Comments on: Laptops, Screen Sizes, and Resolutions, Oh My!

By: Carl Farrington

Carl Farrington — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:52:05 +0000

I am typing this from a 13″ white MacBook that I’ve repaired for somebody. I’ve been playing on it for a couple of days, and I am finding some things that I really like about the system (most obviously the two-finger scrolling for now, and of course that MagSafe. The OS is lovely but that goes without saying). The build quality is average bordering on poor (plastic chipped off all around the front top edge of the base, keyboard requires punching keys, bezel has same plastic chipped bits), but overall I am somewhat tempted. I use Fedora on my own machine so could quite easily live with a non Windows system.

So, the announcement of the new 13″ aluminium MacBook, with a really clever touchpad, and stonger materials, plus better overall look, is extremely tempting to me.

The only problem is screen resolution (hence how I ended up at your blog – thanks to Google). My Thinkpad T43p has 1400×1050 in a 14.1″ panel, and my Fedora desktop machine has 1920×1200 (27″ Dell Ultrasharp).

I really couldn’t live with 1280×800 in a laptop. I don’t want a bigger screen – for me, the perfect size for a laptop is 13.3″ – 14.1″.

So for now I am still left looking at the Thinkpad X300, which is too expensive for now and given the choice I’d prefer the Mac just for something different and to explore other niceties of the Mac system.

If Apple gave the option of a higher resolution screen in the new 13″ aluminium MacBook, I reckon I’d buy one right away.

By: Tom Reestman

Tom Reestman — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:50:22 +0000

Homunculus,

The 12″ PB is a great machine, but in terms of resolution it’s 1024×768. The new MacBook has more vertical space at 800, and a lot more horizontal space.

Yes, it also has a larger footprint, but it’s thinner and the weight is a lot closer now. Along with all the other advantages I really think the 12″ is long in the tooth. The performance difference between the two machines will be astounding.

In my opinion, yesterday’s 13″ MacBook announcement made it as close to a 12″ PB replacement as Apple is going to get anytime soon.

By: 17-inch MacBook Pro Will Be Late, Not Absent | The Apple Blog

17-inch MacBook Pro Will Be Late, Not Absent | The Apple Blog — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:16:18 +0000

[...] Pro at yesterday’s notebook event. For those interested in Apple’s Pro line of laptops, screen real estate is a valuable commodity indeed. Designers need the space for working on large documents and [...]

By: joecab

joecab — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:49:57 +0000

I’m with Homunculus: I still love my little 12″ PB, but it HAS been six years now. And if Apple comes out with any halfway decent subnotebook of comparable size, I’m on it.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:34:41 +0000

I’m holding onto my 12″ PB as long as I can. The vertical space and overall compact size has no equal. I upgraded every component I could and we’ll see how long this beauty can hold out. Can’t stand the size/shape of the macbook. It’s lack of vertical space is terribly annoying to me. Long live the 12″ PB!!

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:14:25 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand these wide-format screens. I’m tired of scrolling web pages, and don’t watch videos on my laptop – so these stupid widescreens are a waste (actually, it’s a ploy by the manufacturers because they’re smaller than a normal screen.

My 20″ LCD screen I bought about 5 years ago for my desktop has a 1600×1200 resolution, yet most 24-28″ LCD screens today still only have a 1200 vertical resolution.

By: Tom Reestman

Tom Reestman — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:20:41 +0000

Jon,

“I just don’t get where you come up with $75.00. Did you just pull that number out of your head?”

Better pulling it out of my head than some other part of my body. :-)

Seriously, when they introduced the option for the MBP over a year ago, it was (and still is) $100. My target of $75 is simply based on the thinking that it could come down a bit, especially on the lower-end models.

By: Brujo

Brujo — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:21:19 +0000

re:to jon, 75 sounds reasonable to ME, look at gas and such that ends with .99 to make the human mind more complacent!?

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:24:33 +0000

Good thoughts. I just don’t get where you come up with $75.00. Did you just pull that number out of your head?

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:45:15 +0000

oh I see. Thanks.