Why even buy a widescreen?

If one doesnt watch DVD movies, why even buy a 14.1" widescreen? Why not a 15" XGA like the ze2000t ?

Seems there is a lot of ranting and raving about widescreen laptops, but I wonder if its people just buying into hype, or if they are really watching that many DVd's on their laptops? Is there even that much advantage to a widescreen other than movie watching?

 

Eh, well now that I am looking at the specs, I can see one reason why I wouldnt want a ze2000t....they offer no 5400RPM hard drive...what gives?

 

Advantages of widescreen for most people:

1. Larger screens can fit in airplane seats because of the decreased height.
2. They offer the perfect fit when high definition movies come out (try looking at WMV HD samples with standard aspect screens and you'll know what I mean).
3. You have the ability to dock something to the side of the screen (such as AIM) and still have the same amount of space as a standard aspect screen.

 

Good points

 

I hate widescreen just because i have amassed gigs of wallpaper throughout the years and now they wont fit anymore?! It's also the reason i'm sticking with XGA.

 

oh my........

 

They travel better on planes as well...there are a few threads on this if you want to search for more opinions. Actually, they're listed in the similar threads box below, gotta love these tools.

 

Widescreen display formats are based on the principle that our vision naturally sees wider than it does high; in other words, if you made a picture out of what your eyes see right now, it wouldn't have a 1:1 or 4:3 aspect ratio. It is closer to a 16:10 aspect ratio, similar to 4x6 photo prints.

Thus, widescreen display formats are more "vision" efficient as they are in the aspect ratio that your eyes naturally see. A standard 4:3 display doesn't take advantage of the full width you are capable of viewing, so the space on the side is wasted.

 

Hah, I hadn't even THOUGHT of that. Well, fortunately, my wallpaper of the day has black on the sides so I can just center it and it'll look relatively normal.

 

yea the wallpaper issue does come in hand, but winxp does a good job to not make it blurry or deformed. everything is turning into widescreen nowadays to suit for the HDTV style. there's no way to run away from it.

 

i can c sooo much more on my 17" laptop widescreen LCD than my desktop 17" LCD monitor that isn't widescreen...and now i wish i had gotten a widescreen LCD screen for my desktop b4..but what's done is done :decision:

 

After looking at widescreen, the thought of a standard 4:3 ratio screen disgusts me.

 

but for some reason, i think a widescreen for a desktop seems useless since laptops need to be wide in order to reduce the height. but for a desktop, use all the space you want on the desk. so the regular square looking is better. besides most games and old games are not really too compatible.

 

I think for desktops, it's just for movies and the like. If you're big on a home theater PC, that'll be your thing.

I do agree, though. I can't imagine the price is much different between a 17" widescreen and a 19" 4:3, might as well get the extra height. On a laptop you get more real estate without making the thing taller and, in the zd8k's case, you get a keypad which would be VERY nice (I use it a lot).

 

I'm fine with a desktop monitor having the standard 4:3 ratio, but not with laptops.