Thread: Ready to begin....Part2

And the laptop comes with a OS which is another 100 bucks added to the carPC's which I didnt factor in with the above prices..

i am a total nub, so dont take this too seriously, but i have read that laptops are less integratable into the car, and using a laptop just wont make it look like its supposed to be there. Also, 1.66 ghz, is that a pentium m or a celeron m, cause if its a celeron m, good luck getting anything done on that thing. Also, you said an os was 100, linux, in its many varieties, is free. Being on a linux laptop right now, I can tell you the migration from windows to linux isnt all that hard, especially with helo you can get on irc channels. also, linux seems to run MUCH faster on this laptop than xp.

Its a dual core 1.66...and my home computer is a PII 450mhz so trust me I know what slow is....

For those of us without Blackberrys and internet on our phones, whats the consensus?

This is going to be a biased opion simply because I'm a computer repair tech. I see the major problems that come along with use and abuse of a laptop. Yeah, sure you'll get a computer that you can take out but on the flip side you'll never have a dedicated system and you'll eventually get tired of lugging the laptop to/from the car and hooking everything up.

Although the laptop comes with many of the components you would use on the carPC (2/5 HD, optical drive, etc) , the laptop case locks in heat and would probably overheat if you compared it to a carPC although people are going to disagree about that one.

If you're not intrested in dumping the cash into a carPC that is just meant for the car then a laptop may be the way to go. You'll probably finding yourself having a hard time taking your every day computer and sticking it in the trunk to use it in the. It may be better for you to just get a FM tuner for your car and hookup your PC that way.

People who are looking to add a carPC usualy want an OEM look. They dont want it to appear as though they stuck a laptop on the dash .

Nothing wrong with what you want to do at all just evaluate what you want your project to be. A laptop is a novelty that will quickly wear off and it will become more of a tether than anything.

Peecee is right, and to make matters worse, the startup/shutdown controller would be impossible without a mod that would void the manufactureres warranty.

I keep switching back and forth between the two...I could really use a laptop while I'm on campus but its also true that I'll get sick of lugging it in and out of the car on a daily basis...Dont have the money for both tho...and it seems kind of insane to be paying around 1000 bucks for a small carPC that is only running at like 1.2ghz and can't even play any 3d games...I'm thinking of building my own now instead and shopping on eBay for at least a 1.6ghz cpu...gonna do some more reading...

There isn't any reason you couldn't use standard components, like a MicroATX board, standard CPU, and stuff providing you have the space and get a PSU with enough power.