I need to purchase a ground station computer to run Mission Planner.Looking for suggestions for a screen that is viewable in full sunlight. Most that I have seen are using a glossy screen that causes too much reflection. I have seen a couple matte screens on business class computers, but they didn't have much brightness. Maybe an external monitor is the way to go, if I can find a good one.I'm sure someone here has been down this road before.
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There were some Toshiba Portege laptops made a few years back with Transflective LCD screens and these are the best affordable daylight full color LCD screens, they are back lit in normal light and reflective in sunlight.
I have a friend who has one of these and it works much better outdoors than any standard LCD screen.
I understand that Toshibas newest Porteges may also have transflective screens with LED back light, but they don't advertise that fact and you would need to verify this.
Fujitsu also made a model with a transflective display for a while.
I would check out the current Toshiba Portege first and failing that try and get one of their older ones.
There are other Transflective screens available, but they are seriously expensive.
I didn't think it possible to get a screen bright enough for direct sunlight viewing on a machine small and rugged enough to use out of doors. I use an ASUS EEEPC 901 for its low weight, solid-state drive, and Windows XP support for the APM Mission Planner app. Can't read the screen in direct sunlight, but I move it out of direct light or use it in my vehicle (Honda CR-V) with the hatchback up and open, PC inside. I assumed we give up on bright screens for reduced power consumption, lower weight and longer battery time in the field.
Got Dell Latitude ATG a month or so ago. i5, 240GB SSD, 8GB memory, 15.6" outdoor screen (with crazy backlight) with single point touch (touch screen is lot more useful with flight planner than i thought), second battery in media bay. It even has GPS and cellular modem...
As new, you'll have to pay ~$1500 for low end model, but try searching dell outlet. I got mine for $930 (refurbished) in everything-is-so-darn-expensive-country Australia. Could be lot better in US or everywhere else.
I use a hood for on location film shoots. I'd rather spend $50 on a hood than a $4k monitor. They collapse and fold flat too.
Here's the manufacturer popular in the film industry: http://www.hoodmanusa.com/
We have been using IBM Thinkpad T42 and T43 with 14.1" matt screens, resolution 1024x768 and 1400x1050 respectively. Both have been a pain to use outdoors - even under a cloudy sky, it has been very hard to spot the pointer to actually navigate on the screen. I believe that even a glossy screen of new cheap models would be better.
Recently, we have purchased Panasonic Toughbook CF19. It is a huge difference, mainly because of the ne transreflexive technology used - the display is claimed to produce 6500nits under direct sunlight (that is in passive mode - backlight turned off). That is much more than all the other rugged notebooks (e.g. Toughbook CF31 has 1200 nits of active illumination).
This works perfectly, however the viewing angle for this configuration is a bit limited...you have to point the screen into the sun to actually take advantage of the transreflexive coating. Otherwise, you have to turn the backlight on (up to 500nits of active illumination) ... which provides perfect readability from all angles and under all conditions. It eats battery though.
Another nice feature is the ability to use the CF19 as a tablet. And it is much lighter than the full-size rugged pieces (such as CF31, B300, E6400XFR).
We have also looked into the semi-rugged segment (e.g. Toughbook 53, C2; Dell E6420ATG), which features approximately half of the price-tag of the rugged segment. However the manufacturers operate with declarations such as "outdoor-light-enabled-screen" instead of hard numbers, therefore we decided to opt for the CF19. Generally, the higher the resolution of the screen, the harder it is to illuminate (because of the smaller pixel-pitch).
@Richard: I would go for the second-hand toughbook, it should be powerful enough to support the APM.
I've seen previous posts that recommend a Panasonic Toughbook for its sunlight viewable screen. Also good battery life, and tough, obviously.
CanberraUAV published a trick to make their regular laptops sunlight viewable by removing the plastic lid (to let light in the back). However they still have pics of their setup with big screen shades, so perhaps it isn't enough.
In my experience having the laptop plugged in (to a car cigarette lighter in the field for example) makes a big difference to the brightness. By default my laptop dims the brightness when running on battery. This is user selectable, but if I haven't got a power supply I prefer battery life over brightness.
