15 ms·

Professionals need our 4:3 screens

85 points by H4CK3RM4N 9y ago

IdontRememberIt 9y ago
(Controversial) Corollary resulting from this 16:9 domination: the maximum length of a source code line should be increased. 80 characters seems to be not the best fit for modern IDE on 16:9 screens. (I hate that, but praying for a 16:10 monitor comeback did not work. Also, it is getting worse with hidpi monitors)
- bartread 9y ago
  Again, I can't help but disagree with this. The reason newspapers arrange text in narrow columns is because it's easier to read, particularly if you're scanning quickly: same with source code. A better approach I've found is to have files open side by side. On my old 17-inch MBP I used to edit three source files side by side. I can just about get away with this on my 15-inch retina model, but find two works better. My Surface Book. is a bugger for this because, for one thing, the screen is smaller at 13.5", and then you also just don't have the horizontal real estate without reducing the font size slightly
- goerz 9y ago
  No, all source code lines should be max 80 columns wide, always. That way, you can put a well-defined number of editor panes next to each other on the screen (3 columns on a 16:9, 2 columns on a 4:3). You're also able to print out snippets of source code on paper at 10pt font size.
  - rhn_mk1 9y ago
    ...or 1.5 panes on a different 16:9, or 0.7 panes on a phone screen. 80 character limit sounds like it makes sense for order, but depending on size & eyesight, a lot of the screen may end up wasted. Personally, I hate nothing more than seeing lines wrapped like this when reading emails wrapped to 80 characters per line. This wastes vertical space, making the problem even worse.
- ahartmetz 9y ago
  Agreed. For me, 110 columns max seems to work best. I prefer longer, more descriptive variable names (taking into account the rule "larger scoper, longer name"). LLVM has an 80 lines rule and rarely variable names with more than three letters. This makes the code harder to read IMO.
falcolas 9y ago
My compromise to address the lack of 4:3 screens: Laptop on the left. One monitor in normal orientation in the center. One monitor in portrait orientation on the right. I still wish for more vertical landscape in the middle, but... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
chvid 9y ago
I am professional and I like my wide screen laptop. Most of the time I am in this editor-thingee where the left-hand side is a tree-structure showing an overview of the project I am working on and the right-hand side is some sort of detail view. Perhaps there are some toolbars too but they are just fine being vertical.
- majewsky 9y ago
  So once again, the rift is between the IDE users and the vim users. :)
TomK32 9y ago
I should use my ext display in 9:16 more often. That's the one that makes sense even if you only work between vim, firefox and the terminal.
gerardnll 9y ago
first world problems
mozumder 9y ago
iPad Pro with keyboard.
- eludwig 9y ago
  Yeah, this was going to be my suggestion, but again, i think it depends on usage. I have a 12.9 inch (first gen) iPad Pro. Using it in portrait to read is completely amazing. It is actually almost too tall for my lap like this (I am not a large person), but I can just manage. Some of these folks may be able to get away with this solution if reading PDFs, web pages, etc. I assume that at this point it is also possible to do console style development on an iPad (remote apps, ssh, etc). The only bummer is the iOS local development problem for people that need the software flexibility of working locally. I really, really wish Apple would allow this. But for reading and writing, the iPad Pro is pretty darn hard to beat.
  - mozumder 9y ago
    Ironically I end up using my iPad Pro mostly for TV, since I already use a MacBook Pro laptop with a somewhat decent 16:10 screen aspect ratio. But iPad Pro is such a great reading screen. Wish Apple made an iPad dedicated for video with 16:9 screen that you could place on a stand. Was hoping HomePod would have included a screen, like the Alexa, but it didn't..
BuildTheRobots 9y ago
I've been lamenting similar for years; nearly everything I do on a computer involves long not wide documents. I've mostly made my peace with a 16:10 monitor as it at least allows me to have two documents side by side and this is still findable in a laptop.
- petecox 9y ago
  My dual monitor setup has an old 19" with a stand that rotates 90º. Custom stands are available for any monitor that has the VESA mounting screws. Laptops are trickier but I'm hoping in the age of tablet-hybrid detachables that a rotateable tripod comes of age.
jeffhuys 9y ago
So, he doesn't like 16:9 or 16:10 because he doesn't use the extra space? I think I couldn't live without a wide-screen.. screen. Most of the time, I have 2 or 3 files side-by-side. I also think that the author actually has a different problem: a bad trackpad. He stated he needs to scroll a lot to view content, and a nice trackpad goes a long way with this. It all comes down to opinion; I'd rather have a wide screen than a high screen, because I feel really agile with my huge trackpad. > Please consider the needs of such user as I and many of my colleagues. Academics and various assorted IT professionals are not an insignificant group of users. And even if only a part of them are having the same frustrations as me when buying notebooks, this is still a large group, I’m sure. Please consider providing such people as us with a little choice in the matter of screen ratios. There is our money in this for you. Lots of money! I don't think there's "lots of money" there. I also think the companies that make these laptops do the necessary market research and come to the conclusion that wide-screen sells better.
