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Get Ready For The 20-inch Laptop
linumax writes "With so many DVDs featuring letterboxed or wide-screen versions of films, consumers' fascination with larger screen sizes is changing the size and shape of the laptop industry, stated an IDC report issued on Monday. The wide-screen format, found in only 39.2 percent of laptops expected to ship this year, will become dominant in mid- to late 2006. It will nearly eclipse standard screen dimensions by the end of 2009, the market research firm estimates. Samsung has already unleashed its upcoming 19-inch laptop. The product is expected to ship later this year. Dell, a major partner of Samsung, could easily adopt the large screen format for its high-end XPS laptops. And, LG Philips is also touting its 20-inch LCD displays for laptops."
I don't want to sound too much like flamebait but how on earth is this a Laptop?
I thought my brothers 17" Notbook was beyond portable, but this thing should come with a gift certificate to a chiropractor.
Give me the portability of a Tablet PC like the Toshiba Tecra anyday.. These large display systems are akin to SUVs in their power consumption, are they not?
~jennifer.k~
I just don't see the point of going beyond 17" for laptops. Heck, my personal ideal screen size is 14.1" to 15.4".
Personally I would rather see screens that continue to maintain their portable size but with increased resolutions than 20" behemoths.
At what point does it stop being called a "lap"top? Surely the purpose of a laptop is that it is portable, not something that requires a large suitcase to move about.
Warning, comments may not have been passed by the sanity department of my brain.
Although this news is a bit exciting, at which point is a laptop not a "lap" top anymore? Images of Baby Huey are starting to come to mind...
I like bigger screens. When I bought my laptop four years ago I got the biggest screen available at the time. The thing is a tall beast, but it's not widescreen. I don't want widescreen. Widescreen forces me to use more width, when in reality I never need more width, I only ever need more height. Never am I reading a webpage and think, "Damn, if only this computer were a little wider."
The worst part is, all the good new laptops are being made with widescreen because little Jane going off to college wants to watch DVDs. I don't want to watch DVDs on my computer, I'll do that on the TV. I want to use it as a computer, and computer need height.
I just wish some laptop companies would keep the big non-widescreen models around. It's sad.
--
RumorsDaily
You got laptops with 20" screens now, why don't they put larger keyboards on those very same laptops? Those ittybitty chicklet keyboards kill hands for just about everyone I know that use them, save for the odd elf. They got alot of area on the laptop to place additional items like USB ports, relocating that %#$*()&! speaker jack, loads of other items can go in that blank space now.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
Pretty soon laptops screens will become so big that you won't even be able to carry them around, and you'll have to keep it permanantly on your desk. They'll have to come up with a new name though, I mean if you keep it on your desk, how about instead of "lap-top" call it something like "desk-top"?
Is the Smasung laptop LCD in the article 19inch 1600x1080 for sale as a desktop LCD?
what about the weight of these things? Also, will it be cumbersome to carry? I honestly can't see a need for a 20 inch laptop.
Unpretentious Sydney reviews by unqualified Sydney reviewers
Laptops are supposed to be portable.
It's a Good Thing this is going to happen. Why? Well, for one thing, it will also push the Tablet's into getting a little bigger. Oddly enough, Laptops and Tablets still don't screens that are big enough to fit an 8.5x11" full-size 1:1 ratio image of a piece of paper! People ask me if I find my Tablet too bulky (same problem with Laptop, essentially), and I tell them... actually, no, I want a bigger screen so I can write papers in real ratio format. Expect with this increase in size for some manufacturers to also start playing around with swivel screens to allow putting the screen in either landscape or portrait mode.
Of course, it's also great to have a portable movie playing machine. Nothing wrong with the entertainment side of the equation. I'm just saying that this is also going to push the adoption of swivel displays and increased tablet screens sizes.
I like the form factor of a laptop, no messy wires and all that.. but having the screen so low is what sucks most for long term use. Not good for the neck.
The cool thing about this Samsung laptop is that the screen comes off and you can put a base on it. If its a quick change, and doesnt break after the 20th time you switch it, it should be a good concept. But I wonder what sort of wire goes btwn the screen and rest of the computer while the display is off. It would sort of suck to carry around a regular DVI cord. About as much as it would suck to cart around a 19 inch laptop.
Thats why i like my combo of a 15 powerbook and 20 inch cinema display. Leave the 20 at home and travel with the 15.
