In Car PCs

James_N

James_N

James_N

Soldato
Joined
25 Jan 2003
Posts
9,497
Hi

Currently have my knackered old laptop and (inspired by the whats in your boot thread) wondered if it could be salvaged and used as an in car pc.

The actual laptop works fine, its a Intel core duo 1.6ghz with at least 1gb ram (might be 2, cant remember) and that works fine but:

In my attempt to repair it, the screen is hanging off because i gave up with it, but that wouldnt matter because there would be a screen upfront for it

The inbuilt keyboard and mouse are knackered

But the rest works fine!

Worth it? and how much effort would it be. What else would i need?

Cheers :)
 
Haha, ive been thinking about this for a year since my laptops hinges busted. You need a power supply that wont switch off straight away with the ignition so the laptop can shut down properly. Apart from that, need wireless mouse and keyboard (or regular with cable extensions), then need to figure out where/how to mount the screen and how to run the wires to it.
 
It's certainly possible - a CarPC setup can be much better than a head unit - more upgradeable, can play any type of music/video you can think of, can incorporate sat-nav, Bluetooth for phone support, internet access etc.

Check out Digital-Car.co.uk for plenty of information and advice! :)
 
Confused said:
It's certainly possible - a CarPC setup can be much better than a head unit - more upgradeable, can play any type of music/video you can think of, can incorporate sat-nav, Bluetooth for phone support, internet access etc.

Check out Digital-Car.co.uk for plenty of information and advice! :)
Click to expand...

Hows the BTsupport for phones now? last i checked it was a tad iffy.Has DAB radio been implemented yet?
 
I've not really looked into the Bluetooth side of things - having an iPhone means things like that fall by the wayside ;)

DAB really isn't a technology that's been pushed for PC at all - there's been no new bits of hardware released for years, and most opinions I've heard of DAB aren't really that positive!

FM radio is still going strong (and will be for many years to come) and the FM radio implementation has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few months!
 
Lashout_UK said:
Because iPhones are crummy at bluetooth and thus it's not required? :D
Click to expand...

Pretty much! I got a Parrot kit in the end, and surprisingly the iPhone works with that, including the phone book! I'd had enough of playing about with Bluetooth stacks, and it was long before the current "wave" of new ideas and stacks came about, which now make the task of bluetooth (if you've got a half-decent phone for bluetooth support) a lot easier!
 
still can't see the point in a carpc, my head unit plays mp3 from a cd changer - so any audio i want just goes in there, i've never felt the need to park up and watch a small screen video - and even if i did, i'd just take the laptop with me. I rarely use satnav, but if i do it just sticks to the window as and when i need it. Yeah a PC is more upgradedable, but if you didnt need it in the first place then why are you going to need to upgrade it. Just seems like a lot of hassle for no gain, because if you're going to use it for audio - you still need a head unit in there to amp it.

Saying that, i did ponder fitting one in mine - as i run megasquirt, i could plug the a laptpop into it, hide it away, run the video feed to a screen and have it displaying the engine readouts - but then i realised i didnt need to see all them gauges all the time as i already have physical gauges for the critical data

[TW]Fox;12690770 said:
I thought the iPhone was the second coming of jesus in terms of mobile phones?
Click to expand...

It is, overhyped by brainwashed people and meaningless to the rest of us.
 
I agree that in this day and age of MP3 headunits/changers, easily available TomTom devices from the local corner store, the advantages of a CarPC are somewhat less than they were a few years ago.

I've had a CarPC for 7 years (since I started driving in 2001) and back then it was very unusual to have more than a 10 CD changer... so for me to have a 4gb hard drive full of MP3's, it was something very different.

There is still the "wow" factor for most people who see it who have never seen it before... not that that's why I do it, but it's a good reaction to get.

It's another one of these things that if you have to try to explain/justify it to someone, they're not the person for it, like many other things are for other people! ;)
 
GeX said:
It is, overhyped by brainwashed people and meaningless to the rest of us.
Click to expand...

That's apple products in general though. The iPhone is a pretty nice gadget with a slick interface, but at the expense of a crummy camera and ropey bluetooth. Still like mine though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom