{"id":315,"date":"2013-09-14T11:53:07","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T15:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gotsteve.com\/blog\/?p=315"},"modified":"2013-09-16T10:19:35","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T14:19:35","slug":"resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Screen Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vector_Video_Standards4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is it just me, or has the evolution of options in screen resolution, particularly in computing, become out of hand?<\/p>\n

For some time, 4×3 resolutions, like SVGA (800×600) and XGA (1024×768), were common place. This was before flat screens were the standard at the desk; bulky CRT<\/a> monitors took up precious real estate. 4×3 resolution was the norm at both your computer, and on your TV<\/p>\n

Along came HDTV, and the ushering of 16×9 to the consumer. Wider screens make sense, think of your field of vision. You see more horizontally then you do vertically. Think film: nearly all movies are shot and presented in a widescreen format. Movies are shot in a variety of widths, expressed in ratios known as aspects. Some aspects are extremely wide, like one called ‘cinemascope’. Consumers then, are accustomed to watching content in wide formats.<\/p>\n

I remember HDTV’s slow going adoption. I was excited about it, so much so I got into a heated dialog with a former boss about whether 16×9 would overtake 4×3 (it did).\u00a0 So, standard HDTV resolutions came about, and were easy: they were known as 720 (1280×720) or 1080 (1920×1080). Those resolutions are displayed using 2 different techniques, the first being interlacing, used with 1080i, and delivered in 2 scans or halfs of a frame to create the desired display. The second technique is dubbed progressive. 720p and 1080p are examples, and is displayed as a single pass on the screen.
\nThose two resolution standards have stuck for years. The future of HDTV? It’s called 4k res, or Ultra HD (think 1920×1080, doubled on both horizontal and vertical resolution, to create 3840×2160). It’s simple and it makes sense.<\/p>\n

In terms of widening the screen resolution in computing though, especially on laptops, things didn’t follow the same simple path. You’d think that you could easily get a 720 or 1080 screen, just like your HDTV? Nope. A basic laptop a few years ago typically had a res of 1280×800. Larger and upgraded screen options include a variety of higher resolutions, most under 1920×1080.<\/p>\n

Then, the industry decided to flip the standard laptop res by adding more horizontal, and subtractng vertical resolution to create a size of 1366×768. It felt like a downgrade when I upgraded to a new laptop, moving from 1280×800 to 1366×768. There was less room for your taskbar in Windows. You wouldn’t think losing a vertical strip of 32 pixels in height would matter, but 40 pixels is the typical height of the taskbar. I found myself scrolling more when surfing the web, and ribbons on Microsoft Office apps took more space than I liked. I still miss those extra vertical pixels. (My not so elegant compromise? Auto hiding the taskbar, ugh.) I hoped this new standard would go away, but it seems to be here to stay for a while.<\/p>\n

These days, I feel most laptop manufacturers are dropping the ball by not including higher resolution screens as a standard, irregardless of the size of the screen. For the most part, you have to get a larger screen to get a higher resolution, with the trade-off of portability. The most obvious exceptions are Apple MacBooks with ‘Retina’ screens.<\/p>\n

So there’s my rant on screen resolution. I felt the need to write this post after my disappointment when reviewing the specs of many sale laptops. I believe 1366×768 is too low and shouldn’t be the standard in 2013. Heck, the smartphone I’m writing this on has a resolution of 720×1280, and it’s a screen size of just under 5 inches. It’s a 720p HDTV in the palm of your hand, and the latest phones are 1080×1920; full 1080p on your phone!<\/p>\n

Come on, laptops!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it just me, or has the evolution of options in screen resolution, particularly in computing, become out of hand? For some time, 4×3 resolutions, like SVGA (800×600) and XGA (1024×768), were common place. This was before flat screens were the standard at the desk; bulky CRT monitors took up precious real estate. 4×3 resolution… Continue reading Screen Resolution<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gotsteve.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}