Sony and Apple's lead with brilliant mobile technolgy
When determining what laptop to purchase this year the display should be by far your greatest considertation. Next to Battery life and CPU performance, monitor specifications leads the pack because it is what you look at 100% of the time.
Other leading laptop vendors such as Toshiba, IBM and Dell simply rely on other considertatins when trying to sell you on their brands. Toshiba is about sound and entertainment with hteir desktop replacement models, but whatch out for weight. IBM is for business clients looking for a good compact size with great security options and durability, titanium and rubber models. Dell is simply aiming for the low end mass-market crowd considering price over functionality. With that said, that leaves the rest of us looking for a good balance of usability, performance, and longevity for professionals looking to work for their livelihood. They're the word, video and audio editors that entertain our lives. There's no mistaking a Sony or an Apple laptop with their respected owners. They're the ones doing serious work on the go, who require the space, power and convenience of what a latop should be. With my bias out in the open, lets see why I've come to this conclusion, and as the say, the proof is in the specs.
Monitor specifications stem from IBM display standards, for 256 color interlaced monitors, 64K color non-interlaced monitors. Interlaced and non-interlaced can be compared to prograssive-scan and non-progressive-scan DVDs.
The widescreen aspect of 15.4" WXGA screen provides 30% more information than standard aspect ratio 15" XGA screens. Lets look closer an screen resolutions and their associated acronyms. The computing-dictionary at thefreedictionary.com has a great explination of modern screen resolutions:
XGA resolution is the base for modern computer users, 1024x768 @ 85Hz refresh. This is standard for a 15 inch monitor. If you're not running your screen at this resolution, consider revising your choice of monitor brand or graphics card. Further this may explain why you need glasses, or why your eyes hurt at the end of the day!
SXGA resolution is standard for 19 inch monitors, 1280x1024 @ 85Hz refresh.
(1) - Dell's website