Replies
Here's an idea for upgrading your current laptop
http://lcdparts.net/XB_Laptop.aspx
The LED Backlight Advantage:
There were some Toshiba Portege laptops made a few years back with Transflective LCD screens and these are the best affordable daylight full color LCD screens, they are back lit in normal light and reflective in sunlight.
I have a friend who has one of these and it works much better outdoors than any standard LCD screen.
I understand that Toshibas newest Porteges may also have transflective screens with LED back light, but they don't advertise that fact and you would need to verify this.
Fujitsu also made a model with a transflective display for a while.
I would check out the current Toshiba Portege first and failing that try and get one of their older ones.
There are other Transflective screens available, but they are seriously expensive.
I didn't think it possible to get a screen bright enough for direct sunlight viewing on a machine small and rugged enough to use out of doors. I use an ASUS EEEPC 901 for its low weight, solid-state drive, and Windows XP support for the APM Mission Planner app. Can't read the screen in direct sunlight, but I move it out of direct light or use it in my vehicle (Honda CR-V) with the hatchback up and open, PC inside. I assumed we give up on bright screens for reduced power consumption, lower weight and longer battery time in the field.
Got Dell Latitude ATG a month or so ago. i5, 240GB SSD, 8GB memory, 15.6" outdoor screen (with crazy backlight) with single point touch (touch screen is lot more useful with flight planner than i thought), second battery in media bay. It even has GPS and cellular modem...
As new, you'll have to pay ~$1500 for low end model, but try searching dell outlet. I got mine for $930 (refurbished) in everything-is-so-darn-expensive-country Australia. Could be lot better in US or everywhere else.
Cheers
Here's the manufacturer popular in the film industry:
http://www.hoodmanusa.com/
image.jpg
A tent!
I have a laptop shade/hood thing and it works wonders
snaps on to the screen and it was like $25.
it will also work on future laptops!
We have been using IBM Thinkpad T42 and T43 with 14.1" matt screens, resolution 1024x768 and 1400x1050 respectively. Both have been a pain to use outdoors - even under a cloudy sky, it has been very hard to spot the pointer to actually navigate on the screen. I believe that even a glossy screen of new cheap models would be better.
Recently, we have purchased Panasonic Toughbook CF19. It is a huge difference, mainly because of the ne transreflexive technology used - the display is claimed to produce 6500nits under direct sunlight (that is in passive mode - backlight turned off). That is much more than all the other rugged notebooks (e.g. Toughbook CF31 has 1200 nits of active illumination).
This works perfectly, however the viewing angle for this configuration is a bit limited...you have to point the screen into the sun to actually take advantage of the transreflexive coating. Otherwise, you have to turn the backlight on (up to 500nits of active illumination) ... which provides perfect readability from all angles and under all conditions. It eats battery though.
Another nice feature is the ability to use the CF19 as a tablet. And it is much lighter than the full-size rugged pieces (such as CF31, B300, E6400XFR).
http://business.panasonic.co.uk/computer-product/products-and-acces...
For start, you can find a test of rugged machines here:
http://rugged-laptop-review.toptenreviews.com/
We have also looked into the semi-rugged segment (e.g. Toughbook 53, C2; Dell E6420ATG), which features approximately half of the price-tag of the rugged segment. However the manufacturers operate with declarations such as "outdoor-light-enabled-screen" instead of hard numbers, therefore we decided to opt for the CF19. Generally, the higher the resolution of the screen, the harder it is to illuminate (because of the smaller pixel-pitch).
@Richard: I would go for the second-hand toughbook, it should be powerful enough to support the APM.
I've seen previous posts that recommend a Panasonic Toughbook for its sunlight viewable screen. Also good battery life, and tough, obviously.
CanberraUAV published a trick to make their regular laptops sunlight viewable by removing the plastic lid (to let light in the back). However they still have pics of their setup with big screen shades, so perhaps it isn't enough.
In my experience having the laptop plugged in (to a car cigarette lighter in the field for example) makes a big difference to the brightness. By default my laptop dims the brightness when running on battery. This is user selectable, but if I haven't got a power supply I prefer battery life over brightness.