Question on Notebooks:

I refer to your latest article on top business laptops. I differ from your opinion that a standard 4:3 aspect ratio screen is "outdated".

In fact, I am actively seeking replacement laptops with 4:3 aspect ratio. The new widescreen format has been nothing but a waste of horizontal space, resulting in more up/down scrolling for a simple Web page. Screen resolutions improve at the expense of tinier fonts which make it very hard to read on a 13.1-inch screen.

In addition, hook up a WXGA to a "normal" projector and the display size on the projector screen is smaller than usual due to the shorter height of the projected image. Hope you understand what I mean.

Finally, it's difficult to understand the hype around widescreen. How often do we watch DVD or do dual document editing side-by-side (yes, I have tried this and it doesn't work--fonts become too small to be legible for effective editing)?

I would like to bring back 4:3. Enough of this WXGA experiment.

Submitted by CNET Asia reader, via email

Answer:

Though we recognize that this is a personal preference, we firmly believe that widescreen is a step up over the 4:3 aspect ratio.

By increasing the horizontal space, you can now easy fit two windows side-by-side. This makes comparisons copying between documents a lot more feasible. Granted it may be tough to do so on a 14.1-inch screen or smaller, but on larger displays it's definitely a plus. Moreover, those using spreadsheets will definitely appreciate being able to view them in landscape rather than be stuck in portrait mode.

For most Web sites, scrolling up and down is less troublesome than sideways scrolling. As for the resolution, you can easily increase the font size or decrease screen resolution using the Windows control panel. If you need to hook up to a projector, you can also adjust the resolution to fit the device and allow your image to appear similar.

Watching widescreen movies may only be a small advantage for business portables. But for video editors using more powerful laptops, having a widescreen certainly makes it easier to create wide-aspect movies.

Fortunately, there are a range of business portables sporting standard aspect screens so you will have no issues looking for a replacement model.