Another route is to have a separate display with high brightness, and
use whatever computing unit you wish. The average laptop LCD has a
maximum brightness level of around 250 cd/m
2 (candelas per square
meter or nits). There are some high-brightness displays available -
for true visibility in full sunlight you really want 1000 nits or
better. http://store.earthlcd.com/ has a few - there is a 400 nit
10.4" display at
http://store.earthlcd.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.234/it.A/id.4439/.f and a
600 nit display here:
http://store.earthlcd.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.234/it.A/id.680/.f Note
that the way you get a bright display is with bright backlighting, and
that takes power. Some day we'll have truly bright displays working
---From ambient light, but not yet. Sigh.
Search on "high bright lcd" and you get good hits.
http://www.vartechsystems.com/products/crystalvue/default.asp?source=google
has backlit panels fro m700 to 1800 (!!!) nits, or passive systems
that are still brighter than a standard screen. From the site:
We utilize a standard LCD and then integrate a partially reflective
mirror layer between the LCD and the backlight. When a transflective
monitor is used indoors, it is illuminated by the backlight just like
a transmissive LCD, except that the mirror layer blocks some of the
light. When a transflective LCD is used outdoors, ambient light
reflects off the mirror layer and illuminates the LCD. The
transflective monitor is brighter than a traditional monitor, however
is not as bright as a daytime viewable monitor which can be viewed in
any daytime light condition. Note, that outdoor light has to go
through the LCD twice, once on the way in and once on the way out and
this trends to make the outdoor performance of a transflective LCD not
as good as the indoor performance, where the light only has to go
through the monitor once. A transflective monitor is therefore by
definition a compromise. It can never be as bright as a transmissive
LCD indoors, and it can never be as bright as an ultra high-bright LCD
outdoors, but with transflective technology, there is no added power
requirement, the cost savings over
traditional ultra high-bright LCDs can be significant, and the need to
dissipate additional heat is minimized. The transflective monitor can
be a substitute for a daytime viewable monitor in conditions where
very bright direct sunlight is not a constant.
David
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