And wide aspect ratio is really the way to go. I just wish macs had a way to rotate the screeen output, like for reading big pdf files at 1080X 1650...
I have a Thinkpad T40 for my work computer as I travel and work from home. It generally spends all its time on the table or the bag, rarely on my lap. It's nice to have a larg(er) screen when coding...1024x768 is rediculous. I would totally jump for one of these.
Blar.
I assume this is being marketed in America?
The rest of us don't have laps that big.
Well.... I guess some of us have to make up for our shortcomings somehow (not that *I* have that problem).
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
I mean really, it's just silly now.
Don't see these as laptops; they aren't. If you click the link on the Samsung 19" machine, it's obvious that these are rather the heir to the all-in-one portable desktops that were available some years ago (they tended to look like a sewing machine, with a detachable keyboard and a screen behind a side panel).
You don't lug these around every day, and you're not expected to. Instead, they are space-saving uncluttered desktops without the hassle of cables and multiple beige boxes to move around. You can take it out into the dining or living room to work or play for a few hours with the rest of your household instead of being relegated to some study or den. When it's time to clear the table you can just unplug it and move it away.
The format just looks rather like a laptop since it's the all-in-one form people are used to by now, and lots of components are made to accomodate it. I would prefer the sewing machine model myself (and Sony has some VAIO's for the Japanse market that are pretty close).
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
My biggest gripe with all "big screen" laptops is that tiny keyboard stuck in the middle of the huge room of the bottom part. So instead of giving us correctly placed arrow keys, full-size enter, Ins/Del placed conveniently, just for websurfing and games on bigscreen, they stuff the remaining rum with numpad. Yeah, great for widescreen accounting and displaying several columns extra in Excel, isn't it? Oh, and yes, and since the numpad took some extra place, and the rest of horizontal space was wasted with inch-wide margins on both sides and some extra column of "custom" keys, stuff all the keys that in a normal laptop fit in a column right from enter, just below it right Control, where you rest your wrists.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
Widescreen format may seem like it's aimed at windows users, but it's really a boon for us nerds, too!
I spend a lot of my day wishing I had a wider display, about another 4", for those stupidly-wide Oracle SQL*Plus queries, other-people's code which uses insane tab widths for indenting (I use two spaces), and so forth.
Really, I rarely want a widescreen when in GUI land, but wish for one daily as I live in Terminal Land.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
'Only' 39% of the market? That is a huge percentage of a market that exists to make portable computers. Given that the vast majority of people don't need the power offered by today's desktops, the idea of having a device that is small (er), quiet, and can be packed away and transported when necessary, is a significant advantage to most people. Does this indicate a transition from the traditional desktop form-factor to the 'luggable laptop' for the majority of consumers?
If the business people walked around with these things like 80's boomboxes, and doing the moonwalk, I'm going to be sick.
A few months ago I was advising a friend of the family on purchasing a new computer. She was adament that she NEEDED a laptop with a widescreen monitor. After going through why she needed a portable computer over a desktop she had no answer. These new monster laptops are being marketed as full fledged desktop computers with added portability.
Personally I'd like to see a step in the other direction, something akin the Apple 12 inch iBook, except smaller and less fruit.
Why would anyone want a laptop so big? The point of a laptop is that it is portable, you can take it with you places. If it's 20"+ diagonally that really doesn't fit in any bag I know. It's one thing if you are using it as a desktop replacement. And it's another thing if you are using it for something like a display in your booth at a trade show. But for a computer you use on the plane, train and other public spaces it's gotta be smaller. Right now the only things that even come close to good enough are incredibly expensive laptops from japan, the small vaios, the fujitsu lifebook p series and the 12" apples. I haven't found any other laptop even close to small enough.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Bigger laps, bigger laptops!
This is a direct result of better PDA technology. Devices like the Treo, Blackberry, and ultra-light tablets are allowing the normal business user avoid lugging around a normal laptop and still have access to email and office suite apps. So the pressure to make laptops more portable has been relieved by the emergence of a new market segment and devices specifically aimed at being ultra-portable.
Meanwhile, the desktop users, all but the l33test gamers, and developers are demanding more powerful transportable devices. They don't need to travel accross the country, but would like the flexibility of using their PCs from their living room or the backyard without sacrificing their big screens and better power.
