[gentoo-user] Re: OT: advice sought on new laptop for Gentoo

[Grant Edwards]

On 2010-09-07, Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@×××××.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 7:58 AM, John Blinka <john.blinka@×××××.com> wrote:
>>
>> I really liked the 1600x1200 display on this machine, which I greatly
>> prefer to the 1600x900 display on the more modern Inspiron 1545 I
>> own. ?Most of what I do now is through a web browser, and I can see
>> much more of a web page with 1200 lines of display than I can with
>> 900. And I dislike the massive width of the 1545 which makes it much
>> less portable than the old 8200.

Exactly they way I feel (for those of you who missed this entire
thread).

>> So, ?is 16x9 all that's available now in laptops?
>
> Basically all laptops are widescreen (or shortscreen <g>) now,

Good thing I mouth wasn't full of pretzel when I read that. :)

> your best bet is to try to find one that is 16:10 instead of 16:9, it
> will at least give you a little bit more vertical screen space.

The "pixel" ratio is 16:10, is the physical size also 16:10?  IOW are
the pixels still square?

[...]

> Since 16:9 panels are the same shape as the ones TVs use, I assume
> that's why they are cheaper and why the industry prefers them.

I thought about that, but the sizes and pixel densities don't overlap
at all between laptop panels and TV panels, so I don't see how they
can be leveraging production processes or equipment.

> I care deeply about vertical pixels, but also about DPI. I really
> don't like using a tiny monitor, nor do I like to use a monitor with
> less than 100dpi. This requirement usually makes the rest of the
> details worth themselves out naturally. :)
>
> My laptop, which is a few years old now, has a 1400x1050 (116? dpi)
> and that is a very comfortable resolution for me.

That's what I've got now: a 15" 1400x1050, and it's great.  The only
thing better would be a 16" 1600x1200.

> In order to get the same vertical pixels on a new laptop I'd have to
> go up to 1680x1050 (16:10) or 1920x1080 (16:9) and it would probably
> be at least an inch wider than my current laptop, which is 13" wide.

To get the same physical height as my current 15" display, I have to
go with an 18+ diagonal 16:9 display, which is about 4" wider than my
current laptop.  I guess I'd better take good care of my current
Thinkpad.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! I've read SEVEN
                                  at               MILLION books!!
                              gmail.com