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Poll: Are you Excited for 16:9 MBPs?

Are you excited for 16:9 MBPs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 27 22.5%

  • No

    Votes: 36 30.0%

  • Won't happen

    Votes: 12 10.0%

  • 16:9 sucks on a laptop

    Votes: 45 37.5%
  • Total voters
    120
P

puma1552

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 20, 2008
5,559
1,948
Since the iMac just went 16:9, I'd say it's safe to say 16:9 is in store for the MBP down the road. Most likely during the next full redesign, but nonetheless I think it's coming.

Are you excited?

16:9
USB 3.0
Arrandale (or something better)
7 hour battery


yes sir
 
not really. Im comfortable with 16*10 at the moment. 16*9 is better for movies but on a screen size as small as the macbook pro 13" i think a 16*9 resolution wont have enough vertical pixels and it will start to feel like a netbook rather than a proper notebook.

The 16*9 on the iMacs is alright though as their resolutions are pretty high anyway so theres plenty of pixels to throw around. I have a dell 2408wfp and often find i dont use the whole screen, especially with spaces at my disposal
 
morrisman1 said:
not really. Im comfortable with 16*10 at the moment. 16*9 is better for movies but on a screen size as small as the macbook pro 13" i think a 16*9 resolution wont have enough vertical pixels and it will start to feel like a netbook rather than a proper notebook.

The 16*9 on the iMacs is alright though as their resolutions are pretty high anyway so theres plenty of pixels to throw around. I have a dell 2408wfp and often find i dont use the whole screen, especially with spaces at my disposal
Click to expand...

I guess it depends how they design it though--instead of trimming the laptops vertically, they could lengthen the laptops horizontally, keeping the 800 pixel vertical height.
 
I don't like 16:9, my external monitor for my mb is 16:9 and it's just doesn't fit computer apps right. Other than video, most things used on a computer aren't really enjoyed in wide screen.
 
paolo- said:
I don't like 16:9, my external monitor for my mb is 16:9 and it's just doesn't fit computer apps right. Other than video, most things used on a computer aren't really enjoyed in wide screen.
Click to expand...

Yeah I get what you mean. Although I wouldn't mind since I've grown so use to the 16:9 ratio for years now that even when it doesn't look right, it's completely normal to me. Regardless if it's 16:10 or 16:9, I really don't mind.
 
paolo- said:
I don't like 16:9, my external monitor for my mb is 16:9 and it's just doesn't fit computer apps right. Other than video, most things used on a computer aren't really enjoyed in wide screen.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, but is there such a thing as an app that caters to specific aspect ratios?
 
puma1552 said:
I guess it depends how they design it though--instead of trimming the laptops vertically, they could lengthen the laptops horizontally, keeping the 800 pixel vertical height.
Click to expand...

This seems most likely. 14", 16", and 18" MBPs, basically the same as now, but wider.
 
If anyone is curious as what a 16:9 might look like as a laptop they can put a 16:9 wallpaper in the background and see how much vertical space is cut off. I don't like it personally myself. It makes the screen too small vertically and if they ended up extending the sides to keep the current vertical height then it becomes too wide as a laptop for me. I like the current aspect ratio.
 
Nope, cause I have the LED Cinema Display which is 16:10. Watching movies the cut off is nice cause it looks more like a movie theater, but having a cut off all the time would be annoying.
 
Not at all. What do you need more in everyday use, vertical or horizontal space? I say vertical space because that's how web sites, documents etc run. Movies are the one and only thing where 16:9 works.
 
How often do you watch movies?

I'm already getting frustrated by the lack of vertical space, chopping off a little more will drive me insane!
 
I much prefer 16:10. I mean for movies I agree 16:9 in better but as one previous poster said, website browsing, document viewing etc. is much better on a 16:10 screen. So that's why my TV is 16:9 because I mostly watch movies, TV shows etc. on it while on my computer I use for website browsing, document viewing etc. which works better on a 16:10 screen.
King Mook Mook
 
out of curiosity, would anyone against a 16:9 screen jump at the chance today to have the oldskool non-widescreen nearly square screens of laptops 6-8 years ago?
 
puma1552 said:
out of curiosity, would anyone against a 16:9 screen jump at the chance today to have the oldskool non-widescreen nearly square screens of laptops 6-8 years ago?
Click to expand...

No way. Widescreen is so natural it feels odd to use a computer with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen.

I prefer 16:10, it's best of both worlds: not too thick black borders when watching videos, but has some extra height which is practical in other tasks like programming.
 
I would be okay with 16:9 aspect ratio if they stopped eating my vertical resolution. Scrolling isn't THAT fun, people!
 
I'm just thinking that the palmrest area size will be sacrificed too much going to a 16/9 ar. On a laptop, you are already confined with screen canvas. I hope we don't see this anytime soon.
 
hamis92 said:
I prefer 16:10, it's best of both worlds:
Click to expand...
Yes I agree with that statement. I no longer like the old square format but I also think 16:9 is too wide for a laptop. 16:10 is a great compromise between the two. My old PowerBook G4 was a 3:2 ratio which wasn't too bad either but I'm liking the 16:10 from my MBP.

harodude said:
I'm just thinking that the palmrest area size will be sacrificed too much going to a 16/9 ar.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. I think people are forgetting that laptops are clamshells so if you lose vertical space on the screen you are also losing vertical space on the bottom half where the keyboard, trackpad, and palm rest areas are. It'll make that area shorter and more crammed which I would hate.
 
no more bezel?

I think an interesting complication to the 16:9 ratio debate is what kind of form factor and sizes might come about if Apple finds a way to lose the bezel on its laptop line and cram down the hardware into a base that will allow for a size of display that goes all the way to the edge of the lid. If the displays stayed the same you could have a 15.4" display on a much smaller form factor and the 17" would start to be almost as portable as the 15 and a 13 would be teeny tiny. I think as solid state becomes a more malleable storage medium than platters, batteries become more potent by volume, and tech gets more powerful for the space that some fairly zippy machines might come down to a much more manageable size across the board. Any thoughts?
 
I do not want anything that eats any more vertical resolution. I also see no reason for computers to mimic TVs. To me they are for very different purposes.
 
If they put 1920x1080 in the 15" MBP (maybe optional) I'd gladly go for it because otherwise I'll have to get a 17" MBP as my next computer just because of the resolution (although I like the form factor of the 15" much better).

I had 1680x1050 in a 15" before and it was no problem (Windows/Linux). Under OSX the fonts are all slightly bigger than what I had configured on the other laptop, so I don't see a problem with an even higher resolution. 1680x945 may be an option as well but it wouldn't be much of an improvement compared to the current model.

Other than that: If they keep the current resolutions and just crop them to 16:9 then no, I'm not thrilled about 16:9 in a notebook. If it comes along with a resolution increase, then yes.
 
In the past, I didn't really see a point to 16:9 notebook displays but I have found more and more I'm using my MBP for movies & TVs so it makes more sense to me now than it has in the past.
Since notebook displays are almost all going to 16:9, I don't think Apple is going to have a choice but to go to them in the near future. The cost to continue with 16:10 will start to be too great.
I just hope Apple finally makes a switch to higher DPI when they switch to 16:9.
 
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