Sorry, it took me a second or two to figure out what your complaint was here. I'm assuming that the first laptop you mention is a 4:3 display, and the second [hypothetical] laptop is a widescreen 16:10 display?

If that's the case, I understand what you're saying, but I can also see an opposite way of thinking: mainly that you can make a widescreen laptop just as wide as the 4:3, and it'll be lighter because it's shorter. I know this was an appeal in the last office I was in because it meant that the attorneys who flew quite a bit would be able to more easily use a widescreen laptop on a tray table if the person in front of them leaned back.

Anyway, I remember Dell offering screen choices on a couple of their models**, but I think your best bet is going to be Lenovo. I'm not certain about their consumer sales, but at least in their business side you could pretty much customize the heck out of their laptops, which included screen resolutions.

*edit*

**Looks like the XPS M1530 offers a choice of 15" widescreens: 1280x800 or 1440x900.