- tjoff 9y ago
  Extra space? There is no extra space, if anything the aspect ratio of wide-screens makes the screen smaller if keeping with the weird diagonal measurements. 16:9 is in my opinion quite terrible for computer work, 16:10 is ok but hardly great.
- kev009 9y ago
  You can still do that with 4:3. Think of the dimensions of a real open book.. it's quite alright :)
- MrMid 9y ago
  > I also think that the author actually has a different problem: a bad trackpad. He stated he needs to scroll a lot to view content, and a nice trackpad goes a long way with this. Well - he has no trackpad, actually. The X60s he mentions has only a trackpoint. But even though this trackpoint is wonderful for scrolling, it's not the point - he wants to see the content, not scroll through it. I get it, when I upgraded from X61s to to a new 12" laptop, I also didn't like the reduced screen height. But these old laptops had low resolution screen, and the extra resolution of FHD screen more than makes up for the smaller vertical physical size. And I can have two documents side-by-side.
hjorthjort 9y ago
Or is this a call for mainstream operating systems and applications to get creative (read, nice tiling or splitting by default)? What if all browsers suported single page split view? So that the left side was your regular view, half width, and the right side was the continuation of the same page, where the left side ended.
- adtac 9y ago
  How would scrolling work? If both panes went up or down a little, I'd find it a little jarring. Maybe I would get used to it, I don't know.
  - TheCoelacanth 9y ago
    Same as if you have two windows open: whichever one you have the cursor over scrolls.
  - alok-g 9y ago
    Do we really need scrolling? Won't book-like page flips just be sufficient? :-)
- dictum 9y ago
  There's only so much you can get with good tiling. I used to not care about the aspect ratio debate until I started increasing font sizes in my applications. My eyesight is still good, but being able to work farther from the screen feels better, and I can keep brightness low. I work on a 16:9 27" display where this is moot (still, I feel like I use the center 50% of the display 90% of the time) but I feel this pain in laptops. At 16:9, for page-based content (all text editors and code tools, productivity tools, web browsers; terminals less so), you're forced to display two pages side by side. Still, they're shorter vertically than your eye can handle. Horizontally, your eye will either gravitate towards the center of the display, or have to switch between the two sides (ultimately rendering the extra area of the display temporarily useless) At 4:3 in full screen (especially important for smaller displays) you can have a sidebar or ancillary tool occupying 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen, and the paged content occupying the rest. I've made my peace with 16:10.
Paul_S 9y ago
4:3 and matte and a proper keyboard. These no longer exist because Apple and shiny.
- dewey 9y ago
  If there would be a demand then it would exist (from Apple or other companies).
  - DonHopkins 9y ago
    There's a demand for a non-anemic Mac desktop that isn't a huge overpriced dead-end waste of money, but that doesn't exist.
    - bartread 9y ago
      I could say the same for the Macbook Pro: the current models are an absolute joke.
  - gsich 9y ago
    Well, there is the problem. If monitors and notebooks are sold with 16:9 only, then of course there is no "demand" for 4:3, because you don't sell any! This argumentation is scewed.
  - xiphmont 9y ago
    It does exist-- from hobbyist entrepreneurs. 51nb has been selling motherboard upgrades for the old 4:3 ThinkPad models for a few years now, and others have begun to specialize in whole-system integration, additional mods, and complete systems based on this work (I'm one of those people, though I also do it as a hobby). My three ThinkPads X60s machines are all Broadwells, with nice 12.1" 4:3 high res screens using modern backlights I fabricate myself. They work so well I intend to build more.
  - tjoff 9y ago
    You assume there is actual competition taking place in computer display panels. Not sure how you can get that impression.
wccrawford 9y ago
>When it comes right down to it, I find only these two things to be of paramount importance: >the highest possible screen, >the lowest possible weight. Rotate the monitor sideways. According to the only 2 criteria that matter to him, a 16:9 monitor on its side is way better than a 4:3 monitor in any rotation.
- JoBrad 9y ago
  How many laptop monitors can you rotate?
  - scotty79 9y ago
    All of them. You just need usb keyboard and mouse and flat stable surface.
    - m_mueller 9y ago
      and not being afraid to look like a total freak ;)
  - jeffhuys 9y ago
    All of them, but you'll rotate the laptop itself with it. Which can be quite a hassle. :p
- Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
  He already does that with his desktop monitor, he's talking about laptops. > This is why my desktop LCD monitor is mounted vertically the whole time, and this is also why I would like my notebook monitor to be positioned likewise.
  - wccrawford 9y ago
