Thread: In Car Laptop

I have been trying to get my garmin 60c to talk to mapsouce. It will up/down load but no go showing pos on (comp)map when moving?

interesting...since my laptop died this week and I have to buy a new one.....I saw those Asus Eee's at the repairers and was wondering if that is the way to go much smaller in the car....now I will look into it further...thanks


Mrs ho har

Hi all,

Last week we purchased a 10.2" MSI Wind with a 120Gb Hard Disk, 6 Cell Battery etc for $599 from Austin Computers in Perth. It also comes with a matt rather than glossy screen. Typically, a few days later they reduced the price by $40 AFTER I bought mine. Doh!

We also bought a Lacie external DVD burner to go with it. It's a good setup as you can power the burner via an AC/DC adapter or the computer's USB port.

I talked to a few computer technicians at several stores before buying and each commented on having few if any returns of MSI Winds. They have however had a few EEE PC's, HP Mini notes, Acer Aspire Ones and the Dell Mini 9's being returned. Seems they might have the same internal components (ie motherboard, Atom 1.6 processor etc) but the Wind is put together a little better but there's probably not a lot in it. Having said that I am sure the Gremlins will now nuke my new netbook just to spite me!

Worth investigating the Wind anyway. Let me know how your setups go as I have to decide what we are going to do when we head to Vic from WA after Xmas.

Cheers,

Cripesamighty

Have just been reading reviews on the MSI Wind. Will the mechanical HDD (even though much larger) be a disadvantage over the solid state 8GB drive of the Eee during the hard knocks off road?

Diana

Originally Posted by AussieAub

Out of interest, what do you guys use to pick up a GPS signal?
External ariel, GPS mouse, etc...?

Cheers,

..:: KIEREN ::..
2000 Disco II Auto V8
AussieAubs Disco Page

Hi Keiren,

I'm running a Globalsat BU-353 USB GPS Mouse - performs perfectly.


Cheers, Mark

Originally Posted by malleefowl

What's the easyest way to load Oxi Exp.I have a 900 model
Copy the program to a flash memory stick?
Download from the net?
Any other suggestions.
Also do you load your maps to the hard drive or use an SD card?
Thanks,
Mary

Hi Mary,

I have only windows on the main drive and all my maps and programs on an 8Gig SD card. I have access to a USB DVD drive so U use that to load them, but you could copy the installer to the SD on another PC, then move the SD to your Eee PC, run the installation and then delete the installer file.

Or if you have it networked share a drive on another machine to install from as previously suggested.

Cheers, Mark

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

The Asus seems to be the innovator in this new format PC.

Has anyone done any comparisons with other brands on the market like the Dell Inspiron mini which vodafone has a broadband deal Vodafone Australia - Netbooks

Worthwhile or not or are there better options and providors?

diana

Diana, I think the right answer depends what you want the machine for.

I have access already to USB broadband for work.. so I can use that if I need internet. That said.. that's not what this machine is for - for me.

You may need the internet access you might not...

Just keep in mind, at $69.95 per month for 24 months that machine and net is costing you $1678.80. You can buy the PC alone for Dell for about $600, so unless you need the internet , it's not cheap... even if you do you are spending $41 a month... there are other options at similar prices.


In my case, I bought my Eee PC because I got it for well under $300 off ebay and I am more comfortable with it getting a hard time in the car when it doesn't cost me so much. ( Allows me to keep my good laptop away from the car)

So I'd suggest, think hard about what you are going to use it for.

Another interesting option is the Asus R2H

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

But they are pretty pricey...

Good luck with it,
Mark

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Have just been reading reviews on the MSI Wind. Will the mechanical HDD (even though much larger) be a disadvantage over the solid state 8GB drive of the Eee during the hard knocks off road?

Diana

Most likely YES The most common failed part is the hard drive, they don't like bumps and bounces.. even if they are mounted suitably.


Mark