Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylight

[Aro]

Hey all, I'm pretty new here, but here is my off topic post:

I'm in the market for a new laptop for myself, but I'm not exactly rich. I'm doing my best to research things, and I do have a strong knowledge of computers, but this will be my first laptop I've ever owned.

I don't need to game off it, and I don't need a huge screen. I usually use PC's, but I also like Linux, and I know Mac OS X is powerful and nice to look at.

I need a system that's about 1ghz in processing power (p3, not celeron), and 256 megs of ram, that is upgradable of course.

The problem I am having is that I just realized that some laptop screens are TERRIBLE in daylight. This will not do, as my laptop will be used 90% of the time in daylight, or in bright areas.

Does anyone know anything about a site that reviews laptop screens for how good they do in daylight / peripheral vision? Or perhaps some rating system that could help me figure out if one laptop is great in daylight, and others suck?

I found some site talking about a new projection screen sony made that works perfectly in daylight, but this is pretty new technology and they haven't even decided how to market it yet, so I doubt that's too helpful to me.

Anyone out there know about this kind of thing?

Please reply /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[V8TOYTRUCK]

How about just getting a little hood for the screen?

 

[NewBie]

I might be able to mod it for you.

First, you need a screen that appears very black.

Add a Anti-Reflective (not Anti-Glare!) material to the surface. This will reduce reflections by an order of magnitude. Or seek out one that already has this.

Second, add a reflective polarizer behind the display to increase the brightness (for "free" by 30-50%).

A good starting light level for a out of doors screen that has AR coating (NOT AG!) is around 900 nits.

The hood idea is the cheapest, but if you have to look around alot, then look at the screen, it will still be rather hard to see.

 

[idleprocess]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

You will often find LCD brightness given in CD/m^2. The higher the number, the brighter the display. 400 seems to be a high value for typical LCD displays.

There's new factor to look out for - transflective screens. These allow use of the LCD in daylight or bright environments because exterior light is reflected back at the viewer through the LCD rather than off the surface - making transflective displays very readable in daylight.

Sony has some new LCD technology on the market that makes them brighter and crisper - it might be transflective. I think they've licensed the tech to another manufcaturer - Toshiba perhaps.

 

[Saaby]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

I used my Powerbook today in daylight and found that that is one time when it does NOT shine. So Powerbook is out, unless you get a little hood for it. I know of a company that does make hoods designed specifically for the Powerbook.

It's a shame too because leave the OS wars behind for a moment and it's easily the most elegant design (hardware wise) out there. Magnetic latch, big beefy hinge, but I digress.

 

[iddibhai]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

are there any laptops (other than perhaps the tiny subnotebooks) that have transflective screens? i think some of the PDAs do, but laptops are larger and therefore more expensive proposition.

 

[NewBie]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

[ QUOTE ]
idleprocess said:
You will often find LCD brightness given in CD/m^2. The higher the number, the brighter the display. 400 seems to be a high value for typical LCD displays.

There's new factor to look out for - transflective screens. These allow use of the LCD in daylight or bright environments because exterior light is reflected back at the viewer through the LCD rather than off the surface - making transflective displays very readable in daylight.

Sony has some new LCD technology on the market that makes them brighter and crisper - it might be transflective. I think they've licensed the tech to another manufcaturer - Toshiba perhaps.

[/ QUOTE ]

900 Nits = 900 CD/m^2

Learn more here:
http://www.fortecag.de/download/dupont/backlightenhancements.pdf

http://www.fortecag.de/download/dupont/directbonding.pdf

http://www.dupont.com/displays/solutions/start.html


High Brightness Displays
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Displays intended for use in a bright ambient environment are referred to as high bright displays. The level of luminance of a display is measures in units of nits or candelas/m2. Notebook LCDs are typically measure 70 nits, industrial monitors 250-350 nits, ATMs 600 nits, and avionics displays 900 to 1200 nits. High bright displays are generally considered to be all those displays that are 250 nits or brighter.
http://www.sharpsma.com/sma/Products/displays/AppRefGuide/HighBrightnessDisplays.htm

 

[FC.]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

SONY TR. It is made for outside.

 

[drchow]

Re: Trying to find a laptop screen good for daylig

Panasonic Toughbook