    In that case, the answer is because adding more height to the screen would mean adding more height to the base as well. You basically double the additional weight, which is against his low-weight requirement. Alternatively, you can shrink the keyboard. I'm sure that if he tried a keyboard with smaller keys, he'd suddenly add a third requirement to his list: Regular sized keys. I remember the days of people complaining about laptop keyboards, and I'd much rather have a slightly wider screen that I didn't need than smaller keys.
bartread 9y ago
Disagree. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro (or Surface Book Pro - I can never remember which because I find the naming scheme ridiculous and irritating but, basically, the most powerful variant)[1], which has a screen that's much closer to 4:3 than 16:9. I tend to like to have files open side by side. Not just code, but often documents, web pages, and sometimes spreadsheets. This does not work nearly as well on a 4:3 screen as it does on a 16:9 screen. A particular bugbear is Visual Studio, where I like the solution explorer open next to my side by side files: I can make it work on the Surface, but it's not great, and I find myself having to reduce the font size. 16:9 works much better for me, particularly when I'm on the move and am forced to only use a single screen. [1] Off topic but I do not recommend you buy one of these due to unreliable WiFi connectivity, unreliable trackpad, a tendency to drain the battery very quickly (12 hours or so) when sleeping, and disappointing overall battery life. These would be irritating issues in a £600-1000 laptop, so they're absolutely unacceptable in a £2400 laptop.
- lazyjones 9y ago
  > which has a screen that's much closer to 4:3 than 16:9. It's 3:2 probably, 13.5" 2256x1504 ...
- codeulike 9y ago
  Is it a laptop with detachable screen? => Surface Book (after MacBook) Is it a tablet with a thin attachable keyboard? => Surface Pro
  - bartread 9y ago
    Ha - thanks. The first one.
- sundvor 9y ago
  For when not on the move: 21:9 curved 34" at 3440x1440 is perfect for Visual Studio. I have bought two of those for myself now; home and work (U3415W, X34). 21:9 is as if made for VS. There's even a bigger 38" 3840x1600 (the U3818DW) that I'd love to see. You're talking serious real estate you caon use with no silly scaling, ie 1:1 or 100%.
anfilt 9y ago
Same! I hate the freaking wide screen madness. It's not just laptops though. There are not a ton of manufactures making LCDs with modern resolutions in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Also a lot them are quite expensive. Eizo makes 1:1 desktop monitor, I managed to get one used for a good price I love it! I would get a second if they did not cost so much. http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/index.html http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/index.ht... Also 5:4 is basically stuck as 1280x1024. You think for the desktop monitor market there would be more variety of aspect ratios made with higher resolutions.
- nukeop 9y ago
  Just open two buffers side by side and it's almost like you have two 4:3 monitors. Isn't that better?
  - JohnStrangeII 9y ago
    Not if you're only working on one document at a time. Being distracted by some other stuff on the side is not always a benefit and many editors are surprisingly hard to set up to center documents on the screen while blending out anything on the sides.
    - nukeop 9y ago
      Being distracted is never a benefit, but being able to see two or three files together and compare them is. At any rate, it's just extra space that you can leave blank if you wish. I see no upsides of 4:3.
    - stormking 9y ago
      Just use Emacs and follow-mode.
  - anfilt 9y ago
    It depends on what your doing. I spend a lot of timing doing hardware design. So it can include VHDL for instance or I can be looking over PCB designs and various other layouts. If go to that Eizo's page you might see why a more square monitor is nice for CAD work not just long streams of text.
kev009 9y ago
On the other hand resolution has gotten to be AMAZING with 4k so I almost don't care anymore. That might be eye sight dependent as I am able to use fairly minimal scaling. I've had over the years ThinkPad 760, 600X (600 was one of the best laptop ever designed given the constraints in available tech, not sure anything can ever top it), T42, T61p, T420s and now P50 and it is a worthy family member as good as any of them. I /really/ wish they had a P4x that was 14" while retaining the xeon/ecc and 4k but that must be too niche. I was sad when we lost 4:3 screens.. and was hoping the ThinkPad 25th Anniversary edition would have been delivered to David Hill's design intent.. just to have a real special piece of art if nothing else, but I don't think we'll ever see the industry go back.
- mamon 9y ago
  4k is the worst thing that could happen: it is so heavily marketed and has 16:9 aspect ratio. It is only appealing to people who use computer mostly to watch videos (who, unfortunately are majority of PC users). The rise of so called "Smart TVs" and tablets gives us a hope that people who are only interested in watching movies will finally stop buying computers at all, and once again professional users will be the main focus of laptop and computer monitor manufacturers :)
  - anfilt 9y ago
