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Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:49 am
by mchaggis
Hi Folks,

After doing some searching I could not find a suitable thread, however, I think that it's worth starting a new thread for this anyway...

Ok, summer is here and the weather grand, the sun is out and the birds are whistling in the trees... You say: "Why am I stuck inside? I have Wireless and a laptop? I am going to go and sit outside!"
Well, that's what I say to myself every summer, and have done since I started working for myself from home. Well, you gotta have your perks. However....

The sun shines on your screen and you now can't view your screen! You gotta love the twistedness of that. Would anywhere they say, and even the adverts for wireless and laptops promote working outside, but you can't because that sun means your screen either reflects the sun or the sun is in your eyes, and well wearing shades does help with the sun, the screen just looks black.

So, now I have finished waffling, I shall start with the reason for this thread:

How do you configure your laptop to allow you to work outside?

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:37 am
by shiznatix
When I was younger my computer was in the sun room thingy. It was a big room with 2 big skylights to let in sun. As the Earth would rotate the sun would move in these concentrated beams across the room (called "death rays"). As soon as the death ray hit the monitor area my CS playing came to an end.

My solution? Put a thick blanket over your head and the monitor! It blocks out the sun and you can continue playing / programming in your case. You may look silly but you can certainly continue with your work! Just make sure you have a high fence so your neighbors don't see.

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:16 am
by mchaggis
:rofl:

Yeah, last year I had a different laptop with a nice matt screen, so by erecting the garden umbrella and changing ALL windows to black on white (I use linux btw) I could keep the sun out of my eyes and still see the screen. My new laptop has what I think is called a ClearView screen, which imho is just a shiny glossy screen that acts like a fantastic mirror once the light hits it!

Unfortunately I have no fences or hedges in my garden and am to proud to through a blanket over my head, which thinking about it will just make me even hotter than being inside. Now if I had the cash, I'd invest in some goggles that you plug into you monitor port and project the screen in front of your eyes. :D

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:35 am
by Scrumpy.Gums
I'm sitting in the garden right now...I have vim fired up and the world is good :lol: I've never had problems seeing the screen on my inspiron 1520, as long as I have the brightness turned up full.

My problem is that I never get much work done...far too many distractions 8O :dubious: :twisted: :roll:

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:53 am
by onion2k
Angling the screen right will sort out the sun problem. Plus my Macbook has a screen that is seemingly impervious to reflections. It's the "laptop is hot to actually keep it on your lap" problem that I find stops me. Plus having no desk to rest my wrists on when I'm typing. Working outside is a nice idea, but I don't think it'll ever really work in practise.

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 5:24 am
by Chris Corbyn
It's not summer here! ;)

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 6:07 am
by mchaggis
Angling the screen does absolutely b***er all as all that happens is that I see the house, the floor, my face (ew nasty) etc etc. However, I have been managing to work outside this morning by wearing a white t-shirt rather than the black one I started outside with.

As for the "laptop too hot to actually keep on your knee", I don't have that problem as I have a nice patio set that I can put it on (bought exactly for that reason, although my wife might disagree :lol: ). There are however, two alternatives:

1. By experimenting I actually found a way of holding my laptop without blocking fans of placing my laptop near the cpu or video card (which are the too hottest areas on mine)
2. Place the laptop on a tray or board, you may need to put some foam between you knees and the board to steady and make it more comfortable

So... Other than:
* having to squint
* suffering from hay fever
* remembering regular sun cream top ups
* neighbours talking to me
* having to wear white t-shirts
* constantly looking at my face
* annoying complaints about my phone calls

...it's actually working quite well this summer.

:mrgreen:

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:00 am
by onion2k
Chris Corbyn wrote:It's not summer here! ;)
The forecast for the next 3 days in Melbourne is the warmer than it is for Bournemouth, and on Sunday they're the same.

Not summer. :evil:

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:01 am
by onion2k
mchaggis wrote: * constantly looking at my face
I don't think I could work if I had to look at your face either.

:twisted:

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:49 am
by John Cartwright
onion2k wrote:
mchaggis wrote: * constantly looking at my face
I don't think I could work if I had to look at your face either.

:twisted:
No you d'int! :lol:

Back in black!

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:10 pm
by mchaggis
Derbyshire, UK weather:
Friday: 20
Sat: 23
Sun: 24

Summers here, well here at least :twisted:

Sorry for all those in un-summer climates :oops: :oops: lol

Just a slight update to my lunch time post... White t-shirt may work in the morning, but had to revert back to black in the avo :roll:

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:35 pm
by JAB Creations
Outside in Florida...during any period of the year? If it's summer it's 90F and it's beating down at 100F. If it's spring it's 90F and beating down at 100F. If it's winter it's 87F and beating down at 100F. If it's winter and we get a strong cold front then it's 78F and beating down at 100F while throwing spiked clubs at any skin exposed to the sun.

So no...I don't go outside in this non-native environment for any reason at any time of the year. You could pay me but it'd have to be with lots of money and maybe some armor or something. :|

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:06 am
by Josh1billion
Hmm I really wish I had a solution for using my laptop outside (can't see the screen because of the sun).

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:19 am
by John Cartwright
http://search.cafr.ebay.ca/search/searc ... category0= maybe? Might be worth a shot if your desperate.

Re: Laptops in the garden now it's summer

Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 11:10 pm
by Josh1billion
Jcart wrote:http://search.cafr.ebay.ca/search/searc ... category0= maybe? Might be worth a shot if your desperate.
Do those work so well? Anyone have any experience with em?