The transportable desktop replacement business is naturally growing while the ultraportable segment is shrinking.
The most recent issue of Linux Magazine had an editorial article on needing bigger, more powerful laptops. I agree completely - my HP zd7000 laptop sits on my desk at home until I take it to work where it then sits on my desk there. I need it to be powerful and portable, but not necessarily great for working on at an airport waiting lounge. As long as it runs FC4 on VMWare fine, I'm happy.
The Army reading list
Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I thought you could get tiny (like 5x5cm) lcd "chips" that do 800x600. Couldn't a display be built that's at a more reasonable 14" diagonal but has a higher resolution, like all the way to the 1080p standard?
Thanks...
Nuke Gay Whales for Jesus.
I am not sure if I am ready for a 20" laptop, but I would sure like the choices in the 17" models to increase. Maybe this will drive down the price of the displays and improve the popularity of these models.
Does a laptop become NOT a laptop.
...Id have to spring for first class...
I have a heck of a problem opening my 15 inch Toshiba up on a plane in Coach class as it is . a 20 inch
I have a 13" screen on my current laptop. When I'm buying a new one I would probably want it to be smaller rather than bigger. Perhaps 12" with 1024x768 resolution, with a weght that hopfully will be below 1 kg.
What the article really is saying, is that the end is near for the standard desktop computer. These new large screen semi portable "laptops" will replace them. The price of standard desktops are allready falling rapidly.
God is REAL! Unless explicitly declared INTEGER
We all hope that Philips will speed the technology up.
Wider screens means also heavier batteries and bulkier carrying bags!
And also more fragile devices!
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Once laptops overcome the upgrade/heat/speed issues I just might replace my desktop with a powerful, smaller (but big screened) upgradeable laptop. Until then I'll stick to my desktop which, I am able to upgrade/cool/and have faster cpu.
i have two widescreen laptops, a 15.4" acer and a 14.1" acer. having used both, the former is unusable as an everyday portable object, and thus the reason why i got the latter. 14.1" widescreen is as big as i would be willing to carry around, ideally i would like a 12.1" widescreen like my boss has, for this is the ideal combination of power and portability.
would be ideal for me.
Ok, they're neither desktops nor laptops and calling them desktop replacements implies laptop, so what should we call them to nod dilute the notion that a laptop is something you can *easily* carry with you in a bag?
Let's hear some ideas for new names. Perhaps we'll manage to come up with one that'll stick.
Fattop? Hugetop? Lugtop?
I believe that all of Apple's current Powerbooks come with DVI and I would assume that some PC laptops include it too. It's a great way to have a big screen that you don't have to carry.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What they really need to do is squeeze a nice 20" wide screen display into the space of a 13" dispaly. That would be cool.
return 0; }
You mention tablet PCs, but I find that nothing at all exists in the niche that I want covered:
- A display the size of one page of a standard novel at minimum, and up to A5 at maximum (that's half of A4 for the imperialists).
- Pure CompactFlash card storage for light weight and robustness, although a microdrive could of course also fit in a type II slot.
- No physical keyboard as it wastes real estate, but PS2 connectors for optional standard mouse and external keyboard for the odd occasion when heavy input is desired.
- Linux as standard from the manufacturer, or any BSD would be fine too. Manufacturer support is crucial here, as hacks rarely have access to all hardware facilities.
- Wifi and Bluetooth, obviously. It's 2005.
Hell, I'd use such a thing all day long when mobile or around the house if it existed. The closest thing to it so far is Nokia's nice Linux-based 770, but its display is just not large enough for what I want (the whole unit is only 3/4 the size of a standard novel, and the display much smaller), although the resolution of 800x480 is acceptable.
I guess I'll just have to wait. PDAs and palmtops don't even come close, laptops are too large and have an annoying keyboard, and tablets haven't yet filled the niche well.
Using a 20-inch-wide laptop in an economy airline seat.
I must get one immediately so my boss will be forced to upgrade all my flights to business class.
FTA ~ "...the M70 can be used for a romantic movie with that special someone on a Saturday night, or a session of intense gaming with your buddies."
For the typical slashdotter (or person who drools over this laptop), the later is much more realistic.
