 or 1360x728 ridiculously "wider". What's next? 1920x900??

Let's hope some day there will be another retro trend and we get back to 4:3

[pianowizard]

Let's hope some day there will be another retro trend and we get back to 4:3

I think that's possible, and perhaps even quite likely. Novelty helps sell products. 10 years from now, most people will have forgotten about 4:3 screens. They will find 4:3 screens novel, and LCD manufacturers may capitalize on that.

[ZaZ]

It's not that I dislike wide screens, but I personally find resolutions like 1600x900 or 1360x728 ridiculously "wider".

While I think that's certainly true of larger notebooks, smaller notebooks benefit from a wider screen.

[sysiphus]

While I think that's certainly true of larger notebooks, smaller notebooks benefit from a wider screen.

I'd take a 12" SXGA+ X61t over virtually anything made today save the FHD 15.6" 16x9...

[Gee]

While I think that's certainly true of larger notebooks, smaller notebooks benefit from a wider screen

I'd take a 12" SXGA+ X61t over virtually anything made today save the FHD 15.6" 16x9...

Amen

I am still using my X61T (1400 x 1050)
I can't stand wide screens. 1440 x 900 is not acceptable to me.
I can't believe that Lenovo messed this up. Bring back the classic ThinkPad

1. No TrackPad
2. 4:3 Hi Res Screen
3. IBM never put a Windows Key on their keyboard, this is not a deal breaker, but don't cheap out on the keyboard

Unfortunately, I will probably not buy another ThinkPad. Too bad, they were the best notebooks on the market and I am sure lots of people will pay a premium to see a return of a classic.

[ThinkPad560X]

The IBM ThinkPad i Series had Windows Keys on them. IBM's first Widescreen ThinkPad was the Z60 and started bringing back the Windows keys on them and still use it on all the ThinkPads now. Im a fan of my 14" standard ThinkPad T40 all the windows key does for me is one less button to press instead of Ctral S

[pianowizard]

IMO, 4:3 and 16:10 have different advantages. I wish both aspect ratios could again be offered concurrently, like during the Z6*/T6*/X6* era. On the other hand, I hate 16:9!

3. IBM never put a Windows Key on their keyboard, this is not a deal breaker, but don't cheap out on the keyboard

How does the Windows key cheap out on the keyboard? I would imagine that it costs more to make a keyboard with this extra key.

In situations where the taskbar is hidden, the Windows key is extremely useful.

The IBM ThinkPad i Series had Windows Keys on them.

BUT, the iSeries was designed and manufactured by Acer.

[ZaZ]

I'd take a 12" SXGA+ X61t over virtually anything made today save the FHD 15.6" 16x9...

All but a handful of 12" notebooks were XGA to which WXGA is superior.

[duke1]

whats the diff between 4:3 and 16:10 and 16:9

[Colonel O'Neill]

whats the diff between 4:3 and 16:10 and 16:9

This represents the ratio between the width and height (width:height). 4:3 --> 4/3 --> 1.333 means it's 1.333 times wider than it is tall.

4:3 is 1.333
16:10 is 1.6
16:9 is 1.777

The larger the number, the wider it is. The closer it is to unity, the closer it is to square.