If there was more demand we could offer a 15.6" model with a 1920x1080
screen. It would be a 16:9 ratio and not 16:10 or 4:3. The entertainment
industry killed 16:10 and 4:3 ratios so we can't do them now. We are limited
by what others in the industry are also demanding to some degree. There are
only a handful of actual manufacturers for any given part and while we can
change a design and select the technologies/chipsets/design to a degree it's
still limited by the screens being manufactured and other technology. We
can't force Intel for instance to remove Intel Insider from some of its CPUs
so that we can ship a design that is freedom friendly. If more manufacturers
demanded it then maybe we could.. but they aren't.
While we can definitely do this 1920x1080 configuration today there isn't
enough demand for it. So we aren't.
There is good news though in regards to getting a laptop with a middle of the
roads higher resolution screen. We are able to produce a 15.6" model with a
1600x900 screen and Intel HD graphics today (we think- we are talking with
the manufacturing guys). At the moment the reference design includes a
fingerprint reader that we aren't prepared to support and are having it
removed. That'll take some time as it is a standard feature and need a
different part in our design that doesn't exist (even though there is a
reference for the other part). We have to wait 1-3 months for this
modification/testing. The model is also a newer model that the technology
isn't yet available for. And we can't do something sooner because the old
tech is being discontinued. The new model though is similar to the old model
(again- its just a reference design, not something we actually have).
A guesstimate as to its availability is August/September time frame if
everything goes smoothly.
