From the PEP 8 -- Style Guide for Python Code about maximum line length:

"Limit all lines to a maximum of 79 characters.

There are still many devices around that are limited to 80 character
lines; plus, limiting windows to 80 characters makes it possible to have
several windows side-by-side. The default wrapping on such devices
disrupts the visual structure of the code, making it more difficult to
understand. Therefore, please limit all lines to a maximum of 79
characters. For flowing long blocks of text (docstrings or comments),
limiting the length to 72 characters is recommended."

IMHO, it's a good choice.

The suggestion on line lengths is only partly due to terminal considerations. Readability of code is also a very important issue. It's not about setting a precise limit for the sake of consistency so much as giving a guideline to make sure that your code is easily readable both by yourself and others who must follow it later.

That's a silly note to add. 75-85 is ~80 characters for that very reason (standard terminal width). If you only go a couple characters over there is no reason to split your code into two lines.

If you're limiting 75-85 chars, why not just limit to 80 chars ? There's no point pissing off the people that still respect the most common terminal width.