What you want is a laptop with a matte screen. Not a "glossy treated for reflection/matte like", which is what you find on most expensive laptops like those from Apple, but actually matte.

It's kind of hard to find because it doesn't sell well because the colors are very much toned down on it, but you can have the sun right behind your screen and it won't matter. I still have one from ~2012 (from the french store LDLC, which are rebranded custome made Clevo) that I gave my GF, and for work purpose and always being at top visibility the screen destroys anything else I've used since.

I'm genuinely weirded out that as far as I know there is no major work brand like XPS or MBP offering true matte screen as options anymore ...

PS: if you haven't seen one before, it's truly no reflection/competition with the sun at all, and it's truly washed out colors.

EDIT: I would at least like to know why I'm downvoted ? A true matte screen is vastly better when facing sunlight, which is what I'm answering to

AFAIK Lenovo still provides matte as an option for their T- and X- series.

I love my custom ordered 2010 Macbook Pro with matte screen. It's a shame they took the option away with the Retina models. All I really want is for someone to make that same machine, but with up-to-date components.

Agreed, I have a Macbook Pro and the screen is ridiculously reflective - I literally have no idea why Apple would think that was a good idea?

What about when it's in a shadow or overcast day?

It looks just fine and plenty bright, although it is clearly far worse looking than your regular glossy screen (since that's their perfect conditions). So in that scenario I would prefer a glossy screen because the colors are better BUT I would have no problem with a fully matte one.

And then in a fully dark room, I would again say the matte it superior to glossy because it's brightness feels much less abrasive to the eyes (but my eyes tend to be sensitive to light, I'm the kind of person who needs to change his screen luminosity depending on condition, so for people who don't care about that it would be glossy being better due to the colors I guess)

The matte screens I've worked with are plenty bright for such situations.

> I can only work on it with bright IDE theme.

If you can set your pointer color to inverted, it's a tremendous help (even if you only occasionally rely on it). Also, of course, as big as possible.

I recommend using polarised sunglasses. The macbook screen is polarised the correct way for most sunglasses, so it doesn't dim your screen half as much as it does your surroundings.

Something like ePaper would be fantastic for outdoor work.

Sadly, currently, the refresh rate is very slow and it has no viable color options.

Reading this right now on the beach on my iPhone XS and wearing sunglasses

Currently -5 cloudy with 1/2 meter of snow in Oslo. Your comment makes me jealous.