
New Macs’ resolutions: The wide range of Mac Display DPI - ghurlman
http://www.leancrew.com/all-this/2010/10/new-macs%E2%80%99-resolutions/
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jim_h
I wish laptops would go back to 4:3 aspect ratio. The trend for widescreen
leaves me wanting for more vertical space. 800px or 900px vertical is too
short and requires more scrolling. Yet, it's not wide enough to really fit 2
application windows side by side.

It's only really good for movies. Certainly not good for web browsing unless
you want to read long sentences across the screen.

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frou_dh
I'm glad MBP17 is wide. 1920x1200, ticks all the boxes. No, it's not too big
or heavy, remember that the MBP15 is 15.4".

All Mac users should also do themselves a favour and set their Dock to auto-
hide.

~~~
Yaggo
I always keep the Dock hidden, even on my 2560x1440 iMac. I launch
applications from Spotlight¹ and switch between them by +tab.

About the widescreen aspect ratio – I'm fine with it. Feels more natural. A
4:3 screen looks like a square. I don't have square vision.

Then again, it's true that less than 800 pixels of vertical space feels
somewhat cramped, and purely for web browsing / reading, 4:3 makes sense, and
3:4 would make even more sense. Personally I do much more and the widescreen
is better all-around compromise. Two fingers + inertia makes scrolling pretty
enjoyable.

¹) Quick enough on SSD'd machines, otherwise a bit slow. Luckily I rarely
launch apps. I just keep tons of stuff running in different Spaces.

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whakojacko
nitpick: the 15" MBP also has a 1680x1050 option, with a dpi of 129

~~~
Yaggo
I guess the MacBook Pro lineup will shift towards higher-DPI screens in the
near future. The next-generation 15" MBP will probably have the 1680x1050
screen by default.

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Artagra
One thing he neglects to consider is the difference between a desktop and a
laptop - the effective DPI of a screen is dependent on how far away it is from
your eyes.

This is why 1920x1200 is a great resolution for a 17" laptop, but only
comfortable on a larger desktop screen.

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kelnos
Does MacOS X really not automatically figure out the dpi of the screen and
adjust font rendering? Ouch.

~~~
moxiemk1
Do you know of any major OSes that actually have resolution indepdence? I've
never heard of an OS auto-adjusting the DPI (Windows certainly doesn't, and
Linux never has for me), nor have I seen any OS do so correctly even when you
do it manually.

However, Apple _has_ started efforts for OS frameworks to support resolution-
independent apps that would be able to resized at will without losing
proportion.

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anujseth
The newer managed code UI libraries for Windows, WPF and Silverlight are built
from the ground up to support resolution independence.

Further reading, [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ms748373.aspx#visual...](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ms748373.aspx#visual_rendering_behavior)

<http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2005/11/250723.html>

~~~
jackvalentine
My Vaio has a 143dpi screen (1920x1080 on 15.4") and applications written to
take heed of my DPI setting look great, other apps do not - in particular
chrome and firefox which you need to use extensions to have it remember your
custom zoom settings correctly. It can get quite frustrating.

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iuguy
The 13" MBA has the same resolution as my TV (hooked up to a Mac Mini).

Ouch.

