The shape of our screens are changing

Aspect ratio is the ratio of a display’s width to a display’s height. Most displays, especially Windows laptops, come with an HD (High Definition) screen resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, which equates to an aspect ratio of 16:9, which is a rectangular shape and the same as a television. However, many new devices are being released with a trend towards 16:10 or 3:2 aspect ratios, which are more square in shape.

The standard HD aspect ratio gives a smaller amount of vertical space relative to the horizontal space, which may be good for entertainment such as films but may not be as practical for work such as vertical documents. Those who work on 16:9 screens may have found that they need to zoom in and out when trying to fit multiple windows on the screen – which crucially makes multitasking very difficult. Aspect ratios 16:10 or 3:2 in contrast have more room and can give more efficient use of screen space for work orientated applications and tasks.

Most standard Windows laptops, and the majority of gaming laptops have a 16:9 ratio screen, traditionally Apple MacBooks are already 16:10. Recently, other leading providers are beginning to change their mainstream laptop ranges’ aspect ratio, which can be seen in the release of the latest Microsoft Surface and Dell XPS 13 laptops.

This difference in aspect ratio may seem slight, but this could be a rather dramatic change if it eventually permeates to all work machines and devices. We could start to see one cohort of devices for entertainment and another different cohort for work.