Size comparison: 14" MBP with small bezels vs old 15" MBP

[katewes]

With the smaller bezel of the current 14" MBP, I want to know how the actual LCD panel diagonal span compares to the old 15" MBPs that had thicker bezels.

For my old 15" MacBook Pro 2012, the diagonal span of the LCD portion (bottom left corner to top right corner) is 39.1 cm.

I'm curious how close the smaller bezel of the new 14" models brings the actual LDC dimensions to the former 15" MBP's that had thicker bezels.

If you state your dimensions, please mention which model MPB you have.

 

[neo_cs193p]

Your 15" MBP's screen diagonal is actually 15.4" (39.12 cm).
The 14" MBP's screen diagonal is actually 14.2" (36.07 cm).

Bezel size has nothing to do with any of the information above. Bezel size just impacts the size of the laptop case, not the screen.

 

[Bigwaff]

Not to mention displays support different resolutions, which impacts how much actual screen real-estate is available for application windows, etc. The 14” can actually support higher resolutions (more screen real-estate, i.e. more stuff on screen) than the old 15”.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Not to mention displays support different resolutions, which impacts how much actual screen real-estate is available for application windows, etc. The 14” can actually support higher resolutions (more screen real-estate, i.e. more stuff on screen) than the old 15”.

Yeah, the default 'looks like' resolution on the new 14" panels, with their increased pixel density, is 1512 x 982. The old 15" MBPs had 'looks like' 1440 x 900 as a default.

For OP, that means by default (at native 2x scaling) the newer 14.2" panels will display more content on screen than the older 15.4" panels. There are options to change that effective resolution to display more (smaller) content or less (larger) content. Like the first poster said, though, the bezels are irrelevant to the diagonal screen size.

Here's a comparison of the actual physical sizes of the two panels:

Source: https://www.displaywars.com/15,4-inch-d{2880x1800}-vs-14,2-inch-d{3024x1964}

 

[bradman83]

As others have pointed out, bezels don't impact the size of the display, those are measured without the bezel. You might be thinking of CRT displays, which were measured by the size of the tube but had a separate "viewable area" depending on the mask, but that's never been the case with LCD panels.

The 14" MacBook Pro is slightly larger, about .5" in length and width, than the 13" 2016-2020 Intel models. It's also about the same thickness but feels thicker because there is no tapering.

It's largely the same for the 16" model, it's roughly the same dimensions as the outgoing 15" 2016-2019 model.
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