Thinkpads Forum

can anyone give me an idea of how bright these laptops are - i have a need to use them in sunlight or in bright areas. - i heard the x301 is not high on contrast but high on nit brightness and the w500 is really what i am looking at getting but i am worried about the brightness.

I haven't tried using my W500 outside yet, but it's plenty bright for anything inside (WUXGA screen). Supposedly the WSXGA+ is a little brighter. I'll take it outside later today if I get the chance and I'll report back then.

No standard laptop is acceptable outside. Panasonic and Dell make special (expensive) models that are designed for outside use.

True. But some (HP brightview, probably others) are usable outdoors as long as accurate color isn't needed (takes on a green-ish cast). Of course the brightness has to be on maximum and not in direct sunlight.

dhanchi wrote:can anyone give me an idea of how bright these laptops are - i have a need to use them in sunlight or in bright areas. - i heard the x301 is not high on contrast but high on nit brightness and the w500 is really what i am looking at getting but i am worried about the brightness.

ThinkPad X301 -The following:

X301 Tech Specs (a .pdf file)

says the X301's display has a brightness of 300 nits. Note that a display needs a high contrast ratio in addition to high brightness to be viewable in direct sunlight.


ThinkPad W500 -The following:

W500 Tech Specs (a .pdf file)

says the W500's two display options have a brightness of 200+ nits.

And the following review took detailed measurements of the brightness of the W500's 1920x1200 display option:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Len ... 683.0.html


ThinkPad W700 -The W700 has two display options, one of them being a 17" WUXGA 400 nit TFT display. To see a photo of this display in direct sunlight, go to:

Display section of the ThinkPad W700 Resources Page

You can see from the photo that it's fairly easy to view the W700's display in direct sunlight.

Note that any laptop's LCD display can become very hot if it's in direct sunlight and the sun is perpendicular (i.e., 90 degrees) from the surface of the display. That's because the display then absorbs a lot of heat from the sun. So you should avoid that. It's also extremely challenging to view an LCD display in that situation. But that's almost exactly the scenario in the above photo.

The display should stay much cooler, and be easier to view, if the sun is instead shining on the display at a glancing angle (for example, if the sun is close to being in the same plane as the display's surface).

Please take note that while all the films inside the LCDs does a little to block UV, the sun will still be able to fade the colors in the color filter pretty badly - and that is not cool if that happens.
So be careful, and don't leave it in direct sunlight, and especially not in high UV emissions parts of the day.