Knowing the right size of your laptop can definitely be handy when you need it the most. In this post, we will show you how to measure your laptop screen with or without a measuring tape.
How are laptop screens measured?
How to find out your laptop screen size without measuring?
What are the standard laptop sizes? a.k.a laptop size comparison
Step-by-step to measure laptop size
Step 1: Get A Standard Tape Measure
The best way to measure a laptop screen is to get a standard tape measure. It’s most likely that the standard tape measure will come with inch units on one side. But if you don’t have inch units, there’s nothing to worry about, as you can always convert your unit to inches.
Step 2: Find Your Starting Point
There are two most important things you have to understand before actually measuring your laptop screen size.
The first thing is that the screens are always measured diagonally. And the second one is where many people get it wrong.
Measuring point isn’t the top corner of your screen, yet the point where the actual screen starts.
Therefore, you will have to turn on your laptop in order to know where does your screen starts and ends.
We highly recommend you to use the top left display corner as a starting point and for the ending point the diagonal corner which is bottom right display corner.
Step 3: Write Down Your Measurement
When you’ve successfully measured the size of your screen, write it down so you don’t forget it. If you’ve measured in inches, you won’t need to do any converting.
But if you have measured in any other unit, it would be best if you would convert the unit to inches.
You might be wondering why is that necessary?
It’s a standard in the screen industry to label screen sizes in inches unit. Whether it is a laptop screen, desktop computer screen, or even a television – the unit will be inches.
Step 4: Converting Centimeters To Inches
If you’ve measured your laptop screen size in centimeters, it’s really easy to convert it to inches.
1 inch = 2.54 CM
For example – if you have measured your screen to be 34 CM, to get inches, you will have to divide it with 2.54 CM.
34 CM (measured screen size) :2.54 CM (1 inch is 2.54 CM) = 13.3 inches
Converting Inches To A Tenth Of Inches
If you have measured your screen size in inches, it’s most likely that the standard tape measure you’ve used was in 16th of inches, while commercial inch units are measured in 10th of inches (13.3, 15.3, 17.1).
The easiest way to convert 16th of inches to 10th of inches is to follow the table down below.
| 16ths Inch | 10ths Inch |
| 1110/16 | 11.6 |
| 13 5/6 | 13.3 |
| 14 2/16 | 14.1 |
| 15 6/16 | 15.4 |
| 17 5/16 | 17.3 |
Measuring The Body Thickness
Once you know the size of your screen, it’s helpful to know the height of your body, also known as a laptop body thickness.
It’s helpful to know the body thickness especially when you’re purchasing a laptop case or a bag. On rare occasions, you might get the correct laptop size, only to find out that your laptop might not fit quite easily in the laptop bag.
To measure the laptop body thickness, get your standard measurement tape again. Close your laptop, and measure the laptop body from the bottom to the top where the screen ends.
But make sure you include the screen in the measuring process. If you measure only the bottom part of your laptop, you won’t get the right thickness.
How To Know Which Laptop Case Or Bag To Buy?
The best way to buy a laptop case or a bag for your laptop is to search for the products specially made for your laptop model.
For example, if you own a MacBook Pro, that would help you find specific laptop bags and cases for your laptop.
However, you will also need to know the approximate year of your laptop’s made (because the body shape and size changes over the years), and you will need to know the screen size too.
If your laptop isn’t very popular or doesn’t come from a big manufacturer, it might be a bit harder for you to find specially made products for your laptop.
But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find suitable laptop cases or bags.
You will only need to spend a bit of extra time to find laptop cases and bags that match the size of your screen.
At the same time, pay attention to the body thickness too. And keep in mind that some cases specially made for exact laptop models might not work on other laptops.
Most of the time, quality manufacturers will give more details and information on the size
Things To Pay Attention To
Until now, you’ve learned how to properly measure your laptop’s screen size, how to convert the units and even which unit is commercially used.
But there are a few things that people very commonly get wrong.
Here are a few things you should pay attention to:
- The screen is measured from the display corner, not from a top screen corner
- Make sure to convert centimeters to inches
- Make sure to convert 16th of an inch to 10th of an inch (commercial purpose)
- Measure laptop thickness always when the laptop is closed
Verdict
Measuring a laptop screen is something that can be done in just a few minutes.
Now, you know how to measure laptop size, and after you take your measures, we highly recommend you write them down so you don’t have to re-measure your laptop again.
You will then have a clear idea on which cases and bags you can purchase for your laptop.
But if you’re still unsure, feel free to leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to help you out!
Dario is a writer at NetbookNews.com. He is at the same time an avid technology addict that loves reviewing gadgets & devices, and then writing useful reviews.