How many netbooks have anything other than a 16:9 display (even the MB Air 11")? Vertical pixels are precious in landscape mode. Dock to the side is far more efficient with current reality of displays.
Let's put aside any frustration that 16x9 is even usable much less desirable for any office work.
I don't know, I definitely prefer scrolling vertically (in both panels) on my MBA 11" to horizontally scrolling every time I need to read a line in its entirety. 680px wide just isn't enough for the inspector. That said, 1366x768 is certainly not on optimal resolution for development, period!
I agree with this sentiment. There's a certain width in pixels you need before things start to degrade. Most sites are already designed for a vertical scrollbar and almost never for a horizontal one, so even if docking to the right is a better use of screen real estate, if you can't get a comfortable thousand horizontal pixels it's not worth it.
Let's put aside any frustration that 16x9 is even usable much less desirable for any office work.