    For the desktop market you are forgetting the gamers, unless they quit using desktops and laptops they prefer wider screens. So I don't see it going away especially when the manufactures can be lazy and use the same panels in multiple products. Although I would be happy if your prediction turned out to be correct!
  - IndrekR 9y ago
    I am a long term multi-screen user (last 16 years or so), including portrait monitors for document reading (reminds me that some CRTs used to do funny things in portrait as their cooling was not made for this). I often have multiple datasheets, PCB layout, schematics and some code open at the same time. Lately I only use a single screen on the desk and think a good single 32" 4k monitor is quite close do ideal right now. With that resolution and screen space I really do not need any extra. Learning a few window manager keyboard shortcuts helps a lot as well. Just my personal experience, YMMV.
nukeop 9y ago
The author presents his own personal opinions as though they were shared by the majority of programmers, but they're not. 4:3 ratio offers little space and I found that I actually prefer ultrawide monitors (21:9) to regular HD ones. The extra width lets me open 4 emacs buffers side by side (or 5-6 if I'm editing smaller files) which gives me unparalleled possibilities for editing and comparing code. Of course when it comes to laptops I find 16:9 way better than 4:3. I don't think we're going to see too many 4:3 laptops in the future.
- Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
  Where does the author imply that a majority of programmers prefer 4:3? The expressions he uses are "many of my colleagues", and "only a part of [academics and IT professionals, but] still a large group". I think they are accurate. I do strongly prefer 4:3. As an academic, a large portion of my time is spent reading papers in PDF, and opening papers side by side is mostly useless - you want to read, not compare or copy from one to the other. When coding, it depends on how your mind works. I understand that many people may want to have several files on screen at the same time, but my mind works mostly by focusing on a single file at a time, and rapidly switching context to another. Having several windows visible at the same time distracts me. All the author (and other people wanting 4:3, like myself) are saying is that we want to have 4:3 as an alternative. We do not want to force 4:3 on anyone, just to be able to buy laptops with 4:3 screen, even if they are a minority of the product range. Is that that much to ask? Would it be that bad for people who prefer 16:9 to have 90% of laptop screens designed for them, instead of 100%? Because as long as you are OK with that and you don't need 100% of the screens to cater to your preference, I don't see why posts like this should create any controversy at all.
jstewartmobile 9y ago
For most forms of computer work, he has a point. 16:9 at 27" isn't the same thing as 16:9 at 15.6". Browsers, word processors, CLIs, etc. run top-to-bottom, and can make you feel claustrophobic on the tiny 16:9 screens most laptops have.
veritas718 9y ago
this is so stupid. this guy doesnt want a laptop but a tablet or netbook, and should be asking why chromebooks dont come in 4:3 this guy's real problem is probably that 768 pixels isnt enough, not the wasted pixels to make the width 1366; so the solution is probably not being as cheap, and getting a higher resolution screen on a small latptop
cairo_x 9y ago
Agree 110% I have an external monitor flipped to portrait. Only other option is to get some kind of beastly tablet set-up.
lazyjones 9y ago
Wide screens are a terrible idea indeed. Another side effect is that they frequently add another vertical row of keys on the right edge of the keyboard, just next to Enter/Shift/Backspace. That's just asking for trouble, as if laptop keyboards weren't bad enough already... The C64 had its function keys there, but with a huge gap in between for a reason.
scarface74 9y ago
I have what I think is one of the last great 1920x1200 laptop displays. Not 4:3 but better than 1920x1080 It's a Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz Dell from 2008. It serves as my Plex Server. At least after 2012 you could get Retina display Macbooks and later PCs that you could use in other modes without looking bad. All that being said. For reading, I much prefer my iPad because it is 4:3.
- lttlrck 9y ago
  Yeah I have an old 19” Inspiron with that panel. It’s fantastic - but glossy.
jbfoo 9y ago
As a programmer I like panoramic screen very much --- I usually have at least two panes with code open next to one each other. My four year laptop has HD screen, which also helps a lot. I also find horizontal space much more valuable.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
DerekL 9y ago
Another reason why laptops are usually widescreen is airplanes. The seat in front is often reclined, leaving little room for a tall screen. Also, keyboards are more wide than tall, so an extra wide case allows wider keys or more space between keys.
moondev 9y ago
I felt like my widescreen wasted a ton of space until I started using a tiling window manager. My productivity went through the roof!
kristianp 9y ago
Most of us have never tried, or don't remember what it's like to have a 4:3 screen, it's been so long since they were common. It's hard to have a real debate about something few people have actually tried.
pathartl 9y ago
On a 4:3 note I really just want a large 1024x768 (or even 2048x1536) monitor that's larger than the standard 18" for software preservation purposes. Lots of games were just made to run at 1024x768.

