Soon consumers will be able to buy 4K television sets that feature a 3840 x 2160 resolution. It gets the 4K name because that is four times the number of pixels of today’s current 1080p high definition monitors with a 1920×1080 resolution. The 1080p resolution is standard for most HDTVs and the majority of desktop monitors. Heck, it is even supported by a number of 7-inch tablets. So why is it that the majority of the laptops sold on the market still rely on the old 1366×768 resolution?

This is a major gripe that I have about the laptop market right now. Tablets that cost less than you average budget laptop have a higher resolution display and touchscreen at that. Sure, the base components in a laptop are more expensive than a tablet but then take a look at laptops that are now considered mid-range and priced around $700 to $900. Most of them still use that same 1366×768 resolution that frankly looks archaic next to an iPad that costs less yet features a resolution greater than your HDTV in the living room.

There was a day when the video display of a computer was greater than that of your home television but those days seem to be long gone. Many more expensive and premium laptops now feature the same or maybe a higher resolution but the whole market segment needs to adopt higher resolution displays. If they can make the displays for tablets and high definition TVs affordable, why is it they can’t make your standard 15.6-inch, 14.1-inch and 13.3-inch displays which are used in laptops high resolution and affordable as well? Yes, I know it will end up increasing the cost of the systems but frankly what good is a mobile computer that has less resolution than your tablet and can only matched it when hooked up to an external display?