12" laptop screen experience web browsing?

Massarelda · 13 Oct 2023

Hi
Anyone daily drive a 12" laptop to browse the web? How do like the small screen?

I have never used a 12" laptop. So I did a simple experiment with my 14" Thinkpad. I shrank the browser window down to 12.5" to see what it is like.
(1) Immediately, I found something to complain about. On Reddit, I couldn't see a button to click because it was off the screen.
I had to zoom out to access it. That made the letters super small and hurt my eyes. After clicking the button, I zoom back. Annoying.
(2) On Youtube, the top 2 inches is taken up by useless menu buttons and blank spaces. You are left with only 4 inches of vertical space. A 12.5" screen is only 6 inches tall.
(3) Besides web browsing, I notice some apps and system windows uses very large vertical line spacing. Like the Windows Settings app. Will definitely need to find ways to reduce the vertical line spacing.

But good news is I think the width is plenty enough.

P.s. I was thinking of buying a Thinkpad x270 (12.5", 1080p).

hsehestedt · 14 Oct 2023

This is largely a matter of preference, so I don't know that asking opinions is really the way to go. For example, a good friend of mine refuses to consider anything smaller than a 16-inch screen, whereas I have a laptop with a 13-inch screen that I absolutely love.

That said, here are some things to consider: Aside from the size of the screen, take into consideration facters such as:

1) Screen technology (IPS, OLED, etc).
2) Make sure the screen has a resolution that is to your liking.
3) Aspect ratio (16 x 9, 16 x 10, etc.).
4) Screen brightness.

Ultimately, you would probably want to take a look at the system in person, or at the very least, take a look at other systems that have identical or near identically speced screens.

Massarelda · 14 Oct 2023

I think Windows software is not tailored for small screen.

Malneb · 14 Oct 2023

12 inch laptops suck no matter what you are doing but especially multitasking. You need to do small DPI and small desktop scaling which makes everything hard to read but means you can fit stuff onto the screen better.

Massarelda · 14 Oct 2023

Malneb said:

12 inch laptops suck no matter what you are doing but especially multitasking. You need to do small DPI and small desktop scaling which makes everything hard to read but means you can fit stuff onto the screen better.

I think you can have a better experience if you run in Tablet Mode.

And for your browser, use Full Screen Mode (F11).

hsehestedt · 14 Oct 2023

As I noted earlier, it's a matter of preference. I have laptops with 11-inch, 13-inch, 14-inch, 15-inch, and 16-inch screens. I have no problem with even the 11-inch screen although I wish the screen resolution was a little higher on that one.

The next one up, the 13-inch, is my absolute favorite size for a laptop screen.

Try3 · 14 Oct 2023

Massarelda said:

I did a simple experiment with my 14" Thinkpad. I shrank the browser window down to 12.5" to see what it is like.

I did a similar experiment when I was thinking of getting a 15inch laptop after several years of using 17inch ones.
What I did not consider, and what you might also be ignoring, is that your new screen size will be what you will use all day every day.
- I emulated the 15inch in the same way you did and I also reduced the screen resolution to match that of the intended 15inch computer.
- I re-arranged my main spreadsheets & databases to fit by setting each to a zoom level that displayed the same columns as before.
- All seemed well and I went ahead.
- Within a month, I was thoroughly fed up with the restricted screen space. I wished I had waited longer & saved up more so I could have stuck with a 17inch computer instead.
Do you have any pre-purchase opportunity to use a 12inch computer for several hours if not several days or weeks?

I am not prejudiced against small screens.
- I bought a 16inch laptop a few months ago and have been very pleased with it. I have not yet found any jobs that I've delayed until I'm back on the 17inch main computer.
- I bought a 10inch computer for travel about five years ago and I accept its limitations because I don't have to do intense computer work on it for very long.
- I had a 7inch computer at around the turn of the century and I also accepted its limitations. Just as now, I avoided doing much intensive work on it for too long. I regarded it as a satellite of my main computer.
And the weight saving of these smaller-screen laptops is also very welcome, even the 16inch one is quite noticeably lighter than my 17inch one. And the 10inch one even fits in the poacher's pocket of my jacket so it's a doddle to have it with me while I'm out & about.

As H. said earlier on, decisions such as this are individual ones.
I hope my post gives you more food for thought.

Best of luck,
Denis

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