I kept the title honest but I submitted it specifically because the article says, "But it may also wreak havoc on CIOs’ networks and connectivity budgets — better quality displays require more network bandwidth, which allows users to increase data consumption."<p>How can the WSJ report such nonsense? Bigger displays do not increase bandwidth usage as far as I know.
People with expert knowledge in any field will frequently notice "wow, the media does a terrible job of understanding and explaining my field." Too few take the next logical step: the media does a terrible job of understanding and explaining <i>almost everything</i>. You simply notice the problem more in areas where you know more.
A few websites like Apple's are 'retina optimized' and the way Apple implements it, it is a bit inefficient--the web browser downloads the standard size image, then some js replaces those images with high-res variants. But sites like that are rare, and still don't account for a large amount of bandwidth used, so I vote: FUD.
>CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested that the higher resolution Retina displays of the new iPad and forthcoming Macbook Pro computers would increase consumption of network bandwidth, thus slowing performance of corporate networks. Higher resolution screens do not in and of themselves consume more network bandwidth. Some analysts have suggested that owners of devices with high-resolution screens will likely consume more video and HD video, which would result in higher bandwidth consumption. This article has been modified to reflect this change.<p>Still a stretch in my opinion.
The article is poorly worded. The point is that retina 2x graphics do require more bandwidth. As retina displays grow in popularity, bandwidth may become an issue. It's certainly something developers should consider when thinking about site performance.<p><a href="http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/2DDrawing/Conceptual/DrawingPrintingiOS/SupportingHiResScreens/SupportingHiResScreens.html" rel="nofollow">http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/2DDraw...</a>
As far as I know youtube videos at 1080p use the same bandwidth regardless of whether you're displaying on 720p or a retina display. This is silly, is the reporter confused about HDMI/DisplayPort vs. network bandwidth?
If the monitors are running off the network instead of DVI/HDMI/VGA/Display port, it's the CIO that must be fired.<p>The only way this can be an issue if everyone's running off remote access and running it at the highest resolution without compression.