Amen
I've been saying that for a long time. The manufacturers play to the dumbed-down lowest common denominator among us. They must think everyone uses their PCs (both desktop and laptop for movie watching because all you can find are 16x9 screens. When I bought new monitor for my desktop, I specifically looked for 16x10 (1920x11200). Yes, it's widescreen, but it also has the same height as my old 1600x1200 monitors. Now you can't find them unless you are willing to pay more for it. The model I bought doesn't come in 16x10 anymore. Another thing they do is put 10/100 Ethernet in laptops for the masses. I was looking at some recently on HP's Web site and thought it was a misprint. I e-mailed them to clarify (saying that 10/100 is a deal-breaker for me even on laptops because even though I usually run wireless, there are times I plug in) and I got a response that said that according to their market research, most people didn't want or need 10/100/1000 anymore on laptops as they ran wireless. I also mentioned the 16x9 vs.16x10 thing and got some vague ambiguous response on that one. It's not just HP, they all are doing it. You can still find 10/100/1000, but those are in the higher-end (expensive) models.
I doubt we will see 4:3 anymore, but I can live with 16x10 if they would produce those. If not, I guess I can get used to 16x9. I bought a new Asus laptop for my son as his old one was starting to go. It's 16x9, but has 10/100/1000. I put it up to his old 4:3 unit and compared Web pages. There was actually 2 or 3 more lines on the new one so I guess the fonts are smaller on the new one to make up for the smaller screen height. Still like 16x10 better, though.
Your statement about " the end all and be all of cool" is exactly right. Marketing people. I have a saying about them (tongue in cheek): "There's a special place in Hell for marketing people."
