13" 1600x900 is crap, but that is unfortunately the new reality for all makers.
Netbook for the wife
- Thread starter Adcadet
- Start date
13" 1600x900 is crap, but that is unfortunately the new reality for all makers.
ddrueding
Fixture
I do, and even when I am working from a branch or remote site a netbook is plenty. It would be for photo work while on vacations.
time
Storage? I am Storage!
Yeah, the stampede to widescreen has been much worse for laptop ergonomics than desktop. With desktops, you can just use a bigger screen to compensate. ON top of that, moving from 16:10 to 16:9 has to be the most stupid development ever in computer display technology. You could already display two pages side by side - now you also have an unusable vertical strip.
When I looked into this last year, the Lenovo X301 was one of the 'least bad' portables, with a screen height of 60% of A4 and resolution only(!) 25% smaller than the 96dpi baseline. The Vaio pushes that down to 55% of A4 and a faintly ludicrous 32% smaller scale. By comparison, even text on a 10" netbook is only 19% smaller. So your viewing distance would need to drop from say 60cm down to 40cm, worse if you currently have an 'oversized' screen like a 22" 1680x1050 or 19" 1280x1024.
This rant wasn't aimed at Sony, but they sure do ask for it. Their blurb boasts how you get "40% more workspace width" than a 1280x800 display. Those with passing arithmetic skills will notice that whichever way you slice it, that's a bald-faced lie. Physically (the normal meaning of "width"), the advantage is about 2%. In resolution terms, it's 25%, but obviously your text will also be 20% smaller.
Sony is actually compariing the number of megapixels (total area) and calling that width! I take it there are no truth-in-advertising laws in the US?
Yes, but it is rather limited. More often the threat from one large company to sue another will result in an advert being voluntarily pulled. Sony has provided the pixel count and dimensions, so I don't think there is any claim to be made.
To add insult to injury the new MS Office has the wretched ribbon than saps precious vertical pixels.
I cringe to think what will happen when the very practical 1280x1024 monitors at work are replaced by 1600x900 shorties with much smaller pixels. That sounds like a good plan, at least for domestic use. I hope someday to again go on a vacation where there is time for that. The days are always too short or I'm driving a couple hundred miles in the high light. On vacation this year wakeup times will be 3:45 to 4:30 AM every day.