How to convince Dell that customers prefer the 16:10 ratio on laptop screens

I've owned one Precision M4500 and now the new M4600. In my opinion these machines are completely spoiled by the hideous 16:9 screen ratio. I simply can't get used to it. Many people have complained about this before, but it appears that manufacturers like Dell, Apple, Lenovo and HP don't give a damn and 16:10 screens on laptop are being phased out anyways. It's sad how companies don't care about customers' preferences anymore, it's all about reducing costs and getting bigger earnings. I feel so frustrated.... What could we do to force manufacturers to satisfy our needs and preferences and not vice-versa? Is it possible at all? Sorry for my broken English, but it's not my native tongue.

 

You could buy an Apple laptop (which all have 16:10 screens by the way) and tell Dell that's why you're buying an Apple... but really, I don't think there's much you can do. I think it comes down more to cost and availability -- a 16:10 screen would probably cost more. Even in LCD monitors, it's getting difficult to find a 16:10.

 

Apple isn't immune to 16:9 either. The MBA 11 and iMac are already 16:9. I highly suspect their current stock of 16:10 screens are old batches and the next reincarnations will be 16:9.

Unfortunately with the PC market going to the cheap side, 16:9 was inevitable. Many people still like 4:3 (as do I, I have 2 4:3 SXGA+ laptops) and when 16:10 was first introduced, people did not take it well. But as computers got faster, the complaints subsided so that brought on 16:9.

The unfortunate part is the cost cutting measures were brought to business laptops as their customers screamed for lower costing laptops and more features/faster. So the only way to save is cutting down on quality components, and screen resolution IMO was the first thing to die in a heartbeat. With nobody budging from 16:9, it is unfortunately here to stay. Also I don't think minus TB and certain very very niche market computers, any LCD manufacturer makes 16:10 screens for laptops anymore. It costs millions of dollars to convert a whole factory from XX to YY.

 

At first the 16X9 shocked me now I really like it for the mobile video production I do. When I want 16X10 I just go to dual external displays.

 

I'm also pissed at 16:9. 16:9 is nice for movies and such, but not-so-nice for working with photos and other apps. For those 4:3 was MUCH MUCH more nicer.

But I guess Dell is quite aware of consumers prefering 16:9, but I doubt vendors like LG can supply cheap 16:10 screens. I read somewhere that 16:9 is considerably cheaper in production....

 

Aside from a steadily dwindling selection of 24" 1920x1200 (I swear its all old panels) 30" is the last real bastion of 16:10 left on the desktop.

The longterm future outlook appears bleak, for example HP recently refreshed its ZR line of IPS monitors. All 16:9, no new ZR30

 

I haven't seen a consumer grade 24" with WUXGA in probably 1.5 years (I work in a retail store). Some 30" are coming with 2560x1440 now, the WQXGA+ market is dwindling too..

 

Maybe this is one reason Apple has been doing so well lately: they seem to be the only ones left making laptops with large 16:10 screens. (Makes me wonder if they somehow negotiated an exclusive contract with the factories that make these screens.)

Apparently this issue comes up periodically on Dell's IdeaStorm site, but so far no one has managed to inspire a social movement to accumulate many votes. Spread the word among a community that wants it, such as portrait photographers, or video editors that need room for toolbars above/below the FHD video, or CAD users, or print document publishers, or scholars/scientists/students, or ... . (Are these all small businesses that individually have little influence on Dell's bottom line? In many separate businesses, each buys at a different time, so it may be hard to get a coordinated movement started at any one time. How did some other ideas manage to get so many votes?)

2011-09-20 Bring back the 16:10 screen format in high end Business laptops
IdeaStorm | Bring back the 16:10 screen format in high end Business laptops

2011-05-28 Revert Precision M6600 & successors back to 16:10 LCD panel
IdeaStorm | Revert Precision M6600 & successors back to 16:10 LCD panel

2010-09-03 Offer Laptops and PCs with Standard Aspect (4:3) Screens
IdeaStorm | Offer Laptops and PCs with Standard Aspect (4:3) Screens

[
I am not a manufacturer, but with all the different sizes of screens these days (11", 12", 13", 14", 15.6", 16", 17" ...) I find it hard to believe that factories cannot switch sizes from one production run to the next, and if they can switch sizes they should be able to switch aspect ratio. Most tablets are not 16:9, so if a factory will serve the tablet market it must be able to build non-16:9 screens.

I can imagine screen or laptop manufacturers have incentive collude to eliminate tall laptop screens and pressure laptop users to purchase a second external screen or tablet, doubling their business with those users, but I have no knowledge whether that has happened. Currently only Apple seems to be filling the hole in their competitors' lines.
]

 

As stated, Apple most likely has a stock pile of old 16:10 panels as the reason why companies are switching is because the factories have switched to 16:9. I'm pretty sure the next MBP will be 16:9... Conclusion, you can demand all you want but the companies cannot give you what you want because they don't have direct control over the panel manufacturing factories.

 

Thanks for those links. I was not aware about the existence of that website where users can make suggestions and the most popular ones may be finally implemented in future Dell products. Too sad that the 16:10 cause is not as popular as I would like, but I'm creating an account anyways so I can promote it.