Apple calls the displays on its iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad “retina” displays because they have so many pixels packed so tightly that it’s impossible for the human eye to tell one pixel from another while holding the device a comfortable distance away from your face.
Android tablet makers are expected to step up their game soon, with Acer, Asus, and Lenovo bringing 10.1 inch tablets to market with 1920 x 1200 pixel displays.
But laptop screens are another story. In fact, 1366 x 768 pixel displays have only just become more common than 1024 x 768 pixel screens. But Intel envisions a day when laptop displays will offer the same retina-style pixel densities as phone and tablets… and that day could arrive as soon as next year.
The further you position a screen from your eyes, the lower the pixel density needs to be for it to qualify as a retina-style display. But today’s 1366 x 768 pixel displays simply don’t cut it.
So here’s what Intel sees happening in the computer space over the next few years:
- Phones and media players with 5 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel displays (this is already happening)
- Tablets with 10 inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel displays
- Ultrabooks with 11 inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel displays
- Ultrabooks with 13 inch, 2800 x 1800 pixel displays
- Laptops with 15 inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel displays
- All-in-one desktops with 3840 x 2160 pixel displays
You may have noticed that all of these resolutions, with the exception of the 5 inch form factor, offer a higher resolution experience than a top-of-the-line 1080p HDTV with a measly 1920 x 1080 pixels.
The difference is that you sit as far as 10 feet away from your HDTV, while a laptop probably sits 2 feet or less from your eyeballs.
Part of what will make these new higher resolution displays possible are changes in the way Windows and other operating systems handle pixel density. While Windows 7 and earlier operating systems have allowed users to change some DPI (dots per inch) settings, for the most part things look messy when you do that, with some fonts and graphics rendering larger than others.
And if you don’t adjust your DPI settings (as well as the sizes of scrollbars, toolbars, and other items) then text and pictures may be too tiny to read on small, high resolution screens.
This isn’t as much a problem in iOS or Google Android because the operating systems are designed to resize graphic elements so they simply look better on high resolution screens, not smaller. Windows 8 will be able to do something similar — at least with apps using the new Metro style user interface. It’s not yet clear how desktop-style apps will look on a super-sharp 3840 x 2160 pixel display.
While it’s possible that we could start to see new laptops and desktop computers with these high resolution displays, my guess is that they won’t flood the market immediately.
Until supply and demand increase sufficiently, high resolution displays will still cost a heck of a lot more than the 1366 x 768 pixel displays that seem to be everywhere today… and it took a long time for that resolution to finally become more popular than older 1024 x 768 pixel screens. Retina displays might remain the exception rather than the rule for years to come.
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25 Comments on "Intel: Retina laptop, desktop displays coming in 2013"
about effing time
I wonder if Apple has any plans for high-res laptop screens sooner than that. I am kind of surprised that after the buzz of the retina display on the iPhone 4 they never talked about it.
Also, I really hate that “retina display” is apparently coming into common usage. Just give me DPI and resolution, please.
Battery technology advances rapidly. So, maybe by 2013, better CPU/GPU and battery technology will make such resolutions practical. I have been anticipating 300dpi monitors for some time now. Having a monitor equal a low end printer for resolution would be great.
Uh, no, battery technology hasn’t really improved much in over a decade.
Every advance so far has been fairly strictly on the electronics side of things.
While screen technology has similarly taken a very long time to see any advancements and it’s only the CPU/GPU side of things that has really advanced rapidly.
“Ultrabooks with 11 inch, 1560 x 1440 pixel displays”
Is this a typo? Should it read ‘2560 x 1440’ ?
Misguided prediction that shows Intel clearly doesn’t understand the difference between desktop and mobile displays http://jdrch.posterous.com/high-res-displays-serve-a-different-purpose-o
Also, high PPI displays are incompatible with the Windows 8 Desktop as it suffers the same limitations as the Windows 7 Desktop. If anything, the only ultrabooks these displays will appear on will be WoA devices that Intel won’t be involved in.
Intel may want it to happen, but it won’t, because manufacturers want those $500 laptops and consumers will buy $500 laptops. If you want a laptop with something more than 1366×768, you have to look at laptops costing $1000+.
And consumers just want laptops with screen sizes. A 15″ laptop that costs $500, for example. They will snub their noses at a 15″ laptop with a high-res display (we’re only talking 1440×900 here – not even the higher resolution modes) if it costs $1000 even though it may be better in every way.
Once upon a time laptops with screen resolution of 1366×768 used to cost $1000+. Over time, as more manufacturers adopt HiDPi displays and the cost of manufacturing drops, I don’t doubt we’ll see laptops with HiDPi displays drop below $1000 (and no, I don’t mean $999).
I still haven’t replaced my 4+ year old Fujitsu lifebook because nothing can beat it for taking notes – 1400×1050 in 12″ = 145ppi, Wacom active digitizer. I go to meetings where people are typing notes on the screen keyboard of their Android or ipad tablets and just shake my head. Then I plug in my convertible and show them the sketches I just made and a flowchart for decision making and a quick gaant chart of how we should proceed, all in OneNote.
The analysis assumes that 20/20 vision is “normal”. In fact its the lower limit of “normal” below which your vision is considered to need correction. Most people have about twice that resolution.
More than likely apple and other companies will use arm type processors to power the displays and regular CPUs to do the computing they will work together to help save battery life.
Hybrid systems are a possibility but they’re not a complete solution or necessarily the best solution.
The power savings of just switching to ARM doesn’t negate that everything else still uses the same amount of power like the LCD and doesn’t mean much if the user keeps on using applications that require the use of the x86 processor and you definitely don’t want to be running both of them at the same time.
So you’ll mainly see them used with a clear distinction between usage, like the ARM chip for tablet mode and the x86 when docked to a keyboard dock. Often including a switch between Operating Systems.
While a ATOM and Core i Processor combination may be preferable for some as that allows the running of the same OS in both modes and simply scales performance.
The technology is still evolving though, so we’ll see how it plays out.
Scaling is still a issue for classic desktop but not for Metro. MS is bringing dynamic scaling to Windows 8 and for new apps at least this will not be a issue.
Mainly it’s the legacy apps that will have a problem with the scaling. Though MS is putting in some solutions to ease these issues, and desktops can be customized for just about any resolution, but ultimately those old apps need to be adjusted for the new screens.
Make no mistake though, higher resolution screens are coming regardless. They’ll just need a transition period as everyone adjusts to them.
doesnt this imply that mobile PCs will be moving away from gaming entirely as soon as next year? Hell, even a high end desktop graphics system would have trouble maxing settings on that 13″ screen. Even if gpu performance *doubles* next year, mid-range desktop cards would tend not to be able to handle that 13″ screen… and this is in an ultrabook, where *entry-level mobile* graphics is about max.
You’ll just need glasses