Notebooks with screens readable in direct sunlight?

[maiki]

Are there any these days?

I don't mean barely able to make letters out by squinting, but easily readable and clear.

As laptops are portable for people to use everywhere, it seems that that feature should be available and more common, so that folks could use their notebooks outdoors in direct sunlight, as well as indoors of course.

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A little OT, but what about tablets--the Ipad and others? How are they in direct sunlight?

[Altered Phoenix]

A lot of laptops still offer a Matte screen. It is meant to cut down on glare. I don't have any personal experience yet (I will in a week when my laptop ships with a matte screen), but the reviews on it here say that it is very good for use in well-lighted areas.

Edit: iPad has a glossy screen. Glossy = very reflective. You would be lucky to make out anything in direct sunlight.

[Chris_ast1]

Ipad also has better screen due to use of IPS matrix not TN as most in laptops. This a bit cofuse this comparison.

[csclifford]

My X220 screen does pretty well in sunlight, with its IPS screen.

However even the best screens still won't fair too well in direct sunlight.

[hawk1410]

To be readable in sunlight you primarily need 2 thing - matte display + bright display. The brightest matte display i know of is the Samsung series 9 display at over 400nits (330 nits while on battery). Here is a review where they cover usage in the sunlight briefly - Review Samsung 900X3A Subnotebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

[Bill Nye]

Direct sunlight? Doubt it. No amount of anti-glare is going to diffuse the sun.

[maiki]

Direct sunlight? Doubt it. No amount of anti-glare is going to diffuse the sun.

Well, a totally different kind of screen would work.

For instance, the Amazon Kindle (but not the Kindle Fire) is supposed to work well in direct sunlight. It is something called E-Ink, which I know nothing about. I assume similar with other e-readers such as Barnes and Noble Nook.

I used to have a notebook that was sunlight-readable--the NEC Versa Daylite. It had a reflective LCD rather than backlit. Reflective LCD is certainly readable outdoors. It had some kind of backlighting (not the normal kind) that one could turn on for use indoors. However, the latter did not work so well. Readable indoors, but not nearly as well as a regular backlit screen. Other flaws with the notebook as well. But it certainly was outdoor readable.

Or the very old HP Omnibook series, running Win 3.1, with that "mouse on a stick". Completely reflective screen, readable in direct sunlight.

[Deltido]

Some matte displays actually work in direct sunlight. I remember using my 1000he ASUS netbook and it was perfectly readable.

[Bronsky]

Panasonic Toughbooks have very readable displays in direct sunlight. A new one will set you back a few thousand dollars. Some of them are over 1,000 nits in brightness. The HP2760p tablet with Hydus display is more affordable and can be used outside in most situations. Finally, there is a 400 nits version of the X220T tablet that is outdoor viewable, more or less.

[KCETech1]

Panasonic Toughbooks have very readable displays in direct sunlight. A new one will set you back a few thousand dollars. Some of them are over 1,000 nits in brightness. The HP2760p tablet with Hydus display is more affordable and can be used outside in most situations. Finally, there is a 400 nits version of the X220T tablet that is outdoor viewable, more or less.

THIS!

but IMO only the panny toughbooks are truly outdoor, direct sunlight readable without issue. I use a CF-29, CF-30 and CF-19 for that reason when outdoors for work.

once pixelQI and others do more reflective/backlight dual mode panels we may see more choices.
ANYTHING glossy is asking to burn out your retnas, and i semi agree with csclifford, the x220 is somewhat usable but depends on how bright it is out.