One of the most common questions people ask when shopping for a new laptop concerns the screen, and it isn’t the resolution they are worried about, it is the overall size. It makes sense. After all, you will spend a lot of time staring at the screen of the laptop you buy, so you want to pick one that is right for you. Heck, there is even an entire reddit talking about screen size. But what makes it too big or too small? Let’s take a brief look at the strengths and benefits of the different sizes.
17-Inch Screens
While there are a few laptops out there with larger screens, for the most part the biggest you will find are 17-inch screens. These screens are great if you need to see a lot on the display at once and are even better if you are buying a gaming laptop, but these laptops are often heavy and sometimes bulky making their portability far less than most desire from a laptop.
15-Inch Screens
This is the middle of the road, and a good size for those people that need at least a little portability along with plenty of room to see what they are doing. In many ways, it is pretty much the standard size these days and has been for quite some time, though you will usually have to fork out $400 or more for a well specced 15-inch sized laptop. If you need a more balanced approach to your laptop, the 15 is the way to go.
13-Inch Screens
At just a touch smaller than the 15-inch, the 13-inch systems are usually every bit as powerful as the others but they come with a slightly smaller package that is far more portable. If you are looking for something is both portable and powerful, then the 13-inch systems are where you need to look.
11-Inch and Smaller Screens
These are the ultimate in portability. Remember the rise and fall of netbooks? Well they haven’t entirely gone away, and many people who need something portable but with just a little more functionality opt to use a laptop with an 11-inch screen or smaller. These devices are easy to carry around with you wherever you go, but the small screen can make it difficult to work, especially on very detailed tasks that require you to look at many different things on your screen at once. They also tend to be slower machines, as hardware manufacturers pack in more efficient, but slower hardware into these little devices.
How Do You Choose
This can be the hardest part. The best advice I can give you is to look at how you want to use it. Do you prefer lots of room to work or do you prefer something smaller that is easier to carry with you? Based on your needs, you should be able to select the screen size that is right for you.
Conclusion
Laptops come in many shapes and sizes these days, but choosing the right one can be difficult. Remember to examine your needs carefully and weigh that against the different sizes of laptop screens. Hopefully, now that you understand which ones work the best in each of these different scenarios, you make the right decision.
