so i’m looking for a cheap laptop, and most of them have a resolution of 1366×768 which seems to be moaned about a bit on laptop forums / reviews.

Is 1366×768 that bad on a 15.6″ display?

I dont think it’ll bother me for general stuff (internet, spreadsheets , email) as my work PC screen is 1024 x 768 which i can happily use all day.

I’m planning on using it to show some stuff on a tv screen though. Does the laptop screen resolution have any effect on the HDTV screen resolution if the laptop output comes from an HDMI port?

No.

thanks 🙂

Moreover,

It’ll be dependent on the capabilities of whatever graphics chipset is in the laptop. If you mirror the desktop (ie, have the same display on both screens) then they will be restricted to the same resolution, but if you extend the desktop or use the HDMI only you should be able to do what you like with it.

That graphics resolution is a bit low these days but a 15.6 screen is relatively small so IMHO that should look fine for normal PC type usage. If the laptop has an hdmi out then it should drive the tv fine (worth checking it’s 1080 bs 720 out but my guess is it is). It would also be worth checking that the hdmi out includes sound, my old 2009 Mac only drives the picture and sound has to be separate (fairly easy to sort with a jack plug wire to tv or external speakers)

but a 15.6 screen is relatively small

no it’s not – it is probably about average for a laptop.

I would get a 1080p screen, that res is just too little for using productivity software, like photoshop for example.

Although you can resize the menus, fonts, etc in windows to make it workable if you have too.

I would get a 1080p screen, that res is just too little for using productivity software, like photoshop for example.

I’d get the most eye-bleedingly high resolution screen I could also, but it’s horses for courses. There’s little point in throwing extra cash at a high-res panel if all you’re doing is a bit of web and email. Plus, the higher res the panel, the more video memory and GFX grunt you need to drive it.