How to measure a laptop’s screen size?

One of the most common questions we get is “Will my laptop fit in your laptop bag?”. People are often confused when it comes to measuring a laptop screen size. The natural tendency is to measure the screen horizontally from edge to edge, but this will give an incorrect measurement when shopping for laptop bags and cases.

Most companies and retailers that sell laptop bags will often state that a bag will fit up to a certain size laptop, most of the time referring to the screen size. For example our product pages will say “fits all laptops with screen sizes up to 17 inches”, or “fits most laptops with screen sizes up to 15.4 inches”.

What these laptop screen size measurements define are diagonal measurements. When you measure your laptop screen size, the proper way to measure is diagonally from one corner to another corner. Diagonal measurement of the screen will be larger than the width when measured horizontally. So a laptop with a 17-inch screen will have a diagonal measurement of 17 inches, but the actual width of the screen horizontally will be smaller. For example the Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro has a diagonal screen measurement of 17 inches, but the actual width of the screen is 15.47 inches.

The diagram below shows the difference between a diagonal “screen size” measurement and the “physical dimensions”.

These two types of laptop measurements (screen size, physical dimensions) will help you when you’re shopping for a laptop bag.

Next time your shopping for a laptop bag (or hopefully a woman’s pink laptop bag , you’ll know how to measure your laptop screen size and find the perfect fitting bag.

If you’re still unsure about the dimensions of your laptop, please feel free to send us an email and we’ll look up the dimensions for you.

More practical backpacks waiting for you, you can view the details of another backpack.