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[MarkS]

Hello!

Does anyone know if there are any other laptops with the daylight-readable screen?

-- Mark

[ChristophD]

While some products are in the making I'm not aware of anything currently available on the market that comes close to the XO in this regard.

However I would asume that some of those rugged Panasonic notebooks must have been designed with daylight-readability in mind.

Also I recently stumbled across an outdoor display option on some HP notebooks that I was looking at:

Outdoor Display: A display with optional Outdoor View is a 12.1-inch diagonal WXGA UWVA anti-glare display with Digitizer that provides enhanced viewable improvements:
12% increase in front of screen display brightness with no loss of battery life
Up to 235% increase in contrast, resulting in better viewability, at wide viewing angles
25% less specular reflections in bright light
91% less diffuse reflections in bright light
67% more contrast in bright sunlight
(NOTE: This data is based on typical measurements by the display manufacturer. Actual measurements may vary from panel to panel.)

That's really all I can think of at this time...

Christoph

[MarkS]

While some products are in the making I'm not aware of anything currently available on the market that comes close to the XO in this regard.

However I would asume that some of those rugged Panasonic notebooks must have been designed with daylight-readability in mind.

Also I recently stumbled across an outdoor display option on some HP notebooks that I was looking at:

Outdoor Display: A display with optional Outdoor View is a 12.1-inch diagonal WXGA UWVA anti-glare display with Digitizer that provides enhanced viewable improvements:
12% increase in front of screen display brightness with no loss of battery life
Up to 235% increase in contrast, resulting in better viewability, at wide viewing angles
25% less specular reflections in bright light
91% less diffuse reflections in bright light
67% more contrast in bright sunlight
(NOTE: This data is based on typical measurements by the display manufacturer. Actual measurements may vary from panel to panel.)

That's really all I can think of at this time...

Christoph

Maybe what someone needs to invent is a portable tent or hood that can quickly assemble around your machine. Keeps the screen, and maybe the user, in the dark. Doubles as a "cone of secrecy".

I seem to recall various publicity shots of people working at the beach. Pretty unlikely with current screens. Oh well, who expects to get much done at the beach anyways ...

[GregYohn]

We call that a beach cabana in Cartagena, Colombia! 

[MarkS]

And there she is, being productive with her laptop.

Unfortunately, even inside a tent its too bright for most laptops. The laptop hood would have to be made with thicker canvas, or maybe mylar.

[Gabey8]

I wonder if the green four-post shelter that the cop in the background is standing under would produce enough shade to read a laptop screen.

Presuming, of course, that the person is using a sand-proof laptop. There are more challenges to laptop use on the beach than just bright sunlight. That's one more reason why the XO would outperform most, if not all, other laptops when it comes to outdoor use.

[MarkS]

I think it would only be dark enough if the gazebo was brought down to about 3 feet.

Well, the video for the PCSmart machine  that GregYohn had posted (now missing) showed a cup of something being poured on the keyboard, if memory serves. That may or may not be worse than sand.

I'll admit that for a membrane keyboard, the OLPC works well. But its definitely made for little hands. And the touchpad works so poorly that even my daughter will ask me for the plug-in USB mouse.

[GregYohn]

The cup was full of water and poured on the keyboard to show the Classmate was water resistant.

[sola]

Those screens are coming.

Check out this Pixel Qi blog entry:
http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2009/04/23/samples-due-soon/

Mary Lou designed the screen of the XO and now working on a generic laptop/ebook reader screen product just like you ask for.