Laptop sizes – 12”, 14” 15.6” & what they mean.

Another question we often get asked is – What size laptop should I buy…?

Laptops generally come in 3 sizes

• 12”
• 14”
• 15.6”

Referred to as ultra-portable, Standard and large or desktop replacement.

This measurement is denoting the distance between diagonally opposite corners of the screen.

While you can get smaller than 12” and larger the 15.6”, these sizes are the outliers and not super common.

12” Laptops

The 12” laptops by nature are lighter and thinner and more conducive to be travel.
these units are more suited to situations like traveling business people, or Students, where the laptop will generally be used off-site.

12” laptops generally have a 67% sized keyboard. Fully functional, but in order to reduce size and weight, you are sacrificing some ease of use as well as comfort.

These laptops generally have a screen resolution of 1366 * 768 (similar to many 14” laptops)

14” Laptops

From there we move up to the 14” laptop. This the size that most laptops are produced in, and the size most people are looking for.

it has the best of both worlds. Fully functional and comfortable to use all the while still being conveniently portable.

if you only have one computing device, this 14” laptop will suit your needs.
14” laptops generally have a 75% sized keyboard.
This is more comfortable to type on than the a 12” laptop.

These laptops have either a 1366 * 768 or 1920 * 1080 screen resolution.

15.6” Laptops

Moving up one more step, we get to the 15.6” laptops.
while only stepping up 1” (ish) doesn’t seam like much of a jump, the difference in laptop size is quite considerable.

15.6” Laptops are usually recognised by the full-size keyboard including the numerical keypad on the right-hand side (like most desktop keyboards).
If you do a lot of accounting or Excel or working with numbers in general, this may be the size of the laptop you are after.

but then again you could stay with a 14” laptop and use a USB Numpad when required.
15.6” laptop usually have a Full HD 1920 * 1080 Screen resolution due to the larger screen.

Most people that use 15.6” laptop use them desk-bound as they are simply not as convenient to travel with. – i.e., Desktop Replacement.

Another comment for 15.6” laptops is battery life. A larger screen will use more power and give a slightly shorter per-charge run-time. This is not significant, but still worth noting however.