...is that the reason for these king sized laptops? I thought it was part of an an international conspiracy to irradiate the reproductive organs of /. readers to keep them from breeding.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I was in an industrial accident, pretty bad back injury, put me into early retirement, can only work part time now. Anyway, inititally after the accident (emergency room to another hospita to another, etc) I went to several "normal" docs, *all of them* wanted to remove all my spinal disks and insert a steel rod into my spine. I freaked. I chose chiropractic instead. Result, after a year of therapy, I still have a functional spine that bends. I'm over an inch shorter than I used to be, and never got complete full use back, but I am able to do physical labor now, bend, etc, have a somewhat normal life.
In other words, you and Randi can byte me.
I'll stick with my Telcon Zorba thanks very much.
I guess the new trend is a heavier laptop. Good thing I held on to my Commodore SX-64! Wohoo!
I think at that point, it's just considered a desktop, but the difference is that you've turned your lap into a desk.
Could be good for the economy, might up fast-food and candy sales as people try desperately to match their lap to their "laptop"
Come on. The truth be known, our laps are now supersized!
Please mod me 1 or troll. It's where the truth is these days, even on Slashdot. Beware the power of moderators everywh
How about a full size (except numpad) keyboard with real keys that click.
Based on www.pckeyboard.com?
Many of these laptops with odd ball screens have a real problem: The native resolution of the screen isn't supported by the video-bios.
Why is this a problem for Linux users ?
Last time I checked, Xorg/Xfree86 didn't support resolutions your video card didn't advertise. Which becomes a real PITA because now you are either forced to use the screen with chopped off ends, or full screen with the image being badly stretched out.
You could use the closed source XiG X server and you wouldn't have these issues. But a) it cost a pretty penny and b) they software itself is kinda dumb. (You'll install their X server, but you won't get any psuedo-rpm/dpkg's to trick the distro into thinking you have a regular X installed. It becomes a nightmare with dependencies.)
I bought a 15.4" widescreen display "laptop" to use as more of a portable desktop/gaming/media device. It's got a bigger display than my TV and looks a lot better. I don't have enough space in my apt for my lumbering hulk of a desktop and CRT monitor. I can see why these "laptops" are being created. Comcast's new commercials seem to only feature people using laptops. Regardless of the ridiculous size and weight of some of them, laptops are being presented as more hip and usable than a desktop. There's a rift developing in laptops. On one side are the media beasts with 20" displays, likely ending up being used in a home... and on the other there's the compact business traveler 12" model you can actually use on the subway.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
Is this in responce to the fattening of America? (I want a laptop that makes me look skinny)
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Dell already announced a 19 inch laptop earlier this year (on Slashdot). Personally I have the Dell 9100 (17 inch widescreen 1920x1200 resolution) and I love it. For programming it is great as I can actually have some room on the screen for the programming window, some IDE's have so much other crap that you are stuck with a little block of 20x20 for actual coding. Yes, yes I know I can turn those off or hide them, but in many cases I use a lot of them.
When you turn down the brightness of the laptop the battery life stays fairly long (1.5 to 2.5 hours) which is fine with me. It weighs about 8 pounds, which stinks, but I have a nice Dell backpack to carry it around with! These are definitely not laptops, they are machines that you can use at work and bring home for use, travel with them is a little difficult. i.e. try breaking out the 17 inch laptop on a coach flight - there is no room for it. I believe it is a full size keyboard (if not it is very close), but I wish I had a number pad...
Overall I am happy with my decision to buy the 17 inch and I would have bought a 19 had it been available at the time. For certain people this is great. For people whose need is a true portable device, it's not.
Nintendo has actually already come up with this technology. Do you remember Virtual Boy http://www.virtual-boy.org/ and the Power Glove? http://www.rolandit.com/games/Peripherals/viewperi pheral.asp?GID=7 :-)
He might be a foreigner.
It's two thousand and freaking five, for crying out loud.
Can't we at least say 500mm Laptop ?
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Brillian!
Yes, let's put bigger and bigger screens. Now that we have all this space, why not make bigger keyboards? Perhaps including a numeric keypad.
Actually, let's make a full size keyboard that folds out of the case.
But now, what if I want to move my keyboard here and the screen there? Why don't we separate the components? What's that you say? Brilliant? Indeed!
Let's have a separate 20" LCD, a separate keyboard, and the pc itself, which I can actually store under my desk to remove the clutter...
