[_carbyau_]

I don't like Apple generally. And it wasn't "their" technology - but thank fuck they brought "better than 1080p" screens to the mainstream.

Throughout the 90's screen resolutions were getting better and better. Then LCDs came and 1080p stopped mainstream screen resolution improvements for at least 5 years.

Thankfully Apple got the screen resolution race going again.

[kcb]

Mainstream 1080p wasn't the worst of it. Just a decade or so ago it was impossible to find a non-17" Windows laptop without a 1366x768 TN screen with awful contrast and viewing angles so bad there was no good angle. Even super premium $3000 "Ultrabooks", it was true insanity.

[mark-r]

The last Windows app I worked on, I made sure the tester always tested at that resolution because it was so ubiquitous. I even wrote a utility to set the app resolution so I could run it at that size myself.

[manderley]

Plenty of Windows laptops with good quality IPS screens were available 10 years ago, even 13" models.

And I primarily remember pre-Retina Apple for only offering laptops with very low screen resolutions.

[spectre3d]

1920x1200 on the 2009 17” MacBook Pro, pre-Retina.

The consumer MacBooks and iBooks before them definitely had frustratingly low resolutions.