[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.