And now, I shall file my patents.
laptops definitely do not cost the same amount of money as desktops, in terms of the amount of processing power you get for your money. Especially since laptops cant really be upgraded, etc. If all you're doing is word processing, then sure you can get a little £300/$500 laptop, but if you want to do anything useful, such as play games (hehe), or 3D CAD work, then laptops are nowhere near the same value as a good old desktop.
That depends on how you do your math. The value of picking laptops over destktops is measured in more than money and benchmark results. The company I work for uses hardly anything other than laptops. How sophisticated a laptop you get depends on what you are doing, people who only do word processing and muck around with book-keeping software etc.. get lower end machines (but still high quality brands). If you are doing more demanding work or if you are a PHB you get something better. Performance at the high end is really not an issue 90% of the time since even our engineers and developers are rarely doing heavy-duty 3D CAD work or playing Halflife 2 on their laptop work stations. The latter should be done at home anyway and it is not surprising that the former reqires a very powerful laptop or a specialized desktop system (ie. expensive systems). All in all laptops come out better than desktops in many companies for the exact reason the grandparent mentioned, people take them home which means they can quickly respond to emergency situations via a VPN connection which makes you capable of very flexible responses in a crisis. That would not be possible if you only bought desktops. The size is not an issue since most laptop owners mainly just transport their laptop to and from work by car. Furthermore since people (at least where I work) also often get to use the company laptops for personal stuff you might argue the laptop becomes one of the perks of the job since it saves alot of people having to buy a computer of their own even if the company laptop does not score tops in the benchmarks since, believe it or not, most people are not hardcore computer gamers in their spare time.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Looks like we'll have to dust off some old terms like 'Transportable' again. Not long till we see professors tooling around campus with the things bungeed to the back of their bikes.
I can't wait until they try and stick 3 21" LCDs on a laptop. Maybe they'd also have a full size keyboard in there as well.
The Toshiba Libretto is probably what you're after then. They're *tiny*, and nice little laptops. Ok, so they're getting toward palmtops, but whatever.
I'm personally using a Toshiba Portege at the moment, and I'm very happy with the form factor. It has a 10" display that alas only does 800x600, but then it's about seven years old so it's hard to complain. They're also obviously well built, since this one has been through three war zones with a war correspondant.
I'm seriously eyeing the new model Portege (which alas has a crap trackpad and worse button positioning, and only a 1024x768 display, but is otherwise utterly droolworthy. In particular, it weighs almost nothing) or a Libretto. The new model libretto should be out soon, and I'll decide which to bankrupt myself on then.
I want something about the size of a brick that uses a HelioDisplay free-space display and a laser-generated virtual keyboard.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Great - I've just bought a 12" iBook two weeks ago and now it's obsolete!
I'm done with large bulky desktop replacements. Instead, I've been completely sucked in by ultra-portables.
I picked up a lot of Thinkpad X21's for resale in my shop, and my first thought when handling one was "How cute". After installing Ubuntu on the thing and playing around with it for about a month, I decided I'd had enough "big" and picked up a new NC4200 as my permanent portable.
1.8 GHz Pentium M, 1 GB 533 MHz DDR2, 60 GB HD, bluetooth, 802.11b/g, 10/100/1k networking, sd card, 12.1" screen and weighing in at around 3.9 lbs. And an external USB burner for when I need it. Man, that's all the portable power I need. Not to mention enough HD space to store (more than) a few flicks/tv shows for travel (perfect w/ a set of stereo bluetooth headphones).
I know, I know... different strokes. I'm sure that there's a fantastic market for 20" laptops -- and lots of people will be really happy with them. I'm just personally glad that the market isn't totally one sided. There's a good fit for everyone.
Now, if only someone'd come out with a wireless video glasses (a la i-glasses or Innovatek) so I could get a simulated 36"-72" screen... man, I'd be in absolute bliss!
Oh and while I'm at it, could I also have a pony to put in the backseat of my flying car?
#SickNotWeak
If we're getting such a wide laptop. I hope they finally put a full sized keyboard with keypad on it. I'm tired of having to either hook up a full keyboard or a usb keypad for full keyboard functionality. My hands feel so cramped on a regular laptop keyboard and the arrow keys are attrotious.
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
Is it just me, or can no-one forsee trying to put a 20" laptop into a 16-inch-wide economy class airline seat not gonna work? (16" is the correct width for US economy class standard IIRC)
I cant imagine a 21" one being very portable.
