The trend toward widescreen displays on laptops doesn't make sense to me. Business users spend the most time on documents that are longer than they are wider, spreadsheets notwithstanding, yet displays are going the other way to the 16:9 resolution.

Worse, the screens are actually getting shorter. My 14" T60 has a resolution of 1280x1024 (SXGA, 5:4). The the 14.1" display on the base model T61 has a resolution of 1280x800 (WXGA), more than 200 pixels shorter than mine. Unfortunately, all new ThinkPad T models have the wide screen; in fairness, some are taller than 1024.

This is no doubt the result of the booming HDTV market, which drives down the price of all LCDs in the 16:9 form factor.

The other bad thing about wider screens is bigger laptops overall. The smallest T61, with the 14.1" screen, is an inch wider than my T60. The 15.4" T61 is another inch wider and won't fit in the excellent and expensive rolling case I've been using for the past 7 years.

I wonder when it was that traveling business users stopped getting the features they need?