Except the screen technology, which seems worse. The higher end the laptop the worse it seems to work in the sun light. My last good sunlight laptop was a super cheap atom based 11" Acer. I accomplished more on that than any Alienware, XPS, etc - because it worked in any light, and the batteries lasted longer than me.
New macs are fine. I have an air which is 20% less bright as a pro, and its fine in sunlight. A pro would be even better. I typically work outside on my patio with the laptop sitting in direct sun often. OSX also cranks up the gamma when it detects bright light to help resolve blacks a little better. Battery life is probably suffering though, its better to find shade. The screen is plenty visible at half brightness in shade.
