Originally posted by: Auric
1.60:1 displays may be considered "wide format" even though they are narrower than TV (1.78) which is narrower than the most common film format (1.85) and of course much narrower than true widescreen (2.40).
However to be considered truly wide in my opine, implies that it has the same useable dimensions of a 1.33 or 1.25 display plus additional horizontal. So, for instance, a 1680x1050 display is a "wide" alternative to a 1280x1024, not 1600x1200. For that you would need 1920x1200.
The li'l 1440x900 displays are just baffling really: too small for wide content and too short for documents or any creative work (and rotating doesn't help).