Ask HN: What is your preferred notebook screen size and why?

13-14".

My favourite laptop design of all time has been my macbook pro 2011. I never feel like it needs to be bigger, the keyboard feels natural and typing is easy, and it is portable.

I will be getting a Framework laptop soon, which has very similar proportions.

I’m going to go with 12” here as my preferred size.

And yes, I miss the original MacBook “one”. 13” is the absolute maximum for portability if you have to carry your machine around on a daily/hourly basis, and smaller is better for me, so I really hope the 14” has the same effective footprint as the 13” model…

xps13

I’m pretty firmly in the camp of the 15”-16” camp. Everything smaller both the screen and keyboard seem cramped to me (for the keyboard at least, the fact that I’m 6’4” with proportional hand size is probably a factor, to be sure), and I haven’t really experienced any portability issues with modern (well, even nearly 5-year-old) 15”-16” machines even when I was carrying one around all the time (haven’t been doing that much since the pandemic); they aren’t too heavy, bags/backpacks with laptop compartments that are sized right for them are readily available and not inconvenient to carry, etc.

My main notebook still is a T420 (14") personally I don't want to go any bigger, even thought I use it mostly on the couch these days

14 inch 3:2 ratio would be ideal. Wish there was an apple notebook with this form factor

13" for me. It's the sweet spot between it being portable enough to travel with or use while sitting on the couch but still having enough to comfortably work with. And then I have an external monitor at my desk for when I'm working. Those rumors about the MacBook Pro 14" would only improve it since the device size itself is supposed to keep the same footprint.

I had a 15" before this, and it's considerably more annoying to take with you. You might also be less flexible in terms of where you'll work from, e.g. if the table space is limited such as at coffee shops.

15.6"-16" with small bezels are OK to me.

Resolution 1080p or higher, even though I feel that 4k for that screen size is a bit overkill.

If you think you’d need an external monitor for something, I doubt if a 15” or 16” will be anywhere near a satisfactory replacement even temporarily. Of course, it’s (to me, uncomfortably) larger than the 13” or 14”.

I’d suggest physically handling those measurements before deciding. Two inches (and the added weight) can make a big difference in portability.

My preference is the 13” or 14”, mainly because I can use the price differential between that and a similar spec for the 15” or 16” (which could be a few hundred dollars) to have better internals on the 13” or 14” (like 32GB RAM and/or a 2 TB SSD). Since the RAM and internal SSD are not upgradeable on MacBooks (of the past few years and the current ones) after purchase, think about how long you would use the laptop before buying another one and what spec would work better for future proofing it.

Though the Apple Silicon Macs of the past year have been very efficient and performant even with 8GB RAM, there have been many reports of heavy use of the SSD (swap space for virtual memory), leading to suspicions/predictions that the internal SSDs may wear out sooner. I’d be a lot more comfortable having more RAM with these new systems and enjoying the performance without too much of a compromise in the long run. SSD wear is also inversely proportional to the free space available. So the larger the drive is or the less of it that’s occupied, the better.

I’d love a 20”+ laptop. At one point I made a lap mount for a 27” monitor, and it was great for short sessions. At over 10kg the weight was a bit much for longer sessions. :)

14"

I always give a look to anything 13-14" in 3:2 or 4:3 aspect ratio.

Right now that's Framework, Pixelbook, and Surfacebook. I'm tempted by mobile M1[X], but I'll be buying a Framework as soon as the non-Intel mainboards appear.

My job involves mainly writing, not coding. I go with 16” so I can have a thin notes window next to a main document window. 13-14” also works if I just use the main document window.

In my view if you are going to travel and use the laptop on a plane regularly, the 13-14” size is better. Otherwise the 16” is preferable.

I would prefer 15".

This would give me a large display, large keyboard, more space to shove SSD.

But since these stuff adds weight and size, I currently prefer 14" because these are easier to move around

The bigger the better! I miss those old battleship gaming laptops with a charger powerful enough to start a car and a desktop graphics cards.

13”, because I haul it around a lot and like the lighter form factor.

I have a Lenovo Legion 7, with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

I’ll never ever buy a laptop that does not have this aspect ratio again. 16:9 is rubbish.

13 (14 is fine too). It is super portable, can even fit in a purse or backpack without weighing it down, if I want a big screen I hook up to a monitor. With 13 I can easily sit on the couch and read an ebook and almost feel like it is a real book since I can position the computer easily. With macbook air the battery also last super long.

I absolutely adore large screens. But I get that with an external monitor.

When using a laptop as a ...laptop, portability is key. 13" is big enough to do work on the go.

15-16 inch is my comfort zone. Anything else is too small and my eyes hurt and bigger than that is unwieldy.

15 is my sweet spot. Anything smaller makes doesn't have enough real estate and anything bigger is unwieldy.

The other thing I look for is centered keyboard without numpad. I can't stand laptops with the home row offset to the left because of the numpad.

I used to be in deep within the 15-16" camp, but if I can get a "full power" in a 14" form factor I'd take one in a heart beat. "Full power" meaning maximum number of cores, I've always resented the fact you can only get a quad core processor in the 13"... Because quite frankly, four cores ain't enough.

Also, I'm having a solid laugh because I just realized Macbook Pros are like the only good universally sold using imperial units for its dimensions (at least according to what I'm seeing). There ain't no Macbook Pro ~35cm/~40cm coming out anywhere. Honestly, is that like... a little fucking weird for folks in other countries or is it just another drop in the bucket of weird crap from the USA?

Having used both a 15 inch and a 13 inch within the last couple of years, I will give the most measured answer: “it depends”.

If you’re lugging the laptop on a lengthy commute every day the I would say that speaks against having a heavier 15 inch. On the other hand if the work requires an external GPU and sustained CPU-bound workloads such that a robust cooling solution is necessary: then 13 inch is probably not a good choice.

I’m definitely not in the same camp as some “road warriors” that don’t use external peripherals though, so screen sizes really don’t matter much: for the work I do (webdev) you’re nuts if you don’t use external min 1440p screens. Also external ergo keyboards are a must in my book. Laptop keyboards are absolutely terrible for your wrists.

A 15.6 because I watch a lot of media and movies but if I cared more about portability, I would love a 3:2 13.5" that has gaming notebook level power that I could just hook up to a monitor.

Acer chromebook spin 713 comes closest and I want it, and initially got it but returned it. I needed more power for a main machine, I got into video encoding and streaming so I have a 15.6" hp omen.

15-16" because it is big enough I can do most things (mostly coding for me) without an extra monitor but small enough to be well portable.