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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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.
I second this request, I have been using a Dell 17" power hungry laptop, with a glossy screen that is awful in sunlight, or indeed daylight! I think matt screen laptop is the way to go. I'd avoid using an extra screen though, the less you can carry the better. Interested to see what people have to say on the matter...
Replies
I think most screens can be 'saved' by adding a matte screen protector sticker. That is what I recommend for most tablet users of Andropilot.
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.
I second this request, I have been using a Dell 17" power hungry laptop, with a glossy screen that is awful in sunlight, or indeed daylight! I think matt screen laptop is the way to go. I'd avoid using an extra screen though, the less you can carry the better. Interested to see what people have to say on the matter...
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