Apple's Retina displays are a knockout, but they can make just about every other display look ugly.
Apple's Retina displays are drop-dead gorgeous. But be careful what you wish for.
Like many, I got the third-generation iPad because of the 2048-by-1536-pixel-density Retina display. And, like many, I didn't see a huge difference at first.
That was then. Now it's painful to pick up my Dell laptop with its 1,366-by-768 13.3-inch display andWindows 7 fonts (note: font-smoother utilities go just so far).
And while my 11.6-inch MacBook Air fares better than the Dell (it packs the same number of pixels but into a smaller area giving it a higher PPI or pixels per inch), I'm suddenly wondering whether I should renounce my penchant for portability (the Air is under 2.4 pounds) and go with a 4.5-pound 2,880-by-1,800 MacBook Pro Retina.
In short, I have become a pompous pixel ass. Thanks to Apple.
And it's not so much images and graphics that grate -- they're usually fine by comparison on Dell's display -- but text. It's become hard to tolerate the choppy, jagged text on Dell's display.
But I shouldn't single Dell out. I just happen to have a Dell laptop. This could apply equally to any Windows machine with a 13.3- or 14-inch 1,366x768 display.
Change is coming, though. In addition to existing very-high-resolution laptops like Sony's Vaio Z, newcomers like Vizio are touting machines with breathtaking high-pixel-density displays. For instance, I would have no problem staring at the 15.6-inch Vizio Thin+Light laptop's screen every day.
And Microsoft's Windows 8 Pro (Intel-based) Surface tablet is expected to have a Retina-like display. As I'm sure others will too.
Wait, Did anyone mention a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina?
No comments:
Post a Comment