17" PB is actually 17.125"

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Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Maybe not a big issue. Just thought i'd point it out. I took an ad from the Wall street journal which features a real-size picture of the Lapzilla and measured the screen diagonally.



(It's freakin' huge!) And, as I said before, not too big a laptop. I cut it out and folded it and it seems pretty reasonable. Leave it to Apple to push the envelope.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    icruiseicruise Posts: 127member
    Wouldn't it make more sense to assume that the slight difference is due to the printing process or something? I doubt that Apple is going to underestimate the size of their new screen. (Keep in mind that they do list the ibook's screen as being 12.1" in the tech specs, while the 17" is listed as 17").
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  • Reply 2 of 6
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    How do you know your ruler is not off.



    Where I work we do QA on rulers and graph paper. How do you know accurate the graph paper is over 30cm?
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  • Reply 3 of 6
    [quote]Originally posted by Scott:

    <strong>How do you know your ruler is not off.



    Where I work we do QA on rulers and graph paper. How do you know accurate the graph paper is over 30cm?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You might have a point there. Except I used an 18" ruler, and made sure both corners were tightly measured. As for the ruler being off...perhaps, but I really can't check 'cause I don't have any graph paper at work.



    And in reply to icruise's post: I really doubt that the printout is off, because Apple could sue the Wall Street Journal for printing an off sized ad.
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  • Reply 4 of 6
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i should preface this by saying that i initially started this post to say that the new PowerBook was likely only 17". i believe i may be wrong, and that the original poster is correct.



    Apple lists the 17" iMac as 17"



    Steve also said that the laptop uses the EXACT same LCD as the 17" iMac. i happen to have one in the lab here, and just got done measuring it. it is, without a doubt, larger than 17". in fact, 17.125" seems almost exactly right.



    the laptop screen is likely larger than they say it is.



    go figure. guess it goes to show that there's no substitute for actually checking this stuff in real life instead of taking someone's word for it.



    -alcimedes
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  • Reply 5 of 6
    [quote]Originally posted by alcimedes:

    <strong>i should preface this by saying that i initially started this post to say that the new PowerBook was likely only 17". i believe i may be wrong, and that the original poster is correct.



    Apple lists the 17" iMac as 17"



    Steve also said that the laptop uses the EXACT same LCD as the 17" iMac. i happen to have one in the lab here, and just got done measuring it. it is, without a doubt, larger than 17". in fact, 17.125" seems almost exactly right.



    the laptop screen is likely larger than they say it is.



    go figure. guess it goes to show that there's no substitute for actually checking this stuff in real life instead of taking someone's word for it.



    -alcimedes</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Thank you alcimedes!!! Thanks for going through the trouble of actually measuring the screen.



    I think the reason why they just said 17" is because of advertising/design purposes. In my design and copywriting classes in college teachers always used the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple, Students).



    I guess 17" sounds impressive enough for the laptop and probably they didn't want to add the ".125" or "& 1/8" because it might get a little too complicated for their advertising copy. Furthermore, from a graphic standpoint, 17" is more aesthetically pleasing than 17.125" (that is , of course, only my opinion, and totally subject to anyone else's judgement).



    I'm just surprised that they don't mention it in the tech specs, whereas the 15" and 12" PB's are clearly marked as 12.1" and 15.2". It might also be adequate to mention that these two models are advertised as ONLY 12" and 15".



    If they catch this they'll probably change their specsheet pretty soon.
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  • Reply 6 of 6
    icruiseicruise Posts: 127member
    I just measured an iBook screen, and it is around 12.25" not 12.1". I think the actual measurements are based on the amount of viewable area -- perhaps there is a small amount of non-display space around the surface of the LCD.
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