solutions to outdoor laptop glare?

[mike scantlin]

well, i had never thought about it, but today i took the laptop out to the car to loo at making a mount, and i couldnt see the screen. there has to be a solution. please help. thanks.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I have the same issue with my flat panael LCD I have mounted in my vehicle, when it's bright out i have a hard time seeing what's on the screen.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about this, you'd have to either increase the screen brightness or decrease the ambient light. Check to make sure the screen is at its brightest level (on some laptops, this can be pretty cryptic to find - mine is controlled by holding down the 'FN' key and pressing the keys marked with the brightness symbol). Viewing angle helps too. A vertical screen is easier to read.

I know some of the laptops with the glass-covered screens are very hard to see in daylight, even at full brightness. I guess you could try putting tinting film on the passenger window, though that seems like a little overkill.

 

[B Ozanne]

If you've ever wondered why screen brightness is such an important selling point, this is the reason.

You could try making a card-board screen to shield the light.

Keep the laptop plugged into external power. My screen automatically dims when it is running on batteries.

Also, if you keep your screen calibrated to edit photos any adjustments to brightness will alter those settings, and have a negative effect on your photos.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Make sure you can have it on full brightness, as mentioned if you are running on batteries then the screen on most will automatically dim. However you can increase the brightness back up, on my Dell it is done by the 'Fn' key and then the up/down arrows. If you are still have trouble then I suggest some type of cover, cardboard would be the easiest and cheapest to somehow attach to it and stop the glare.

 

[Jeff Miller]

A good solution is to look at traffic light "dont walk" signals and make a cut out much resembling that shape. Attach this to your monitor and it should assist in glare reduction quite a bit. use cardboard or dark, rigid material. Traffic signals use this form quite a bit for glare reduction. This shape should also allow keyboard access easier. The key is to have the upper sides and the top covered while the very bottom is more open.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

well, i had never thought about it, but today i took the laptop out to the car to loo at making a mount, and i couldnt see the screen. there has to be a solution. please help. thanks.

What kind of laptop do you have? BTW, send me a PM or an email sometime. We need to hook up for a chase...provided I can ever get away from work.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

If memory serves me right I think you can by some sort of glare reduction or something that you can put around your screen, could be wrong.. I'll have to goggle it tonight and see

 

[Robert Edmonds]

If memory serves me right I think you can by some sort of glare reduction or something that you can put around your screen, could be wrong.. I'll have to goggle it tonight and see

I went and googled laptop glare filters and there seems to be these type of products out there. Has anyone used them, and are they actually helpful?

 

[John Erwin]

This is something to keep in mind when choosing a laptop, although it's hard to assess in the showroom. A lot of newer laptops are coming with those "glassy" screens that are trouble in the car; the matte finish is much better for glare reduction. If you can see the screen well in a brightly lit room then chances are it will work well enough in the car. Also look to see if there's lots of variation available in screen brightness adjustment; you will also want to be able to dim it quite a bit at night.

I've found the best stopgap solution is the aforementioned "hood" that will greatly improve screen visibility; these can be easily homemade and I'm sure I've seen them for sale as well. I wouldn't recommend placing any kind of filter on top of the screen surface itself since that will likely reduce the intensity even further.

 

[Tony Cook]

I got a Sony Vaio (FE550G) last Spring. I was a bit nervous about the glass screen for the reason John mentioned- the reflective glare. I got the salesperson to let me take it outside and point it at the sun.

The great thing about the Vaio is that it gets REALLY bright, even with the glass screen and the midday sun coming through the car windows. I was sold after testing it. There is pretty bad reflection on the glass (would be prefect if it were matte), but the brightness overcomes this problem.

The downside is that the brighter you set the monitor, the quicker it eats up battery life. You can change the brightness setting easily, though. I programmed a button on the front panel to toggle between midday bright and normal, so I can do quickly, even while driving down the road. (Also, I typically keep the laptop on the inverter nearly fulltime, anyway).

Tony

 

[fplowman]

I think the brightness of the screen is important when taking this concern to the table.. i have literally seen a high gloss screen as unviewable in the sun on another chasers Emachine.. However my Fujitsu with a wxga glossy screen worked really well IMO.

 

[Rick Wilson]

Sun Shade for Laptops

Several years ago I adapted a cardboard box top that was scavenged from a box of continuous printer paper. It was cheap (free except for the flat black paint) and provided about three inches of overhang.

Later on I bought a dedicated sun shade for a Thinkpad that worked quite well but blocked the keyboard somewhat. No too big of a deal as the fabric is flexible and I rarely type while driving.

Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/25ztku

It has an elastic edge that slips over the screen and plastic rods that create the frame. It folds flat for storage. I was pretty happy with this shade.

Now I have a Panasonic Toughbook that features a transreflective screen that's daylight (almost) viewable. It appears washed out in direct sunlight but it still works OK.

 

[Jim Hunt]

Ezyview - http://www.lastolite.com/ezyview.php

I don't have this but have several other of their products and they are great little items that last and last.

 

[Joe Stuart]

I too have problems with laptop glare. After eliciting awkward stares from several people as to why my chase partner and I were huddled under a blanket in the front seat of a car, parked in front of a best western on a hot day last april, I decided to try to make a visor, I'm still working on the best design but i like the idea of the "don't walk sign" Imma try that next.