When spring weather finally arrives, you immediately feel the urge to take your laptop to the patio or the park. But within five minutes, you realize that the sun has turned your expensive screen into a dark, highly reflective mirror.
For years we have purchased screens based on resolution (4K) or refresh rate (120Hz). But if you want to work outside, the only metric that matters is Nits (the measurement of brightness) combined with a matt or anti-reflective coating. An average office laptop produces around 250 to 300 nits, which are immediately washed out when exposed to direct sunlight. To overwhelm the sun, you need at least 600 nits, with 1,000+ being the gold standard.
Here are the best high-brightness devices that let you touch grass without having to log out.
The short list
The laptops
Lenovo – Yoga Slim 7x OLED
Most ultra-thin laptops sacrifice brightness to save battery, but the Yoga Slim 7x uses the highly efficient Snapdragon X Elite chip to power a stunning 14.5-inch OLED touchscreen. What’s crucial is that a peak brightness of 1,000 nits is achieved, so that the vibrant colors of the OLED panel shine through even in the midday sun.
- Why it works outdoors: At just under 3 pounds and with phenomenal all-day battery life, it’s the perfect machine to carry in a carrying case for a remote work session on a cafe patio.
Apple – MacBook Pro 16 inch (M4 Pro)
When you’re doing color-accurate video or photo editing outdoors, the MacBook Pro remains unchallenged. Its Liquid Retina XDR display is notoriously over-engineered and offers 1,000 nits sustainable Brightness (and up to 1,600 nits peak for HDR content).
- Why it works outdoors: Apple’s anti-reflective coating is currently the best in the industry when it comes to reducing glare, and the M4 Pro chip ensures your battery won’t die instantly just because you’ve turned the brightness to maximum.
The portable extensions
UPERFECT – UColor T6 Sunlight-compatible monitor
If you already have a laptop you love but need a second screen that won’t disappear in the sun, the UColor T6 is designed specifically for outdoor use. While traditional portable monitors struggle to reach 300 nits, this 16-inch 4K panel delivers an incredible 1,200 nits of brightness.
- Why it works outdoors: Aside from the massive performance, it features a robust anti-glare coating and built-in low blue light technology to reduce eye strain when working in highly lit outdoor environments.
reMarkable – Paper Pro
Sometimes you don’t need a full-fledged computer to get your work done; All you need to do is read PDFs, review and write documents. LCD and OLED screens fight the sun, but E-Ink used the sun. The reMarkable Paper Pro features a new 10.8-inch canvas color display that actually looks sharper and clearer the brighter the ambient light gets.
- Why it works outdoors: It doesn’t glare, doesn’t cause eye strain, and provides a distraction-free environment with a battery that lasts for weeks instead of hours.
The end result
If you’re shopping for an all-new everyday driver and want the best outdoor Windows experience, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x offers an unbeatable mix of portability and OLED brightness. If your workflow requires a dual-screen setup on the deck, the UPERFECT T6 is one of the few portable monitors explicitly designed to outshine the sun. And when it comes to pure reading and writing, the reMarkable Paper Pro’s e-ink technology is simply unbeatable.
