> The lack of more vertical real state is especially frustrating.

I see the aspect ratio as the main problem with current monitors, especially on laptops. 4:3 was nice, 3:2 is pleasant, 16:10 is wide but tolerably so, 16:9 has too little vertical pace.

It is sad that current monitor are all glossy and very wide: optimized for movies instead of text and other "lean forward" applications.

BTW, Dell still produces very nice and not too expensive IPS 16:10 monitors.

My wife has the MBP with Retina Display. It's got lots more pixels than my MBA, but no more real estate. Display widgets can really only get so small while still remaining useful, and increasing pixel count involves some tradeoffs with things like power consumption.

I could have had a lot more vertical real estate, but I decided that since I'd be carrying the thing around in my satchel, physical size was also a consideration. At home I can plug it into a monitor that's much, much bigger.