Good setup for coding outdoors?

Question

My experience with my laptop is that the screen is almost unreadable when working outdoors, and as the weather gets better I'd like to move from working in the tornado shelter to the picnic table.

Are there any devices out there that are good for coding in bright environments? Needs a readable screen with a decent resolution, decent sized keyboard, etc.

Answer 1

There are a few devices that make outdoor coding much, much more pleasant. Here's the setup i use:

• Bright LCD screen w/ adjustable backlight
• Heavy-duty keyboard (my Model M laughs at your puny rain storm!)
• Roof
• Walls

Answer 2

Panasonic Toughbooks are ok if you already have one; however, the performance on them isn't the best. In that case you're giving up performance for fashion so-to-speak

Or you could get something like a 3M Notebook/LCD Privacy Monitor Filter, in an attempt to tint the screen

Answer 3

I wrote a lot of code by making the font large (ProFont 14pt is pretty bold) and using Mac OS X's built-in color-reversing feature (System Preferences -> Universal Access) which made the text primarily black-on-white.

Answer 4

IBM Lenovo offers anti-glare screens on their SL series laptops, which should help your problem [I'd ask them, though].

Answer 5

The Apple MacBook Pro comes with an anti-glare screen.

Answer 6

• pen
• notebook
• pseudocode ideas
• type when you get back inside

Maybe its just me, but typically there are way too many distractions when I'm outdoors to stay in a mood where I want to debug code.

Answer 7

If you see Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward holding banjos coming towards you....run for your life!

Answer 8

Good umbrella, pool side. Careful with water splashes.

Answer 9

Well I thought the idea of 'outdoor coding' was to sit in a cafee, preferably indoor(?!), and you can avoid any problems with screen glare.