85 points by H4CK3RM4N 9y ago

(Controversial) Corollary resulting from this 16:9 domination: the maximum length of a source code line should be increased. 80 characters seems to be not the best fit for modern IDE on 16:9 screens. (I hate that, but praying for a 16:10 monitor comeback did not work. Also, it is getting worse with hidpi monitors)

bartread 9y ago
Again, I can't help but disagree with this. The reason newspapers arrange text in narrow columns is because it's easier to read, particularly if you're scanning quickly: same with source code. A better approach I've found is to have files open side by side. On my old 17-inch MBP I used to edit three source files side by side. I can just about get away with this on my 15-inch retina model, but find two works better. My Surface Book. is a bugger for this because, for one thing, the screen is smaller at 13.5", and then you also just don't have the horizontal real estate without reducing the font size slightly
goerz 9y ago
No, all source code lines should be max 80 columns wide, always. That way, you can put a well-defined number of editor panes next to each other on the screen (3 columns on a 16:9, 2 columns on a 4:3). You're also able to print out snippets of source code on paper at 10pt font size.
- rhn_mk1 9y ago
  ...or 1.5 panes on a different 16:9, or 0.7 panes on a phone screen. 80 character limit sounds like it makes sense for order, but depending on size & eyesight, a lot of the screen may end up wasted. Personally, I hate nothing more than seeing lines wrapped like this when reading emails wrapped to 80 characters per line. This wastes vertical space, making the problem even worse.
ahartmetz 9y ago
Agreed. For me, 110 columns max seems to work best. I prefer longer, more descriptive variable names (taking into account the rule "larger scoper, longer name"). LLVM has an 80 lines rule and rarely variable names with more than three letters. This makes the code harder to read IMO.

falcolas 9y ago

My compromise to address the lack of 4:3 screens: Laptop on the left. One monitor in normal orientation in the center. One monitor in portrait orientation on the right. I still wish for more vertical landscape in the middle, but... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

chvid 9y ago

I am professional and I like my wide screen laptop. Most of the time I am in this editor-thingee where the left-hand side is a tree-structure showing an overview of the project I am working on and the right-hand side is some sort of detail view. Perhaps there are some toolbars too but they are just fine being vertical.

majewsky 9y ago
So once again, the rift is between the IDE users and the vim users. :)

TomK32 9y ago

I should use my ext display in 9:16 more often. That's the one that makes sense even if you only work between vim, firefox and the terminal.

gerardnll 9y ago

first world problems

mozumder 9y ago

iPad Pro with keyboard.

eludwig 9y ago
Yeah, this was going to be my suggestion, but again, i think it depends on usage. I have a 12.9 inch (first gen) iPad Pro. Using it in portrait to read is completely amazing. It is actually almost too tall for my lap like this (I am not a large person), but I can just manage. Some of these folks may be able to get away with this solution if reading PDFs, web pages, etc. I assume that at this point it is also possible to do console style development on an iPad (remote apps, ssh, etc). The only bummer is the iOS local development problem for people that need the software flexibility of working locally. I really, really wish Apple would allow this. But for reading and writing, the iPad Pro is pretty darn hard to beat.
- mozumder 9y ago
  Ironically I end up using my iPad Pro mostly for TV, since I already use a MacBook Pro laptop with a somewhat decent 16:10 screen aspect ratio. But iPad Pro is such a great reading screen. Wish Apple made an iPad dedicated for video with 16:9 screen that you could place on a stand. Was hoping HomePod would have included a screen, like the Alexa, but it didn't..

BuildTheRobots 9y ago

I've been lamenting similar for years; nearly everything I do on a computer involves long not wide documents. I've mostly made my peace with a 16:10 monitor as it at least allows me to have two documents side by side and this is still findable in a laptop.

petecox 9y ago
My dual monitor setup has an old 19" with a stand that rotates 90º. Custom stands are available for any monitor that has the VESA mounting screws. Laptops are trickier but I'm hoping in the age of tablet-hybrid detachables that a rotateable tripod comes of age.

jeffhuys 9y ago

So, he doesn't like 16:9 or 16:10 because he doesn't use the extra space? I think I couldn't live without a wide-screen.. screen. Most of the time, I have 2 or 3 files side-by-side. I also think that the author actually has a different problem: a bad trackpad. He stated he needs to scroll a lot to view content, and a nice trackpad goes a long way with this. It all comes down to opinion; I'd rather have a wide screen than a high screen, because I feel really agile with my huge trackpad. > Please consider the needs of such user as I and many of my colleagues. Academics and various assorted IT professionals are not an insignificant group of users. And even if only a part of them are having the same frustrations as me when buying notebooks, this is still a large group, I’m sure. Please consider providing such people as us with a little choice in the matter of screen ratios. There is our money in this for you. Lots of money! I don't think there's "lots of money" there. I also think the companies that make these laptops do the necessary market research and come to the conclusion that wide-screen sells better.

