Is my setup going to be easy? Will it perform well?

**jmsklmn** · 10-01-2007, 01:22 AM

Please enlighten me, I am new.

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop 2.5 GHz with 512 MB of RAM.

What will make it a hopefully easy install?

The removable keyboard with power switch. I can remove the keyboard and turn on/off the computer within a 12 foot radius.

I would like to be able to remove the laptop and use it at home too, so I will get a cooling/docking station.

Power

I will probably use a DC/AC (whatever it is) power inverter

I do not know much, so can you please point me in the right direction as to what I will need for the install.

Requirements;

7" screen
Internet surfing
GPS
MP3 player
Basic computer processes
I would like to put it in my trunk, but I am open to ideas.

what will I need for internet surfing?

THANKS!

**OUSilver05** · 10-02-2007, 12:40 AM

The docking station should make things easier especially if it has a power button built in that you can hack. That should make things really easy to bring back into the house. Also If you can try to find a cigarette lighter adapter that works for your laptop, your install will probably be more reliable and energy efficient. Plan on getting some sort of USB sound solution, name brand like turtle beach would probably be the easiest to implement, just remember to use the included drivers for less out of the box hassle with that. This can also allow you to avoid more interference problems by having the USB sound card up front and the laptop in the trunk. You may also want to look into some other kind of auto turn on function for the laptop, you can try some kind of wake on lan solution, or the auto turn on module sold on this board. Some people might tell you different, but this is coming from my experience with using two different laptops in my car, everyones install is different, so search and se what others have done.

(If I had a laptop that had a good dock with a hackable power button, and an easily sourced cigarette lighter adapter, i would probably stil be using a laptop, but mine was sort of a one off (old emachine, but one of the good ones))

**GizmoQ** · 10-03-2007, 02:53 AM

Most decent laptops have an auto adapter, get one and wire it into a 25 or 30Amp Acc fuse.

If you're not going to buy a Opus-type power supply, you need to be careful which 7' sreen you get (some can't handle unregulated power).

For internet I use broadband cellular, I also have WiFi, but use it rarely.

If you're gonna keep your headunit, use the aux-in for the computer. If it doesn't have one get an aftermarket one.

Look for a SirF III GPS, they're the best thing available right now.

Read all the FAQs here, research your part carefully, and good luck!