Running Carputer from Mac Laptop?

**Startingline13** · 11-22-2007, 06:48 PM

Hey guys, I'm new to the forums but have been lurking for quite some time. Outstanding information and extremely informative. I have been looking into getting a carputer for some time now, and have been leaning towards purchasing a mac mini. Some features I would like to include are dvd playback, gps, and storage medium through my alpine alpine iva 310 deck. I came across a mac laptop (I currently own a desktop but don't use it nearly as often as the PC) for an affordable price and was wondering if you thought it was powerful enough to handle the things I wanted. Here are some of the specs:

.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processor; 512K level 2 cache
1 GB of DDR SDRAM; supports up to 1.5GB
120 GB Ultra ATA hard drive
DVD±R/CD-RW SuperDrive + Slot-Loading SuperDrive
14.1 inch (diagonal) TFT active-matrix XGA color display
ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 with 32MB of video memory
Built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and
56K modem
Built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking (802.11g) and
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Firewire 400 port
Two high speed USB 2.0 ports
VGA video output; S-Video and composite video output
Lithium-ion battery for up to 6 hours of running time
iSight

Let me know what you guys think, thanks in advance.

-Dave

**pepsibobby** · 11-22-2007, 06:55 PM

well to get all of the features that you want you will most likely need to run the computer in paralels or boot camp, so getting a mac is pointless. if you are a PC user by nature I would just get a cheap pre built carputer and run with that.

**Startingline13** · 11-22-2007, 07:29 PM

I figured I would have to run those programs to get what I wanted. Definately better off with a cheap pre-built PC then huh.

BTW I'm running it into an 02' Jeep Liberty with two amps (mono and 4 channel for hi's) and two pioneer subs in the back. I also planned on getting the alpine h701 to allow me to further tweak my eq and allow for optical inputs.

**ryanfaerman** · 12-16-2007, 01:18 AM

Even though this post was a little old, I figured I would reply anyways.

You do not need to run windows in order to use a mac in your car, if you did, what would be the point of running a mac in the first place?

I find that just using the OS X as is, I can do pretty much everything I want to do. Your processor on the laptop is a bit slow, but if you were willing to put up with that, it should be enough to run iTunes.

**Bugbyte** · 12-16-2007, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by ryanfaerman

You do not need to run windows in order to use a mac in your car, if you did, what would be the point of running a mac in the first place?

The Mini is a great hardware package for its size. It beats the AOpen Pandora any day and makes an excellent Windows-only machine.

Take a look at Roadrunner. It is a nice and extremely flexible piece of software. Does craptons of stuff.

**Startingline13** · 12-17-2007, 02:21 PM

I didn't pick it up, but I was just considering my options.

I have a mac at home, although I am still partial toward a PC. The mac mini is certainly a nice piece of hardware though. So you don't have a problem finding mac apps to run your carputer through?

How do you power it?

**Bugbyte** · 12-17-2007, 03:01 PM

If you are partial towards a PC, you should install a PC in the car.

Not sure if you're understanding my meaning - the Mac Mini is an Intel machine and will boot Windows just like any other PC. That means you can run PC programs on it like Roadrunner.

As for apps to run on your Mac, there are more on the PC. On the Mac, I find that Frontrow does a fine job of operating as a front end. If you're more partial to PC, there's plenty of nice hardware out there and you should probably go the dedicated Windows route rather than buying Mac hardware to run Windows on it.

**CTLEE** · 01-13-2009, 09:26 AM

To quote a famous fish story.

My biggest worry is that my wife (when I'm dead) will sell my car pc gear for what I said I paid for it.

No plan yet just dreaming about a build