I've had the laptop since 2024 and a few days ago the screen suddenly started looking all pixelated and weird, like it had interference or something. I switched out the HDMI cable but nothing changed. What could it be? Is it a graphics card problem or the display itself?
If you've already swapped the HDMI cable and nothing changed, it's probably not an external connection issue but something internal - either the display panel itself is damaged, the board controlling the display is fried, or less likely but possible, your graphics card is sending a corrupted signal. Before you assume it's dead hardware, boot the laptop into safe mode and check if the pixelation is still there; if it goes away it's a driver or software conflict, but if it sticks around then yeah, it needs a physical inspection.
The problem is probably in the internal display connection or the panel itself, not the graphics card. If changing the HDMI cable didn't fix it, that already rules out a lot on the video output side. What you should check is the cable that connects the display to the motherboard inside the laptop - those internal cables can loosen over time or get damaged if you carry it around a lot in your backpack.
Open the laptop carefully (if there's a tutorial for your model on YouTube, that's perfect) and look for the cable connecting the display to the motherboard. Disconnect it and plug it back in firmly, make sure it's completely inserted. If that doesn't work, try connecting an external monitor via HDMI or USB-C (whatever your machine has) to see if the external display looks normal. If the external monitor works fine, then the problem is definitely the internal panel or the display cable. If the external monitor also looks pixelated, that would point more to the graphics card, though it's less likely.
If none of this works and you don't want to open the laptop, it's safest to take it in for a checkup. Replacing the internal display cable is usually cheap if that's the issue, but if it's the panel itself, the repair costs more. Anyway, with such a recent laptop you should still be under warranty, so before doing anything try contacting the manufacturer's technical support.
Try restarting the laptop first, because a lot of times it's just a software glitch and it fixes itself, but if it's still the same then boot the computer into safe mode or connect an external monitor to see if the weird pixels show up there too, that'll tell you if it's a screen problem or something more serious with the graphics card.
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