Laptop Size and Weight Guide: 13, 14, 15 or 17 Inches?

What each size class is good for

The trade-offs behind the size

Size is a proxy for several things at once. A bigger chassis fits a bigger battery, more ports and larger fans, so a 16 inch laptop can run a hotter processor quietly for longer than a 13 inch one with the same chip. A smaller chassis is lighter, fits on an airline tray, and usually has a screen with a taller aspect ratio (16:10 or 3:2) that suits documents. Keyboards change at 15 inches, where a number pad often appears and shifts the main keys left of centre, which some people never get used to. Screen resolution should scale with size: 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200 is sharp enough up to about 14 inches; on a 16 inch screen 2560 x 1600 is noticeably crisper.

From 5 kg to 1 kg: how laptops shrank

The first commercially successful portables of the early 1980s weighed 5 kg and more, with tiny screens and no battery worth mentioning. By the mid 1990s a mainstream notebook was around 3 kg with a 12 inch screen. The 2008 to 2010 netbook boom proved people would accept a small screen for a 1 kg machine, and the thin-and-light category that followed brought that weight to full-size 13 inch laptops. Three changes did most of the work: solid-state storage replaced spinning drives, processors became efficient enough to cool without large fans, and displays lost their bezels so a given screen fit a smaller lid. Today's 14 inch laptop at 1.2 kg has a larger screen than a 2010 laptop at twice the weight.

A quick decision

1. Carry it most days? Choose 13 or 14 inches, and weigh the bag with the charger included.
2. Mostly at a desk but occasionally moved, and want a number pad or a bigger screen? Choose 15 or 16 inches.
3. Never leaves the desk, or you need maximum performance? Choose 16 to 18 inches, and consider a desktop plus a cheap small laptop instead.
4. Undecided between 14 and 16? Pick 14 and add an external monitor for the desk; it is the more flexible combination.

Size is one decision in the guide to choosing a laptop. For the smallest machines see what to buy instead of a netbook, and for the other lines on the sheet read the laptop comparison method. If you still need discs, note that the options for laptops with a CD or DVD drive are mostly larger, heavier machines, which is worth knowing before you settle on a size.