I dropped my laptop on the floor, and now my screen is blurry. is this something that would be fixable, or do I need to buy a new computer?
Either your screen is busted, which isn’t too hard to replace; or your GPU is busted, which basically means new computer. How does it look if you connect the laptop to an external monitor or television? If you don’t have an external device you can connect to, take a screenshot of your desktop and upload it to imgur then link it here.
Or it’s a weird third thing.
It’s also possible the ribbon cable that connects the GPU to the screen is loose, if you take it into a computer repair shop (I recommend NEVER fixing a laptop alone, even with experience) it shouldn’t be too hard for them to fix.
I worked a stint fixing broken laptops, and there is pretty much only one thing you can get to fix a laptop screen, an inverter board. If the screen is smashed some way or there are dead pixels, you just have to replace it. The only other part of the screen that doesn’t house the pixels (or the backlight) is the inverter board and it is usually responsible for a whole host of weird display problems unrelated to direct physical damage like dimness, blurriness, strange lines across the screen. It’s normally a fairly inexpensive and relatively straightforward part to replace. It doesn’t always fix the problem, but often it fixes weird shit like you describe, assuming you’ve ruled out software, and maybe it could be fixed by just replugging in the cables too. Other than that screens are like the most expensive part of a laptop to replace.
I’ve fixed one laptop which had intermittent screen blackouts just by re-plugging the ribbon cable. If you’re fairly handy with fiddly mechanical things, and comfortable with spilling a computer’s guts, you might want to try this yourself. But some laptops are very difficult to fix, while others are fairly easy to work with. Rejiggering the cable might entail removing three screws and a bezel and could be done in fifteen minutes. Or it could be an hours-long ordeal where you’re likely to do more damage along the way.
Still, if you have the money take it to a repair shop. Perhaps you’ll be lucky and they’ll fix it by messing with the monitor cable as part of their diagnostic, and you’ll get a fixed laptop for the price of their diagnostic fee. Worst case they’ll need to replace the whole screen for $hundreds.