tjoff 9y ago
Extra space? There is no extra space, if anything the aspect ratio of wide-screens makes the screen smaller if keeping with the weird diagonal measurements. 16:9 is in my opinion quite terrible for computer work, 16:10 is ok but hardly great.
kev009 9y ago
You can still do that with 4:3. Think of the dimensions of a real open book.. it's quite alright :)
MrMid 9y ago
> I also think that the author actually has a different problem: a bad trackpad. He stated he needs to scroll a lot to view content, and a nice trackpad goes a long way with this. Well - he has no trackpad, actually. The X60s he mentions has only a trackpoint. But even though this trackpoint is wonderful for scrolling, it's not the point - he wants to see the content, not scroll through it. I get it, when I upgraded from X61s to to a new 12" laptop, I also didn't like the reduced screen height. But these old laptops had low resolution screen, and the extra resolution of FHD screen more than makes up for the smaller vertical physical size. And I can have two documents side-by-side.

hjorthjort 9y ago

Or is this a call for mainstream operating systems and applications to get creative (read, nice tiling or splitting by default)? What if all browsers suported single page split view? So that the left side was your regular view, half width, and the right side was the continuation of the same page, where the left side ended.

adtac 9y ago
How would scrolling work? If both panes went up or down a little, I'd find it a little jarring. Maybe I would get used to it, I don't know.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  Same as if you have two windows open: whichever one you have the cursor over scrolls.
- alok-g 9y ago
  Do we really need scrolling? Won't book-like page flips just be sufficient? :-)
dictum 9y ago
There's only so much you can get with good tiling. I used to not care about the aspect ratio debate until I started increasing font sizes in my applications. My eyesight is still good, but being able to work farther from the screen feels better, and I can keep brightness low. I work on a 16:9 27" display where this is moot (still, I feel like I use the center 50% of the display 90% of the time) but I feel this pain in laptops. At 16:9, for page-based content (all text editors and code tools, productivity tools, web browsers; terminals less so), you're forced to display two pages side by side. Still, they're shorter vertically than your eye can handle. Horizontally, your eye will either gravitate towards the center of the display, or have to switch between the two sides (ultimately rendering the extra area of the display temporarily useless) At 4:3 in full screen (especially important for smaller displays) you can have a sidebar or ancillary tool occupying 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen, and the paged content occupying the rest. I've made my peace with 16:10.

Paul_S 9y ago

4:3 and matte and a proper keyboard. These no longer exist because Apple and shiny.

dewey 9y ago
If there would be a demand then it would exist (from Apple or other companies).
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  There's a demand for a non-anemic Mac desktop that isn't a huge overpriced dead-end waste of money, but that doesn't exist.
  - bartread 9y ago
    I could say the same for the Macbook Pro: the current models are an absolute joke.
- gsich 9y ago
  Well, there is the problem. If monitors and notebooks are sold with 16:9 only, then of course there is no "demand" for 4:3, because you don't sell any! This argumentation is scewed.
- xiphmont 9y ago
  It does exist-- from hobbyist entrepreneurs. 51nb has been selling motherboard upgrades for the old 4:3 ThinkPad models for a few years now, and others have begun to specialize in whole-system integration, additional mods, and complete systems based on this work (I'm one of those people, though I also do it as a hobby). My three ThinkPads X60s machines are all Broadwells, with nice 12.1" 4:3 high res screens using modern backlights I fabricate myself. They work so well I intend to build more.
- tjoff 9y ago
  You assume there is actual competition taking place in computer display panels. Not sure how you can get that impression.

wccrawford 9y ago

>When it comes right down to it, I find only these two things to be of paramount importance: >the highest possible screen, >the lowest possible weight. Rotate the monitor sideways. According to the only 2 criteria that matter to him, a 16:9 monitor on its side is way better than a 4:3 monitor in any rotation.

