IDC: Almost All Future Laptops to Have Widescreen

Widescreen laptops with screens that have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 16:10, as opposed to the 4:3 of standard screens, have rapidly been increasing in numbers of late. Having begun out-shipping notebooks with 4:3 screens for the first time in the first half of 2006, widescreen notebooks are set to take over nearly 100 percent of the market by 2008, E Week reports based on a new forecast by market researcher IDC.

Widescreen panels are more efficient to produce, and manufacturers are making quick reductions in pricing. Although the transition comes more from the manufacturing side, some customers have begun asking for the wider screens as well, because of their greater screen real estate, the report says.

Widescreen Notebooks to Spread