touchscreen dvd players that link with stackers?

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Originally Posted by garrycol

Why do you need a 12v computer - I use a standard laptop with a $40 regulated coverter from JCar that converts the car 12v to the required 19v - is selectable from 14 - 22v. The laptop runs fine and new was only $750 - much cheaper than your $1000-1400 and similar specs. Mine does have a cushioned hard drive.

Are there any real advantages with a 12v computer?

Cheers

Gazzz

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basically the 'usability' of a carputer is better due to the regular startup and shutdown sequences required for daily use in a car - you will have to manually boot your laptop everytime, and manually shutdown - or run the risk of either flat batteries (if you leave it running or in standby) or trashed hard drives (if you just switch it off). there are other factors like the reconnect/disconnect of screen/keyboard/powersupply etc that also come into play... but consensus is the laptop will work, it's cheaper but isn't ideal for the typical daily driver - for touring, a laptop may just be your best bet though... see www.mp3car.com for a shedload of discussion on this precise issue.

Spot on Echi, I have been using a laptop for the past 2 years but I finally decided to spend the money on a proper carputer. You have to tie down the laptop somewhere and then to turn it on you have to untie it to get at the on button and I found I was wrecking my laptop using on serious 4wd trips.
Yes a laptop works fine, I just got the other computer because I could. (I paid less than $700)

Speak to Icefyre on this forum, he has a kick ass PC system in his with wireless, touch screen, GPS, DVD, weather reports etc etc and knows what he is talking about. From memory he picked up a lot of his gear 2nd hand and the whole system was very cost effective........will be letting him loose on my car when I have some $ :D

If you're going to the expense of buying a DVD player and an in car computer, why not consider a 2nd hand CF-18 Panasonic Toughbook. It's a small laptop that you can fold the screen back on and use as a tablet (touchscreen). It is military grade waterproof, dust proof, vibration proof.

I'm hoping to get a 2nd hand one to run Ozi-Explorer. I could also have all my music on MP3 with an FM transmitter to the stereo. I could also use an infra-red USB camera (under $20 on ebay) as a reversing camera. Being a laptop, it's also a tax deduction (depending on what you do for work) and it's transferable from car to car.

Food for thought.

PS.

The CF-18 has recently been superseded by the CF-19. These retail for about $6K new, but apparently Telstra have 1,700 CF-18s in the field; so if you have patience, it should not be too long before they flood the 2nd hand market.

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Originally Posted by Michael2

and it's transferable from car to car.

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.. or owner to 'new' owner...

Nothign wrong with the tech - it's good stuff! - if you can get past the startup/shutdown problems in your particular circumstance, then this would be a good way to go... otherwise I'd pass.

Theft and mounting methods become an installation nightmare! you do not want to be plugging/unplugging a power cable, an audio cable, a couple of USB devices, strapping the panel into a holder etc etc everytime you get in- then waiting for it to boot to start, load your programs... and of course the reverse when you get out of the vehicle.

with an incar PC, the powersupply can be 'intelligent' and controls start-up and shutdown, you still have the boot time issue, but it can be got around using a two way car alarm system to get it going before you get to the car - to date this is not possible for a laptop... there is a project on MP3car to build an intelligent startup/shutdown controller, but it is still ongoing after a few years!

current trend is low powered, small form factor motherboard and processor with laptop harddrive, carnetix/DSATX/Opus powersupply and lilliput or xenarc touchscreen lcd ($$$).

there is even a pretty decent aussie forum for this subject too:

http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/forums/index.php

http://www.vmscarpc.com.au/content/homepage.html

http://www.cdt.com.au/

some aussie suppliers...

www.mp3car.com

just setup the laptop/pc to hibernate when you turn the ignition off and to resume when you turn it back on, very easy to do, and even easier if you run a second battery !

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Originally Posted by matbor

www.mp3car.com

just setup the laptop/pc to hibernate when you turn the ignition off and to resume when you turn it back on, very easy to do, and even easier if you run a second battery !

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true... but possibly not.... check out the current requirement on hibernate of your PC in question - many do draw some power for USB devices and 'resume' devices like LAN cards, USB ports etc...

that said, in everyday use, would you really want to have to interact with the PC everytime you got into or out of the car? especially when the stuff exists for "turn the key and go"?