That's right, Piyono, the marketing weenies call them "wide screen" but the reality is that the extra width is pretty useless for most purposes, and the loss in height is very significant. "Shallow screen" is a more accurate description. They use shallow screens because "15.4 inch wide screen" sounds like it's bigger, where in fact it is smaller than a proper 15.0 4:3. For the scumbag manufacturer, it's a win-win: sounds bigger so you can sell it for more, is actually smaller so you can shave pennies on your costs.
Ahem. Practicalities.
I doubt I'd ever buy anything from Dell, ever. Dell's entire stated purpose is to put people like me out of a living, so why encourage the bastard?. Besides, their products are (in the main) cheap, underpowered, flimsy crap, their prices nowhere near as good as they sound before you read the fine print, and their business ethics as shonky as a three dollar note.
And that ASUS model is an old one. If it hasn't disappeared from shelves already, it will soon enough. It's a Core Duo, not a Core 2 Duo, and my guess is that they have sold the lot already - nobody but nobody has any Windows XP laptops left in stock, people snapped them all up while they could still get them to avoid getting stuck with a Vista slug.
And I don't want a new notebook now, more like about this time next year, when it will be way too late to get a proper screen.
Sigh.
Maybe I'll get a shallow screen R Series and just start carrying a 12 Volt 19 inch TFT around with me. If you can still get one of those by then.
grrr.....
