How do you measure the screen size of a laptop?

[Dappy777]

Do you measure from left to right or from one corner to another? (i.e diagonally). I ordered a 16 inch laptop, measured the screen size from left to right, and was furious to discover that it was 13.5 inches. But my partner rolled his eyes and said you measure diagonally, from bottom left corner to top right corner. Is that correct? When I do that, it is 16 inches.

Diagonally

I think your partner is right - it's based on size rather than screen size.

Compare TVs - e.g. a '50 inch TV' is not 50 inches wide.

Your partner is right. If the laptop is too small, and you bought it online, you should return it and buy a bigger one.

If you do want one that is 16 inch wide, which sounds very big for a laptop, you'll need to work out what that translates into in terms of diagonal measurement.

Which if you're one of those people who always said 'why do we need to learn trigonometry' we'll never use it when we leave school', well this is one of the reasons why

A quick Google would have cleared this up for you.

Your partner is correct.

Same as a TV, presumably it's a screen thing

Same as a TV - Diagonally.