Why are laptop screens so far behind mobiles?

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Pop quiz, hotshot. Of all the visitors to this website in the month of writing, what percentage arrived using 1,920 x 1,080, Full HD screens? Make yourself a cuppa and have a think, we’ll come back to the answer later.

In the meantime, you’ll no doubt have noticed we reviewed the new iPad last month. As is customary, it attracted all sorts of negative reports at launch, from teardowns showing it’s the most tightly sealed, least recyclable iPad yet, right up to Daily Mail hysteria about it burning people’s hands. But there’s one feature no-one in their right mind was criticising: the screen.

Love or hate Apple’s methods, few can deny that its products drive technological progress. When Apple first introduced the Retina display on the iPhone 4, minds were set racing as to where this would eventually take us: if high-pixel-density displays were viable on a mobile phone, with Apple’s huge economies of scale, how long before they’d spread upwards? (more…)

Coming Clean

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

I hate mucky screens. Watching people stick their fingers on a screen makes me cringe – I prop my hand up on the bezel and point with a midair finger, or a pen, in preference to making the slightest smudge.

Which is why I am quite delighted that Maplin have a TFT screen cleaner on sale at half price, that actually does a good job.

The triangular shape and stiff backing mean it gets in those corners, and the squirty spray gets rid of embrrassing projectile sandwich remains, and yet leaves no trace of streak behind.

This should be such an easy thing to do, and important since we all gawp at screens morning, noon and night. But I’ve spent a lot more in the past and got a lot less…

Making Windows 7 RC gorgeous with gamma

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Like many of you, I spent the weekend tinkering with the new Windows 7 release candidate. And, probably like many of you, I’ve been faintly disappointed at the complete absence of major new features, especially after we were promised “surprises”.

But I have to admit, the outlandish new “Characters” and “Scenes” themes have had me grinning like a Cheshire Cat. I never thought I’d say this, but this new edition of Windows really is beautiful.

And though it looks great out of the box, there’s one quick tweak I can recommend to make it look even better. (more…)

What should I do with my spare screen?

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

This is my desk. Beautiful, isn’t it? Until today, it’s been one of the few in the PC Pro office not to sport a second (or even a third) screen. I had my 19in TFT running off my laptop and I was happy with my lot. I’d never extended the desktop on to my idling laptop screen, largely because doing so in Windows XP was a bit of a faff.

Not so in Windows 7 – a quick tweak with the display settings, and hey presto, my laptop was immediately pressed into service. But now I don’t know what to do with all that extra screen space! Several of my colleagues use their secondary screen for email, but my failing eyesight can barely cope with the email on my larger screen, let alone the laptop’s squidged display.

So, I’m asking you, the great PC Pro readership, for your suggestions. What can I stick on that barren desert landscape? I’ll liberate something from our cupboard of discarded kit for the best suggestion.

The Ultimate Monitor?

Friday, May 16th, 2008

The title of this post may be a tad overzealous, but the jDome is still a fantastic-looking piece of kit.

Essentially, it’s a screen for a projector, albeit one that wraps the image around you, immersing the eager gamer in a 180 degree world. The possibilities, surely, are endless: tramping through the lush jungles of Crysis will be even more immersive, and you really can be a Supreme Commander if the battlefield is stretched around you. World in Conflict, Unreal Tournament 3, Tabula Rasa: all will benefit.

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