JoBrad 9y ago
How many laptop monitors can you rotate?
- scotty79 9y ago
  All of them. You just need usb keyboard and mouse and flat stable surface.
  - m_mueller 9y ago
    and not being afraid to look like a total freak ;)
- jeffhuys 9y ago
  All of them, but you'll rotate the laptop itself with it. Which can be quite a hassle. :p
Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
He already does that with his desktop monitor, he's talking about laptops. > This is why my desktop LCD monitor is mounted vertically the whole time, and this is also why I would like my notebook monitor to be positioned likewise.
- wccrawford 9y ago
  In that case, the answer is because adding more height to the screen would mean adding more height to the base as well. You basically double the additional weight, which is against his low-weight requirement. Alternatively, you can shrink the keyboard. I'm sure that if he tried a keyboard with smaller keys, he'd suddenly add a third requirement to his list: Regular sized keys. I remember the days of people complaining about laptop keyboards, and I'd much rather have a slightly wider screen that I didn't need than smaller keys.

bartread 9y ago

Disagree. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro (or Surface Book Pro - I can never remember which because I find the naming scheme ridiculous and irritating but, basically, the most powerful variant)[1], which has a screen that's much closer to 4:3 than 16:9. I tend to like to have files open side by side. Not just code, but often documents, web pages, and sometimes spreadsheets. This does not work nearly as well on a 4:3 screen as it does on a 16:9 screen. A particular bugbear is Visual Studio, where I like the solution explorer open next to my side by side files: I can make it work on the Surface, but it's not great, and I find myself having to reduce the font size. 16:9 works much better for me, particularly when I'm on the move and am forced to only use a single screen. [1] Off topic but I do not recommend you buy one of these due to unreliable WiFi connectivity, unreliable trackpad, a tendency to drain the battery very quickly (12 hours or so) when sleeping, and disappointing overall battery life. These would be irritating issues in a £600-1000 laptop, so they're absolutely unacceptable in a £2400 laptop.

lazyjones 9y ago
> which has a screen that's much closer to 4:3 than 16:9. It's 3:2 probably, 13.5" 2256x1504 ...
codeulike 9y ago
Is it a laptop with detachable screen? => Surface Book (after MacBook) Is it a tablet with a thin attachable keyboard? => Surface Pro
- bartread 9y ago
  Ha - thanks. The first one.
sundvor 9y ago
For when not on the move: 21:9 curved 34" at 3440x1440 is perfect for Visual Studio. I have bought two of those for myself now; home and work (U3415W, X34). 21:9 is as if made for VS. There's even a bigger 38" 3840x1600 (the U3818DW) that I'd love to see. You're talking serious real estate you caon use with no silly scaling, ie 1:1 or 100%.

anfilt 9y ago

Same! I hate the freaking wide screen madness. It's not just laptops though. There are not a ton of manufactures making LCDs with modern resolutions in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Also a lot them are quite expensive. Eizo makes 1:1 desktop monitor, I managed to get one used for a good price I love it! I would get a second if they did not cost so much. http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/index.html http://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/index.ht... Also 5:4 is basically stuck as 1280x1024. You think for the desktop monitor market there would be more variety of aspect ratios made with higher resolutions.

nukeop 9y ago
Just open two buffers side by side and it's almost like you have two 4:3 monitors. Isn't that better?
- JohnStrangeII 9y ago
  Not if you're only working on one document at a time. Being distracted by some other stuff on the side is not always a benefit and many editors are surprisingly hard to set up to center documents on the screen while blending out anything on the sides.
  - nukeop 9y ago
    Being distracted is never a benefit, but being able to see two or three files together and compare them is. At any rate, it's just extra space that you can leave blank if you wish. I see no upsides of 4:3.
  - stormking 9y ago
    Just use Emacs and follow-mode.
- anfilt 9y ago
  It depends on what your doing. I spend a lot of timing doing hardware design. So it can include VHDL for instance or I can be looking over PCB designs and various other layouts. If go to that Eizo's page you might see why a more square monitor is nice for CAD work not just long streams of text.

kev009 9y ago

On the other hand resolution has gotten to be AMAZING with 4k so I almost don't care anymore. That might be eye sight dependent as I am able to use fairly minimal scaling. I've had over the years ThinkPad 760, 600X (600 was one of the best laptop ever designed given the constraints in available tech, not sure anything can ever top it), T42, T61p, T420s and now P50 and it is a worthy family member as good as any of them. I /really/ wish they had a P4x that was 14" while retaining the xeon/ecc and 4k but that must be too niche. I was sad when we lost 4:3 screens.. and was hoping the ThinkPad 25th Anniversary edition would have been delivered to David Hill's design intent.. just to have a real special piece of art if nothing else, but I don't think we'll ever see the industry go back.