I'd swap my 17" Powerbook for a 12" with the same resolution anyday. The 17" is barely portable but the screen is lovely to work on.
People buy SUV's:
to haul stuff and they are usually just hauling themselves.
go 4 wheeling when they are usually on nice pavement.
People buy large screen notebooks:
so they can watch DVD's and they are usually working on letter sized docs.
be portable and take it everywhere and it sitts on the desk.
I have a large notebook and nice Sony Vaio SR17. The Sony is fritzy and old now but I still prefer it because it is 3 pounds and is portable. But alas it does not play Doom 3 like the Compaq R3000......
These are essentially *consumer* laptops, and reflect the rise of this device in the homes of the middle class. Previously these devices were (to non-nerds) business tools owned by businesses. This new breed however reflects the high rate of adoption into the homes of style conscious buyers. They don't want a clunky PC, they want to look suave with a shiny new laptop, but at the same time these are machines designed to be used at home and rarely moved about. The wide screens reflect the taste of these consumers who are more likely to be buying the device for entertainment, and 'expect' wide screen for watching DVDs.
So what is my point? My point is that to a nerd, these aren't *real* laptops, they're a sub breed made for the home user. A real nerd with a laptop is likely carrying it around with them on a very regular basis, and it's likely it will get used in the field for both work and play. He/She'll want something small, light and rugged with good battery life.
Woah! My bad! That'll teach me to check Google beforehand:
i rline_seat_space00.asp
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/a
"Coach seats on U.S. domestic flights are usually either 17.2 or 18 inches wide; on longer flights, economy-class seats on wide-bodied planes tend to be slightly larger, up to 18.5 inches."
It still gets my suspicious eye...
For example, I have KDE configured so that the Kicker bar uses the rightmost one inch of my screen. Then, I make word processing or browser windows as tall as the screen so I don't have to scroll as often.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
If it's 20"+ diagonally that really doesn't fit in any bag I know.
If 20" screen laptops start appearing in a large enough chunk of the market, bags will be made for them.
Truly, how much bigger is a 20" diagonal screen laptop than one of the existing 17" widescreen models? Let's see... The HDTV format has a native aspect ratio of 16:9. Applying pythagoris to arithmetic yields that such a screen would be 0.93 inches wide for every inch of diagonal resolution. Thus a 17" screen is about 15.75" wide and a 20" screen of the same ratio would be about 18.5" wide, a gain of about 2.75" or 1.375" on either side of the keyboard.
I'll admit that this increased width is not without its problems, such as where to put the numerous ports and/or the media drive. However, with 19" of horizontal space available in the front or rear of the unit, such problems are not without solution.
Weigh the inconvenience factor of the larger size to the coolness factor of you bypassing the in-flight movie in favor of your own digital media viewing portal that's twice as big as those measly 10" LCD screens that swing down from behind the oxygen masks.
While we're at it, why not ditch the LCD entirely and just integrate projector into the laptop. Those new in-focus projects are getting pretty small. Just think about how annoying you could be on an airplane! It'd be worse than one of those laser pointers!
- designing XSLT with 3 windows of XML, XSLT, and XHTML next to eachother,
- DTP work (A3 + some dialogue boxes)
- webdesign
- GIMP
- email, if your friends like long subject lines
- tabbed browsing
And the subject says it all: size matters (My desktop at home is 23.1", so my work laptop looks like a letterbox)...I can make myself at home, on the road by being able to watch my pornography. No more paying extra for TV channels at hotels. And no more being bored on plane rides. Seriously, I think that this is an awesome development because one of the things that stop me from buying a laptop is the size of the screen (I want 19" or more). The second thing of course is the harddrive capacities and speed. I am definitly getting a laptop when you can have at least 2 x 250 giga-byte harddrives (with potential to put in another two) that transfer at SATA 150 speeds. Don't ask what I need that storage for.
I don't have a widescreen laptop yet, but when I do get one, I'd like to see it with a proper 16:9 display at HD resolution, i.e. 1920x1080, NOT the bastardised 16:10 ratio of 1920x1200.
/rant
Who were the idiots that decided that LCD panels should forego proper TV scale resolutions (4:3 and 16:9) and use the non-standard 5:4 and 16:10 ratios???
Is Microsoft responsible? Did they ask to have TV resolution plus taskbar addon resolution? I mean seriously - who watches a DVD at full screen width and keeps the taskbar visible? Anyone? Didn't think so, so why make the panels that way?
