Goodbye and a good relationship with the 16: 9 aspect ratio

One of the biggest trends from this year’s CES was not something that people will necessarily see at first glance, unless they look good. After enduring years of concise “widescreen” screen for laptops, it seems like we are finally starting to say goodbye to the 16: 9 dimension.

Image: Dell

An aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the screen to the height of the screen (in order). For example, a screen with a resolution of 500 x 500 has an aspect ratio of 1: 1. Think of it as simplifying a fraction: a 1080p screen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is divided by 16: 9.

The aspect ratios you usually see on laptops are 16: 9, 3: 2, 16:10 (which, for whatever reason, is called 16:10 rather than 8: 5) and (occasionally) 4: 3 16: 9 is the most common option and also the one with the lowest amount of vertical space in relation to its horizontal space.

If you have a modern Windows laptop, chances are your screen is 16: 9. If you have a laptop, the panel is almost certainly 16: 9. (It is unusual to find high refresh panels with other ratios.) There are a few exceptions: Microsoft’s Surface products have been 3: 2 for some time, while Dell ‘s last few XPS 13 models and Apple’s MacBooks are already 16:10. But traditionally, Windows laptops like these have been few and far between.

16: 9 screens are cramped – at least compared to other options. I usually can’t work comfortably in multiple windows side by side without zooming out or doing a bunch of vertical scrolling, and when I do multitasking in Chrome, the tabs get small very quickly. If you are used to using a 16: 9 screen and you are trying a 16:10 or 3: 2 screen of the same size, you probably will not want to go back. You just have a lot more space, and that’s a much more efficient use of screen space.

But this CES has shown that 16:10 and 3: 2 screens are getting closer to the mainstream. These are some of the largest laptops announced at the show and offer non-16: 9 screen options:

• HP Elite Folio (1920×1280, 3: 2)
• Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1 (2560 x 1600, 16:10)
• Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 (2560 x 1600, 16:10)
• Lenovo Legion 7 and Legion 5 Pro (2560 x 1600, 16:10)
• LG Gram 17 and Gram 16 (2650 x 1600, 16:10)
• Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro (2560 x 1600, 16:10)
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga (2256 x 1504, 3: 2)
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 and X1 Yoga Gen 6 (up to 3840 x 2400, 16:10)
• Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Removable (1920 x 1280, 3: 2)
• Asus ROG Flow X13 (up to 3840 x 2400, 16:10)

This does not mean that there are no 16: 9 screens left – many laptops still use it and will probably be in the foreseeable future. And some of these devices, like the LG Grams, were already 16:10.

But it is important that a large number of the flagships we are going to see in the first half of 2021 will be either 16:10 or 3: 2. In fact, if you include MSI’s 16:10 Summit E13 Flip and Razer’s 16:10 Razer Book 13 (both announced before CES), I can not think of a regular consumer computer business that is not a non-16: 9 flagship machine. It’s clear that businesses are moving across the board to laptops with higher aspect ratios, and I fully expect to see more of that in the coming years.

Image: Lenovo

It can once again seem like a boring change. But it will make a big difference in the lives of buyers for this year’s laptops, especially people who buy a work-from-home device. I switched from a 16: 9 laptop to a 3: 2 Surface Book 2 in 2017, and it was one of the best purchasing decisions I have ever made. If you are currently using a 16: 9 screen and would like to upgrade this year, I highly recommend giving one of these new devices a try. You do not want to go back.