Is PII(300mhz) dell laptop a feasbile starter carputer? - Page 3

GizmoQ · 12-06-2007, 10:27 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by qha_vn

i am installing RR on a pentium mmx 333MHz, 64MB RAM, 4.3GB HDD, win98SE, winamp 2.95 it works like a champ. OS start up time is less then 30 seconds, shutdown time is amazingly less then 4 secs.

Careful with Win98. I think I switched to XP four or five years ago cause an RR function I wanted and some plugins wouldn't work in 98 or maybe it was .Net ..... something I wanted and eventually decided I couldn't live without.

98 will work, but 2 things to keep in mind: 1) you're gonna haveta learn how to optimize your system manually and often; and 2) put CPU usage labels on your main.skin so you can monitor what mix of programs tax your system hardest.

I ran that 500Mhz at 98% CPU usage with RR, Winamp 2.95, Freedrive .91, Cellular Modem, and taskbar. If I changed anything in the slightest, it would lockup. If I wanted to watch videos, I had to shut down RR, Freedrive and the internet connection. If I wanted to listen to internet radio, I had to shut down Freedrive. Notice a trend here.

Jistari,

You hit the nail on the head about the video. Lots of nav programs out there, but most are very graphics intensive. Add that to a frontend like RR which saves up to 8 pages of graphics and you quickly realize whats the limiting factor of your system. I do remember one of my installs had a Gforce 8400 video card in a VIA 10000 that was sweet.

Sorry to say, though, you need to do the research for yourself. Ask the question in here about which is better and you're gonna get a different answer from every INDIVIDUAL , if you get my drift.

Back to your question about battery drain, the definitive answer is - it depends.

It depends on what startup/shutdown controller/motherboard combination you install and how you install it. I have a three way switch (ACC/OFF/Battery)prior to my DC-DC controller that I switch OFF when the car won't be used for a while.

Jistari · 12-06-2007, 11:45 PM

Yup, I'm a novice, but I rather quickly surmised that whatever car pc I would end up buying did in fact exist somewhere in this world and it was in fact not draining my car from is box on the shelf

. I just need to decide and get it a little closer to the car then I'll figure out where the switch goes to circumvent that draining problem.

Ya, I just have to get "edjamacated" in the new language of these new (to me) chipsets and video options.

Anyone have a link to a good site that explains the tech behind some of the more common solutions ?

(i.e. a 500 Mhz celeron and a 500 Mhz P4 run at the same "speed" but they are not equal in performance. I guess you could reduce it to "what are the newer proscessors and motherboards" (assuming that they are more powerful at a given speed than their predecessors), but that hasnt always been the case.)