What are benefits of 16:10 (WUXGA) format? Please explain

[Str3lok]

I just bought Lenovo Legion laptop with 16:10 (WUXGA) 16" screen. Being for 10 + years on 17" 16:9 laptops I must say I am quite disappointed. I read people praise WUXGA format all over the internet, but it's horrible for games (some have black bars) and even worse for watching movies. Black bars that were in my previous laptops are now even bigger. It's already hard to swallow 16" screen (with useless high 2440x1600 resolution which makes everything so small and when I turn on scaling some apps are blurry). I thought I'd not notice difference but it's huge.

Now, you might ask why I bought it then. Where I live, 17" laptops are becoming extinct. Those which remain are either a) overpriced or b) have very very bad screen (unless paying 2k+ €). So since 16" is second best choice and more affordable I opted out for it. Also, since 16" laptops are becoming more popular means people prefer them over 17" (IDK why) and almost all if not all are WUXGA for some weird reason. Some say it's better for "productivity"? Which? I don't understand. I miss extra width badly, and I never thought on usual 16:9 screens: "ohhh, if it's only taller!". What the heck would you need taller screen for? Please, all you WUXGA fanboys, explain me what so great in this format? I'm listening.

[Omega]

More vertical screen space. People who code or write like this extra screen space.

[nullable]

Първоначално публикувано от Str3lok:

Also, since 16" laptops are becoming more popular means people prefer them over 17" (IDK why) and almost all if not all are WUXGA for some weird reason. Some say it's better for "productivity"? Which? I don't understand. I miss extra width badly, and I never thought on usual 16:9 screens: "ohhh, if it's only taller!". What the heck would you need taller screen for? Please, all you WUXGA fanboys, explain me what so great in this format? I'm listening.

Back in the first years of LCD screens there lots of odd formats. And 16:10 was popular for a number of years before LCD tv's hit critical mass and then there was a major push for 16:9 in desktop monitors to match TVs. So for me going from a 16:10 to a 16:9 screen was a bit of a downgrade because I lost workspace. You get used to it though and now since I'm running 1440p as my main screen I have more vertical space anyway.

So... you don't understand why someone might want more vertical pixels? Well, kinda sounds like you don't do a lot of productivity work then.

More vertical resolution means I can see more lines of code in Visual Studio (or any IDE). Or more data in a spreadsheet or SQL Server Management Studio. In other applications, like Photoshop you have more drawing space, or more room for tools. More space is generally good for most non-gaming or entertainment applications. Gaming might be your primary concern, but that's not universal.

Smaller laptops take up less space, weigh less, and are more portable. So no-brainer why that's popular. Putting a 16:9 screen into a smaller laptops probably means you have a lot of vertical bezel, and invariably people will probably opt for a machine that provides more screen space instead, especially if they have any non-gaming needs at all.

If your preferences is out of style or niche, then you either have to compromise on the price to fit your budget, or pay extra for the more expensive option that meets all your requirements/desires.

Another option would be get a 16:9 monitor and use that when you're at home or whatever. I don't use the laptop screen on my work laptop, I prefer some larger and higher quality monitors.

[_I_]

16:10 and 5:4 were better aspect ratios for productivity work where more squareish or vertical space is nice to have

WUXGA = 1920x1200
sounds like an apple or overpriced laptop having the res that effectively unusable for the small display size
better off with like a 1440x900 or 1600x900, but for the 16in would still be a little high for its size

[Str3lok]

Първоначално публикувано от nullable:

[quote=Str3lok
So... you don't understand why someone might want more vertical pixels? Well, kinda sounds like you don't do a lot of productivity work then.

Yes, I don't do productivity stuff on laptop. I use it for some games, movies and browsing. Benefits for productivity are clear to me, but this ratio is becoming a new standard (slowly) for laptops at least. So I don't understand why laptops which are media consumption/game oriented still push this ratio instead of 16:9. Lenovo Legion, as far as I understand (also, Asus TUF, Gigabyte, etc.) are game centric laptops so it's kinda strange to see screen which ain't suited for media/games.

[_I_]

thats the thing tho, gamers can buy/build a desktop pc for less than the high end laptop

laptop is more common for work travel pc
many lower end laptops do have 16:9 displays for movies/tv, but not powerful enough for demanding games

[D. Flame]

There is none. 16:9 is superior. Coders use a second monitor rotated 90 degrees if they want vertical space.

[nullable]

Първоначално публикувано от Str3lok:

Yes, I don't do productivity stuff on laptop. I use it for some games, movies and browsing. Benefits for productivity are clear to me, but this ratio is becoming a new standard (slowly) for laptops at least. So I don't understand why laptops which are media consumption/game oriented still push this ratio instead of 16:9. Lenovo Legion, as far as I understand (also, Asus TUF, Gigabyte, etc.) are game centric laptops so it's kinda strange to see screen which ain't suited for media/games.

Laptops with a gaming GPU may not be exclusively used for gaming. PC's are general purpose computing machines, a gaming GPU doesn't change that. And like I said, the manufacturers make decisions based on demand and trends and to try increase the appeal of a product to a wider audience.

I mean I didn't have problem gaming on 16:10 screens back in the day. And I wouldn't have a problem with black bars if a game was running in a 16:9 space. Those bars would physically exists with a 16:9 screen with increased bezel. So having the increased utility of 16:10 for productivity and doing whatever for gaming isn't some problem I'd argue.

Ultimately if the product you want, just so, doesn't exist for you to buy, then you have to adapt. Just like I did when 16:10 was phased out for desktop monitors. Lots of games do support 16:10, and workarounds for other cases where they don't, that's just part of the deal. Welcome to PC gaming.