[striker100]

I know some of you will be receiving your MacBook Pros very soon. I'm hoping someone can let me know how the display is outdoors, if it's easily viewable on a patio on a sunny day. My Powerbook display washes out almost completely and I'm thinking that the brighter display on the MacBook Pro might work much better in this type of setting, Of course it will then cost me money so maybe I should hope it isn't better than my Powerbooks display!

[irockdabari]

Um... regardless of how much brighter the MacBook Pro's screen is, on a sunny day the screen will always dim significantly. Unless we develop screens with teh same luminous intensity of the sun, find some shade...

[MisterRogers]

Hey striker100, you can try just a little harder to show some Michigander hospitality. Seems like a legitimate question - I'm pretty sure he know that a screen isn't usable in bright sunlight. If it IS 67 percent brighter, it could be quite workable outside, sun out, under a shade. That right there would be quite cool, as the current powerbook doesn't quite cut that case.

Btw, I'll have my MBP in a couple of days, so I'll be sure to let you know.

[SiliconAddict]

Makes me wish someone would come along with a removable display so you could replace it with a transreflective display like they have in Pocket PC devices. When you know you are going to be outside swivel and release, plug in the transreflective, when you are back indoors drop the original screen back in place.

[CaptainHaddock]

The sun is simply really, really bright. Barring some kind of built-in reflective mirror or sunlight-gathering prism, LCDs will never be suitable for outdoor viewing.

Ultimately, we're going to have to wait for LED or OLED displays before we have something bright enough to use in sunlight. I expect that when those are ready for laptops, Apple will be first to adopt them.

[thephotodork]

I agree with CaptianHaddock, even if you get a desktop LCD display like the Apple Cinema Displays and set them next to a bright window on a sunny day, the brightness is still not adequate to counteract the brightness of the sun. Although if you look at the pictures that Jason O'Grady has posted, you can tell that the LCD is definitely brighter than the previous PowerBook displays.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=102

However, I think for your "sunny day" requirements, you'll be in the same position with or without a MacBook, wait a few years, it can only get better.

[SiliconAddict]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

The sun is simply really, really bright.

That is SOOO a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy type line.

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally Posted by SiliconAddict

That is SOOO a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy type line.

Haha, I guess it is.

Man, I used to have this old Thinkpad ... you couldn't even see the screen in a room with windows during the day.

[inkhead]

It's obvious the people who say LCD's can't be used in the sun have never used a PC notebook. Try any Dell or Sony laptop with xbrite coat. Yes it might be gimic-y but I can sit outside under the sun at high-noon and work on detailed graphics perfectly.

I can't even use my %*#(%* latest revision powerbook on the company picknick table...

This is a very valid question, hopefully Apple got displays that actually aren't 2 generations old ;-)

[hakstooy]

The transflective LCD on my Sony DSC-T1 digital camera is easily viewed in direct sunlight. So I don't think it is that difficult to have a viewable LCD on a laptop. As for what the "transflective" aspect does to image quality, I have no idea.

And since the screen really only has to compete with the light reflected from your surroundings, not the sun itself, I don't think it is so unreasonable to expect that current display tech could offer something reasonably useful. So I think the question regarding whether the new brighter screen makes a noticeable difference is quite valid.

[mikochu]

One of my old Sony CLIEs had a trans-reflective screen. It looked like "sex" when in sunlight.

[K-Bat]

Originally Posted by thephotodork

...you can tell that the LCD is definitely brighter than the previous PowerBook displays.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=102

Not a valid comparison unless this PowerBook is also brandnew. LCD screens get dimmer and dimmer as they get older.

K-Bat

[jeebus]

Why don't you just buy a screen shade for your powerbook?

[thephotodork]

Originally Posted by K-Bat

Not a valid comparison unless this PowerBook is also brandnew. LCD screens get dimmer and dimmer as they get older.

K-Bat

Although the comparison I pointed out may not be valid in general, this thread is specifically asking about the screen brightness differences between a older PowerBook compared to a new MacBook Pro. With that said, this could effectively show the difference between the LCD that striker100 is currently complaining about and the new LCD that he could get on a MacBook Pro.

I realize that a reflective image (using a flash) is still not the best way to tell the brightness difference between two LCDs, it is still the best we have until someone takes a shot not using a flash or if striker100 can see this new laptop firsthand.

Also, my post concluded by saying that the brightness difference was not necessarily significant enough to produce any major differences under direct sunlight. Although, in dimlit situations, I am certain that MacBook Pro users would be much happer than previous PowerBook users (including the most recent 1.67 15-inch Dual Layer).

[striker100]

I saw the MacBook Pro today at an Apple Store. I don't know about how it would be in sun light but it is a much brighter display than my 1.67GHz Powerbook.