Visceral Psyche Films
How come "laptops" only fold over once? I call them "notebooks", and they do look like books. But if we want a bigger screen in a smaller portable, why not have the screen portion fold in the middle? Two screens, with larger front pieces like slightly-magnifying lenses, carefully aligned. I know I'd like a taller screen than wider, like the proportions of paper I'm used to, for "computing". For watching movies, I could turn it on its side for a wider screen, with the keyboard panel folded behind it to stand it up. I know that aligning the screens with a mechanical hinge, at the scale of the tiny pixels, is hard. But that seems to be the only problem, and certainly the mechanical engineers making these crazy-tiny machines can figure it out. Where is my iccordion?
--
make install -not war
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/3219 57-64295-89315-321838-f1-445351.html
realkiwi
Any modern OS lets you change the DPI settings for your fonts, so that you can run 1600x1200 on a 15" display without having microscopic text. My Dell Inspiron 8200 has a screen with those exact specs.
Of course, it's an LCD, so its viewable area is approximately equivalent to a 17" CRT.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Why can I not have a fold-out second screen? that would add another 15" widescreen, which could be connected to my dvi port!
B.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
Get Ready For The 2-inch Plasma TV!!
20" is getting a little big for a "laptop".
What I want is smaller screens with higher resolutions. A 14" 1600x1200 display would be nice. Stick that in an extremely lightweight power saving laptop and I would have an awesome portable X terminal.
Currently my only choices are my Dell with 15" 1600x1200 LCD which has a crap oddly shaped case that hurts my legs, is very heavy, gets hot as hell, and only lasts about 1 hour on battery... or my iBook which is pretty light (not enough though) and last upwards of 5-6 hours when using it as a dumb X11 terminal, but it has a complete ass 1024x768 screen (try running Visual Studio in VMware over X11 in OSX and see how much room is left to work when running 1024x768, blech).
What I really want is a thin-client type thing. A very lightweight laptop that is basically just a medium/large high-resolution LCD with a keyboard and high-speed wireless card that will run on battery for 8+ hours and not get hot. No hard-drive or powerful CPU needed.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
dual screen laptops!
Thanks, AC! You can play Mechwarrior or Civ on that baby, and it has a switch to turn off the power-sucking wireless and touchpad periphs when you are far from electric sockets!
;^)
I think I'm going to get the boss to buy me one
What I don't get is the assumption that everyone uses a computer the way you do. Our scenario goes something like this:
I work with a litigation consulting firm whose accountants work in the office 70% of the time, and on-site 30% of the time. When on-site, they need a computer system that is powerful and is ergonomically comfortable. This means a large screen (currently 19") with a full sized keyboard and an external USB numpad. Never have I heard a complaint from them about the increasing size of their laptops. We have two 15" IBM ThinkPads that pretty much sit on the shelf. Everyone wants the bigger screen because they can turn up the system font sizes to a level that they can read comfortably, and still have room to spare.
Don't get me wrong, I can completely understand the desire for a portable laptop, but don't underestimate the demand for larger, more powerful designs as well.
Really, it would be better if they called them "shortscreens". Eg a 15" 'widescreen' LCD is SMALLER than a 15" regular screen.
Also, for those of use who really don't care about DVDs on laptops, short screens are a curse. Most documents and websites are Portrait mode. Likewise, photo editing - unless it's all landscapes. And most U.I.s have everything on the top and bottom (title-bar, menu bar, taskbar), so more *vertical* space is needed!
i would prefer to have a 12 or 15" laptop that does 1920 x 1080. I i like text tiny and can read it just fine thanks....
How many cm, meter or kilometers is that?
Is is larger than a standard laptop or smaller?
With screens that size, can we please redesign the machine's form-factor? Say, a detachable CPU/keyboard/drive unit taking up 2/3 of the bottom clamshell, with the rest holding the batteries and acting as the base for the display? We're getting to the point that you want to be able to sit further back from the display and not have it start directly behind the keyboard.
I have a 15.4" ASUS (Insert plug for Great Service here) which I hardly ever bring with me - the primary reason I bought a laptop was that I don't have much room in my apartment, plus I like a computer that I can just pick up and watch a movie on in my bed (Don't ask "What kind of movie?", it'll only scar you for life).
