Working indoors gets tiring and dreary after a while, so taking your work outside can literally feel like a breath of fresh air, but you won’t be out there long if your laptop’s display isn’t bright enough to withstand the rays of the sun.
I recently reviewed the HP OmniBook X and its display was the dimmest I’ve seen all year, so naturally, that spurred me into finding brighter displays to keep you warm alongside the sun. I have a few suggestions.
If you’re planning on using your laptop outdoors, this is what you need to look for in a display.
Bright displays for the bright outdoors
What you need to check in a laptop display is the nits of brightness. This isn’t something you’ll find on the laptop itself, unless you’ve got an expensive colorimeter handy. Nits are simply a unit to measure how bright a display is; the higher the number, the brighter it is. One nit is equivalent to the brightness of a candle-light shining on a surface that measures one square meter.
Go with a mini-LED display. They tend to achieve the highest brightness compared to LED or OLED.
You can take a look at Laptop Mag’s reviews for insight into a display’s nits. Otherwise, some retailers actually list the nits of brightness you’ll see in their display (but keep in mind that it’s not always accurate). A safe bet for laptop shopping is going with a mini-LED display, as they tend to achieve the highest brightness compared to LED or OLED, but they’re more expensive.
But how many nits of brightness do you need in a laptop display? For outdoors, I’d recommend 450 nits at the very minimum, and that’s just to handle the ambient daylight. If you’re in direct sunlight, then you’ll need something closer to 1,000 nits of brightness. You’re more likely to use your phone outside, they tend to have a higher brightness than laptops. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro Max features a max brightness of 2,000 nits. Unfortunately, there aren’t many laptops that can achieve that. In fact, the laptops we tested in the past year with a brightness close to 1,000 nits are currently unavailable, but I’ve gathered a list of laptops bright enough to take outdoors.
The premium option
It’s a safe bet to go with a MacBook.
The most recent MacBook Air 15 M3 averaged 482 nits of brightness. I wouldn’t try to fight the sun with it, but it’s more than capable of handling the outdoors. If you want the brightest of the apples, then go with the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max, which hit 560 nits of brightness.
With a MacBook, you’re getting a bright display, quality performance, long battery life, and a premium laptop experience from the build to the software. You can buy the MacBook Air 15 M3 for $1,099 at Apple and the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max for $3,499 at Apple.
The budget option
Buying the best isn’t always the best, especially for your wallet.
Try the Dell XPS 13, which crossed the threshold into 456 nits of brightness. If you want a slightly bigger laptop, you can get the Dell XPS 14, which manages 461 nits of brightness. However, both displays aren't very colorful, but they’re serviceable in this regard.
Both laptops offer strong performance and wonderful designs. The XPS 14 gets some solid battery life, but XPS 13 quite literally offers the longest battery life we’ve seen in years. You can buy the XPS 13 for $999 from Dell and the XPS 14 for $1,499 from Dell.
The gamer option
Now, if you want to game outdoors, we have options for that as well. (Keep in mind that these gaming laptops will need to be plugged in to take advantage of their gaming capabilities, so while you could be outdoors, make sure there’s an outlet around.)
The Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 achieved 479 nits of brightness and even supports a solid color coverage. If you want something premium, I recommend the MSI Titan 18 HX, which rocks a brightness of 559 nits and offers more vivid colors.
With this pair, you get high-caliber performance and excellent keyboards, and they feature the most color coverage compared with the rest on this list. You can go with the more reasonable Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 for $1,849 at Best Buy or the exorbitant MSI Titan 18 HX for $5,399 at Walmart.
Outlook
Like I said, it’s tough to find a laptop that offers close to 1,000 nits of brightness, but they’re certainly out there. You just need to know where to look. Every retailer will offer a display spec section for their laptop, and some will list the nits of brightness on there.
However, unless your goal is to work in direct sunlight at all hours of the day, the laptops recommended above are well-equipped for dealing with ambient sunlight.
