With overhead lighting or a strong background source, you'll have to squint past reflections to make out the screen, even at full brightness.

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And unlike those old obsolete relics, you will need to wait for a couple of minutes or so for your modern, improved CFL to reach full brightness.

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The energy-saving LED technology and the high-capacity battery allow users to display videos with full brightness for up to 80 minutes without need to recharge the battery.

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In my test, where I use full brightness, disable power-saving software, leave on the Wi-Fi, and play a loop of music, the battery on the XPS 13 lasted just under four hours, the worst I've seen on an ultrabook.

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My test taxes the computer more than a normal user and involves keeping Wi-Fi on, cranking the screen to full brightness, turning off all power-saving features, keeping email retrieval going in the background and playing an endless loop of music.

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The brightness wasn't full-on, like citrus.

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You can also add a brightness toggle that lets you switch between low, medium and full, which is extremely useful considering the lack of auto-brightness mentioned earlier.

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The reflective display technology boosts touchscreen brightness so much, maps and displays are as vivid in full bright sunlight as they are in shade.

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The XBR LED Internet TV features Sony's Intelligent Peak LED Backlight which uses full-array local dimming for better detail in black, and improved brightness creating incredible on-screen contrast.

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