Screen Size & Resolution

Arguably the most important component of a notebook, and often the most costly, is its display. Although nearly everyone enjoys having a larger display screen for working on computers, on a laptop that will mean a bulkier object to carry around and a heavier load.

Take a look at the most common display sizes and decide what's right for you...

12.1 Inch Screens - Lightweight Money-Savers

In the lowest-cost systems you'll find 12.1-inch screens capable of color SVGA (800 x 600) resolution. (Note that the flat-panel displays that notebooks use, unlike desktop monitors, generally support only a single, fixed resolution.) A 12.1-inch display is, frankly, rather cramped for everyday use. It's considerably smaller than a sheet of letter-sized paper. Thus we strongly recommend opting for a larger screen if you can afford it and aren't looking for an ultrasmall machine.

14.1 Inch Screens - A Nice Balance

A 14.1-inch display, for example, gives you viewing area equivalent to that of a 15-inch desktop monitor (for arcane reasons, flat-panel displays and traditional monitors are measured differently). You will find some 14.1-inch screens that are 800 x 600 resolution only, but most will support up to 1,024 x 768.

We tend to think 14.1-inch screens supporting 1,024 x 768 resolution strike the best compromise between viewable area and overall portability.

15 Inch Screens & Higher

More expensive notebooks are sometimes available with 15-inch displays, some of which support resolutions as high as 1,600 x 1,200. If you really want the biggest display and highest resolution possible in your notebook, they're worth considering, but for our taste they tend to make a notebook feel uncomfortably large, as well as hard to use in the cramped confines of an economy-class airline seat.

Don't forget that you can attach an external monitor to a notebook as well, so you could buy a spacious 19-inch screen for use at your desk and rely on the internal display only when you're on the road.

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