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Comment by caterama | Hacker News Reader

I got the 17" Kudu for work. Honestly, I'm now aware that a 17" screen on a laptop is just too impractically big, but the hardware has been great.

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14" is perfect size for me. Not 13", not 15" but 14". I hope it will become easier to find in the future.

I said it before and I will say it again: a 14" display in 4:3 aspect ratio is the best choice for a programmers laptop!

It's tall enough so that you can see a lot of text but narrow enough that the laptop does not get too bulky.

If there will ever be a new 14" machine with a 1400*1050 display I will be first in line to buy it!

>I said it before and I will say it again: a 14" display in 4:3 aspect ratio is the best choice for a programmers laptop!

Interesting. How do you measure the aspect ratio? By actually measuring the height and width of the visible part of the display with a ruler or measuring tape, or via some software utility / command? I have a 14" display laptop, and would like to know the aspect ration, hence asking.

Xdpyinfo, if nothing else?

Will try that, thanks.

Pixels for computers are approximately square, so you can simply derive it from the native resolution of the panel.

[1]: https://m.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1400%3A1050

Thanks.

A 17" laptop is great for working from the couch, and that's what I use it for. It's not so great as an actual portable computer, so I've coupled it with an 11" that I carry with me for meetings etc...

Having a big screen is so nice. The 17” MacBook Pro is the second best computer I ever had, after my current Thinkpad T530. If I had to buy a new computer today (hopefully not, as my Thinkpad is still going strong at five years old), I’d probably go for the P70.

I don’t mind having a big and heavy laptop though. I carry it in a backpack, and a few pounds more or less on my back is pretty insignificant.

Yeah having a 17" laptop is brilliant with the caveat that they're kind of terrible on planes. I'm using a 14" ThinkPad these days and miss the extra real estate, although I've adapted to it over time.

Good point. Now that you mention it, I do remember trying and giving up on using it on a plane. It’s not a big deal for me personally because I get motion sick on planes so I usually just take a couple of Dramamine and sleep through the whole flight.

I’ve been very happy with my 17” Dell Precision 7710. But I wanted a big screen and a laptop with lots of ports, room for 2 hard drives, etc.

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