mamon 9y ago
4k is the worst thing that could happen: it is so heavily marketed and has 16:9 aspect ratio. It is only appealing to people who use computer mostly to watch videos (who, unfortunately are majority of PC users). The rise of so called "Smart TVs" and tablets gives us a hope that people who are only interested in watching movies will finally stop buying computers at all, and once again professional users will be the main focus of laptop and computer monitor manufacturers :)
- anfilt 9y ago
  For the desktop market you are forgetting the gamers, unless they quit using desktops and laptops they prefer wider screens. So I don't see it going away especially when the manufactures can be lazy and use the same panels in multiple products. Although I would be happy if your prediction turned out to be correct!
- IndrekR 9y ago
  I am a long term multi-screen user (last 16 years or so), including portrait monitors for document reading (reminds me that some CRTs used to do funny things in portrait as their cooling was not made for this). I often have multiple datasheets, PCB layout, schematics and some code open at the same time. Lately I only use a single screen on the desk and think a good single 32" 4k monitor is quite close do ideal right now. With that resolution and screen space I really do not need any extra. Learning a few window manager keyboard shortcuts helps a lot as well. Just my personal experience, YMMV.

nukeop 9y ago

The author presents his own personal opinions as though they were shared by the majority of programmers, but they're not. 4:3 ratio offers little space and I found that I actually prefer ultrawide monitors (21:9) to regular HD ones. The extra width lets me open 4 emacs buffers side by side (or 5-6 if I'm editing smaller files) which gives me unparalleled possibilities for editing and comparing code. Of course when it comes to laptops I find 16:9 way better than 4:3. I don't think we're going to see too many 4:3 laptops in the future.

Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
Where does the author imply that a majority of programmers prefer 4:3? The expressions he uses are "many of my colleagues", and "only a part of [academics and IT professionals, but] still a large group". I think they are accurate. I do strongly prefer 4:3. As an academic, a large portion of my time is spent reading papers in PDF, and opening papers side by side is mostly useless - you want to read, not compare or copy from one to the other. When coding, it depends on how your mind works. I understand that many people may want to have several files on screen at the same time, but my mind works mostly by focusing on a single file at a time, and rapidly switching context to another. Having several windows visible at the same time distracts me. All the author (and other people wanting 4:3, like myself) are saying is that we want to have 4:3 as an alternative. We do not want to force 4:3 on anyone, just to be able to buy laptops with 4:3 screen, even if they are a minority of the product range. Is that that much to ask? Would it be that bad for people who prefer 16:9 to have 90% of laptop screens designed for them, instead of 100%? Because as long as you are OK with that and you don't need 100% of the screens to cater to your preference, I don't see why posts like this should create any controversy at all.

jstewartmobile 9y ago

For most forms of computer work, he has a point. 16:9 at 27" isn't the same thing as 16:9 at 15.6". Browsers, word processors, CLIs, etc. run top-to-bottom, and can make you feel claustrophobic on the tiny 16:9 screens most laptops have.

veritas718 9y ago

this is so stupid. this guy doesnt want a laptop but a tablet or netbook, and should be asking why chromebooks dont come in 4:3 this guy's real problem is probably that 768 pixels isnt enough, not the wasted pixels to make the width 1366; so the solution is probably not being as cheap, and getting a higher resolution screen on a small latptop

cairo_x 9y ago

Agree 110% I have an external monitor flipped to portrait. Only other option is to get some kind of beastly tablet set-up.

lazyjones 9y ago

Wide screens are a terrible idea indeed. Another side effect is that they frequently add another vertical row of keys on the right edge of the keyboard, just next to Enter/Shift/Backspace. That's just asking for trouble, as if laptop keyboards weren't bad enough already... The C64 had its function keys there, but with a huge gap in between for a reason.

scarface74 9y ago

I have what I think is one of the last great 1920x1200 laptop displays. Not 4:3 but better than 1920x1080 It's a Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz Dell from 2008. It serves as my Plex Server. At least after 2012 you could get Retina display Macbooks and later PCs that you could use in other modes without looking bad. All that being said. For reading, I much prefer my iPad because it is 4:3.

lttlrck 9y ago
Yeah I have an old 19” Inspiron with that panel. It’s fantastic - but glossy.

jbfoo 9y ago

As a programmer I like panoramic screen very much --- I usually have at least two panes with code open next to one each other. My four year laptop has HD screen, which also helps a lot. I also find horizontal space much more valuable.

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DerekL 9y ago

Another reason why laptops are usually widescreen is airplanes. The seat in front is often reclined, leaving little room for a tall screen. Also, keyboards are more wide than tall, so an extra wide case allows wider keys or more space between keys.

moondev 9y ago

I felt like my widescreen wasted a ton of space until I started using a tiling window manager. My productivity went through the roof!

kristianp 9y ago

Most of us have never tried, or don't remember what it's like to have a 4:3 screen, it's been so long since they were common. It's hard to have a real debate about something few people have actually tried.

pathartl 9y ago

On a 4:3 note I really just want a large 1024x768 (or even 2048x1536) monitor that's larger than the standard 18" for software preservation purposes. Lots of games were just made to run at 1024x768.