On the other hand, I really love not breaking my back, too. That's why I'm eyeballing an Apple 12" Powerbook at the moment and doing my damned best not to buy it on credit...
I have one of those 10lb monsters. It is already 2.5 inches thick, why not put a real keyboard on it? Another half inch and a few ounces won't hurt, and it would make me happy...
I've been an early adopter of the widescreen format for TVs (since the late 90s). However I find it completely inadequate for most of what is done on a computer and I personnaly use a conventionnal aspect "tilted" LCD in the portrait position. Most web pages are vertically formatted, so you wast less screen space reading them this way. Reading PDF is even better, since these can never been dynamically formatted and scrolling through each page is a pain. Even for photo editing in Photoshop, I find that I like to display the picture "before" and "after" during editing one on top of the other, which fits perfectly on a portrait oriented 4:3 screen if the photos are in landscape orientation.
So if I were to purchase a laptop for personnal use I would certainly avoid a widescreen. I cannot get portrait orientation on a laptop but let's not make it worse either.
My computer multitasks so that I don't have to.
Yes, please please please, get these behemoths to market so they drive down the prices of 14" and 15" LCD models even more. I was just thinking about replacing my existing laptop, so this is welcome news.
Slashdot? Oh, I just read it for the articles.
is usually plenty.
Make love, not reality television.
19" or 20" is really too big for a laptop, however one can have a high resolution screen in 15" width that is a wide screen ratio. I am not concerned by application window height, I need screen width and a high enough resolution to make it practical. It's also good for watching widescreen DVD's! I've got a 15" Apple PowerBook which is 1280 x 854 and the new 15" PowerBooks are now 1440 x 960 which is plenty.
This give you more elbow room to place windows side by side on the screen. This is really nice because now I can place a PDF on the side of the screen (an eBook) and have a text editor and some console windows next to it.
Now there may be a market for 20" laptops but it's not gonna be all that big. Especially for mobile users. However, if you must have a huge screen and you are willing to carry a heavy laptop around be my guest and buy one. Perhaps you will just use it like a desktop computer on your desk ala Star Trek TNG or something. Whatever floats your boat.
Bottom Line:
1. Wide screen gives you more horizontal screen real estate.
2. It will make laptops bigger and thereby heavier.
3. It will look fabulous with widescreen DVD's.
They will probably go with a 19/20 inch, to bring true HD resolution to the their portables. They have so much of the media market it would make sense.
How about a 12" laptop with the same resolution? Now that would be a breakthrough... I honestly don't care about screen size, since it's the resolution that matters. The CRT days, when you couldn't sit too close to a screen are over since the size of the LCD only dictates how far it has to be.
Purely logical actually. As Americans and the other people in the overdeveloped world ;)
become more obese and develop wider laps, the demand for wider laptops will grow.
Their increased inaction from watching movies on these wider laptops will cause
their laps to grow wider creating a demand for yet wider laptops. Expect to see
24" laptops before to long. Free enterprise in action
And why is it that none of the widescreen laptops I've ever seen have a ratio that isn't the same as widescreen DVD, or HD? That is, 16:9? They're all something different...
The "golden ratio" is the ratio such that A:B::B:A+B. Which, if you calculate, is exactly (1+sqrt5)/2. Which is, of course, irrational, i.e., NOT 1.6:1
QED
Despite all the talk of watching movies in wide-screen format and the like being a primary factor in the move to widescreen format displays on laptops, I really doubt that's nearly as big a deal as the manufacturers seem to think?
The *big* benefit to a widescreen notebook display (whatever size screen in inches you opt for) is the ability to display 2 applications, side by side, at the same time!
We've always had screen resolutions with more horizontal pixels than vertical - but widescreen brings the ratio closer to something really sensible and usable. How many times have you wanted to keep a web page open and copy/paste something from it into a Word document, or into email? How often are you working in a publishing package and need to move clip-art over from, say, Photoshop after you've just edited it? How often do you want to leave something open and in the foreground because you're in the middle of working with it, yet you get interrupted with a task that requires looking something up in a second app? It's really nice to have both on-screen at the same time in any of these cases, rather than playing "shuffle" with 2 app windows. And in most cases, making a laptop display widescreen doesn't really make the machine itself much bigger anyway. (You already usually want roughly that much width to the bottom half of the system so you have a comfortable keyboard to type on.)