can you make laptopscreen viewable in sunlight

Robin

Robin

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we have a new Garmin plotter and radar display that will work fine,but I also have a 17" laptop loaded with openCPN charting . Is there any way this could also be made viewable in the cockpit in sunlight. our new to us boat came with a special laptop mount that swings in/out but unless the screen is viewable that is pointless ? would it work to put the lappie in an open sided box painted inside with matt black? any ideas??? I guess we can always leave the laptop on the chart table below decks as a backup.
 
Robin said:
I guess we can always leave the laptop on the chart table below decks as a backup.
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Probably the best and cheapest idea, there are companies, seen them for car pc's that can replace the backlight on your screen with a transflective job, not cheap, and can be over bright at times when done.

You may be on the right track to reduce the angle the sun hots the screen though, a box painted matt black would work to an extent, not very aesthetic though.
 
You could put a matte screen protector on, that will help and is almost as good as if you'd bought a laptop with a matte screen (generally these are designed for work, gloss for fun and arty stuff). Apple and Lenovo generally offer the choice and others occasionally do.
You also may need to turn the brightness up, but this will make the laptop hot and reduce battery life. If the laptop gets hot enough it will crash and in the sun this can be a problem.
 
moodyNick said:
The only place for it, anyway, IMHO.
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ME too normally but we used ours on the flybridge on our last mobo in the ICW but it did have a hard top bimini to shade the sun and even then it was hard to see whereas the Garmin plotter was fine, just that I had a route set on the lappie, done at leisure before we left the UK and not on the plotter, to follow the narrow channels in some places Our new Garmin plotter has an extra G2data card in that amongst other things allows the plotter to create the best route between two wpts given the depths the pre-set draught of the boat, and any navigational marks so a route can be very quickly set up without hours of scrolling and placing of extra waypoints. that way we get a line drawn to keep to, easy peasy.
 
The only way I can think of dpi that is to go online and check for special screens that are the same size as your laptops and get it replaced. High definition retina type screen but they are expensive. I would instead opt for a sun shade like the old radar displays had.
 
Jamesuk said:
The only way I can think of dpi that is to go online and check for special screens that are the same size as your laptops and get it replaced. High definition retina type screen but they are expensive. I would instead opt for a sun shade like the old radar displays had.
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+1
I was solo sailing in v.bright sunlight last Southern hemisphere summer and needed to use my Android smartphone. No Chance. At max brightness i could see nothing in the glare of the sun.
I couldn't leave the cockpit easily so in desperation i threw a beach towel over both me and the phone. Revelation! I could see the screen and under the sides of the towel i could see enough outside world to maintain course. Made me think about those old time photographers with ground glass focus screens diving under their camera hoods.
But seriously, the cockpit is no place for a laptop you love!

Cheers
 
Last year I bought a laptop for use (at work) in small boats. It is the GD8200, other makes are available. :) The waterproofing is of some doubt: if you have the COM port open for a connection I do not think it is IP67 any more, but the daylight viewable screens are a marvel that I can thoroughly recommend. They do exactly what they say on the tin, fully readable in direct sunlight. They are also touch screens, with a dinky little pointer so you don't have to touch the keyboard or screen with wet hands. The down side is the price, about £3.5k.

A word of warning on cheap waterproof laptops: a Dutch colleague thought he'd save some money by buying the generic chinese factory's version: the first wave over the keyboard went straight through onto the motherboard and hard drive. Which aren't waterproof either.
 
have you tried going into windows control panel and selecting 'power options'? you may find that you can increase the screen brightness. most laptops are set dull to save battery life
 
Next year you will be able to wear Google Glass!! Connected to your laptop you might be forgiven for being a former RAF test pilot who didn't want to let go :-)
 
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