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Lenovo axes 4:3 ThinkPad T61

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You've probably noticed that these days, more and more laptops are going widescreen, opting for a 16:9 display rather than the old standard, 4:3. In fact, vendors like Apple, Sony and HP have transitioned their entire lineup to widescreen during the past few years, though that didn't have too much of an impact on enterprise folks. But now, the death of the standard aspect ratio laptop is hitting home: Lenovo has discontinued the ThinkPad T61, the last 4:3 laptop left in the company's lineup aside from the ultraportable 12.1" X-series. While many folks prefer the widescreen look, one Slashdot reader points out that there's a certain subsection of enterprise users who crave the increased vertical space of standard laptop displays: developers. "Less vertical space = less lines of code in the screen = more scrolling = less productivity." Are you sad to see 4:3 laptops go the way of matte screens, or do you welcome the widescreen revolution with open arms? Hit us up in the comments and let us know.

For more on the announcement:
- see this Slashdot article

Comments

The dumbing down of humans continues unabated with the transformation of the PC to just another device for those "who like to watch." Good news is, there won't be anyone left to code and the whole exercise with come crashing down to the pre-digital caveman world.

Isn't that why developers purchase screens that can be rotated 90 degrees? As long as that feature is included, the user gets a full page view.

One component that has not been adjusted well for the wide-screen, enterprise user is the projector. Some projectors re-adjust to 800X600 resolution when you plug into the laptop, which makes giving a presentation a lot harder with the need to scroll not only vertically but also horizontally. Further, some older projectors aren't even compatible with the wide-screen displays. This is a real pain as a consultant when having to borrow clients' projectors that you then politely have to turn down due to incompatibility with the "fancy new laptop." It wastes a lot of time...

I do not like the widescreen; I do not use my laptop to watch movies and I have no use for the horizonal screen. Is there anyway to get a laptop with updated specs and 4:3 aspect screen for those of us who really like this?

I think the industry has jammed 16:9 laptops down our throats without even asking us. It makes no sense if you spend a large portion of your time surfing the Net or working with documents. If you have a prayer of reading the text on, say, a 15" widescreen notebook, you find yourself wearing the scroll wheel out, to read the bottom of EVERY Web page. Let those who watch movies all the time buy widescreen DVD players and give us back our 4:3 notebooks!!!

I am one of those developers that bemoans the disappearance of the 1400x1050 screens. I recently bought a T61, and it is a truly excellent machine in almost every regard, but compared to the 1400x1050 monitor I use at work, the 1440x900 screen feels cramped. The extra horizontal space tends to go to waste on everything except watching DVDs, and the loss of 150 vertical pixels makes IDEs like Eclipse feel cramped. It's a shame because I would have happily spent an extra $50 or whatever for the 4:3 format screen, if it had still been on offer; the 1680x1050 screen was not an option since, at age 43, my eyesight isn't good enough any more to look at such tiny pixels without getting a headache. Sic transit gloria...

I really hate widescreens - they're just terrible for business users. Maybe it's nice to have a widescreen notebook for multimedia issues but it's not my case. So give us back 4:3 aspect ratio!

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