Professionals need our 4:3 screens • Hacker News Board

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#51

Post by oldcynic » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 12:54 PM UTC

nukeop wrote: post #47

oldcynic wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's see. No it isn't. Not even close. A 4:3 aspect would give 1920x1440. You have 1920x1080. Where has the bottom quarter of the screen gone? It's not there. How can that possibly be better? I'd take 3:2 with high enough resolution as that's the equivalent of 2x 4:3 side by side in portrait. That would be a fair trade off. I'd still prefer a 4:3 laptop though!

What if I set my resolution to 3840x2160? Do you think it's about raw pixel count? Widescreen resolutions make most people more productive.

In that case I'd prefer 3840x2880. It's still missing 25% comparatively speaking.

All the losses from browser header, footer, OS status bars, browser chrome or IDE widgets are at the top and bottom. Making that 16:9 letter box skinnier.

I'd prefer more lines to be productive - to display the whole email without scrolling, or the whole method definition or half the article on a site etc. When I want to watch a full res HD movie I'll take black bars top and bottom.

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#52

Post by MrMid » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 12:54 PM UTC

jeffhuys wrote: post #5

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…

> 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.

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#53

Post by bringtheaction » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 12:56 PM UTC

kev009 wrote: post #12

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 th…

The P50 seems very nice. Does anyone know if Linux or FreeBSD would be able to make use of all its features so that it makes sense to buy it, or is it too new?

How about macOS? I currently run macOS on one of my ThinkPads (x220 Tablet). Would macOS be as simple to install on the P50 as it was on the x220 Tablet? [0] Would macOS be able to take advantage of the P50 hardware, including the 4K display?

What’s the battery life of P50 like with Windows? How is it with the operating systems I use, listed above — Linux, FreeBSD, macOS?

[0]: http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#54

Post by kuschku » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 12:59 PM UTC

oldcynic wrote: post #39

nukeop wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just open two buffers side by side and it's almost like you have two 4:3 monitors. Isn't that better?

Let's see. No it isn't. Not even close. A 4:3 aspect would give 1920x1440. You have 1920x1080. Where has the bottom quarter of the screen gone? It's not there. How can that possibly be better? I'd take 3:2 with high enough resolution as that's the equivalent of 2x 4:3 side by side in portrait. That would be a fair trade off. I'd still prefer a 4:3 laptop though!

There are 8:3 monitors you could use, with 3840x1440 resolution.

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#55

Post by Arnt » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 1:07 PM UTC

anfilt wrote: post #11

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.ht... Also 5:4 i…

I got a second Eizo. And a third.

4:3, not 1:1. They were really expensive but I've found that I don't mind: I adore the colour and the first is almost 15 years old now.

All I do is stare at large expanses of text, mostly emacs and konsole. Why would good colour make a difference to that? I've no idea. But my expensive Eizos are somehow pleasant to look at, to read from, in a way that €200-€300 screens aren't. So my advice is: Pay for that second Eizo. You may still have it in 15 years and the price per year is okay anyway.

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#56

Post by mozumder » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 1:11 PM UTC

eludwig wrote: post #50

mozumder wrote: post #3

iPad Pro with keyboard.

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…

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..

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#57

Post by majewsky » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 1:20 PM UTC

chvid wrote: post #43

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.

So once again, the rift is between the IDE users and the vim users. :)

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#58

Post by celofan8 » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 1:26 PM UTC

anfilt wrote: post #11

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.ht... Also 5:4 i…

Would you get a second one to use them together? Because in that case you might as well just buy a bigger wide-screen...

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#59

Post by anfilt » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 1:32 PM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #31

anfilt wrote: post #11

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.ht... Also 5:4 i…

2560x2048 would be awesome (they exist but they cost about 5-10 times what a 2560x1440 does.. http://www.ieiworld.co.uk/products/MMD_5201M-1323-459.html ). Two of those side by side would be perfect. I have dual 2560x1440's at work (24") and that's nice but the extra 608 height would be great for things like Chrome devtools etc.

For the price of that. I would rather buy raw panels and build something my self.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2560-2048-FHD-20-1-inch-LCD-...

Also medical monitors tend be very expensive for what they are, but have good contrast. Also a lot are only gray scale.

Re: Professionals need our 4:3 screens

#60

Post by jbfoo » Sun, Feb 18, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

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.