The PowerBook G4 computer has a built-in color flat panel display. It is a wide-screen display (1280 by 854 pixels) and is 15.2 inches across, measured diagonally. The resolution is 101.4 dpi.
The display is backlit by a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). The display uses TFT (thin-film transistor) technology for high contrast and fast response.
In addition to its native resolution (1280 by 854) the display also supports several non-native resolutions, as shown in Table 3-12. The graphics controller IC includes a scaling function that expands displays with those smaller resolutions to fill the screen.
The display's native resolution, 1280 by 854, has an aspect ratio of 3:2. When selecting a picture resolution with an aspect ration of 4:3, the user can choose to have it displayed with square pixels and black margins on the sides, or with stretched pixels that fill the display from side to side. These options are shown in Table 3-12.