PC installation in Car

There are companies that make them already... but they aint cheap.

The reason most people use laptops in vehicles (apart from their size) is that they are generally more rugged and designed for portability.

I am also a network engineer - and had the same question posed to me by a mate who recently setup his patrol with in-car Nav - DVD etc... - He was well on the track of installing a full PC in the gap where the passenger airbag sits (when installed!). I managed to talk him out of it - and he never looked back. A laptop is more designed for vibrations/dust and the rough and tumble that will be required of if when installed in a 4WD. The other good thing is that it can still be used as a PC outside of the car - and you can still watch DVD's in the tent while in bed (if you so desire!). Of course - they are more expensive - but - you get what you pay for.

I personally don't think installing any type of computer in the car is "worth it" - I go away on the weekend to get away from computers. However if you have a passion for it – that’s what it is "a passion" - so do it - but be aware that the hardware you intend on using is really not designed for the application you are proposing for it - and is therefore more prone to failure.

-myfourby

The beauty about a Laptop is not so much the portability and compact size, but the robustness of its design, especially the hard disk drive.

Mate, where do you mount the tower???

The laptop sits nicely in the well under the front seat and you can still use your touchscreen mounted where ever it's convenient.

Then when you want to do some serious work with the PC, as in downloading photos, etc. then you can take it out and sit it on the camp table.

I think a PC is a waste of time, go with the Laptop. A PC needs 240v all the time whereas the laptop has a battery and is built for this task. You then gotta ask yourself how useable will a PC be as a DVD player in a car, not much, you want wireless headphone capability and the like.

Check this out (and other threads)
In Car PC

Cheers
Greg

The power supply on the PC does more than just drop the voltage, it also "cleans" it, providing some protection and clean power. You can't just plug it into 12v, it don't work.

The other advantage of a laptop over a pc in the car is that it has everything on the one board, so card's don't come out of slots.

The take up a lot less room too.

The battery on the laptop gives you a buffer for when the power is off for a bit.
You can get a special powersupply for your car for a normal pc but they are expensive (I think the company is in USA). More efficient than a normal one with inverter.

The ideal solution I thought is an old laptop with a duff screen that you can pickup cheap.... (at least thats what I thought, but that old laptop's been sitting on the "to-do" list for a looooong time, must remember to stick that on ebay sometime...).

I love my PDA (XDA IIi) and use that, got all the GPS apps I need, wifi when its available, and a camera suitable for quick snaps (and thats always in my pocket anyway). It cost more than the GDP of some small African nations but I'd feel lost without it.

Personally I use my laptop for all of the above running it off the 300w pure sine wave inverter however you can now get an adapter that will plug into your cig lighter that will give up to 20v DC at 6amps for around $150.
I would go the laptop as it can be moved from your vehicle to any other vehicle as well as in the tent or van plus the kids or anybody can watch dvd's.
When we did the Hay River trip at one camp the ladies watched Desperate Houswives which was downloaded from the net previously.

Hi Chump,
Thought you may be interested in my pc.
I havent had it out on too much dirt and corrugations yet, so how it performs is yet to be known.
It has a windows 98 pc, DVD, TV,GPS, Mp3, and a phone if you want.
I will let you know how it goes when we get back from the Michell Plateau.
Jeff!MPG:3!!MPG:4!

I am currently using a laptop for all the usual reasons.
But I am now looking to do just what you are talking about, Have a look here http://www.bitdistribution.com.au/?stg=49

These guys sell Automotive PC's and touch screen's, well worth the look.

And by the way the components are the same stuff used in laptop's so hard drives etc are as robust as any laptop would be.

Have not yet got one of these yet, still doing research on the subject, but this is a good link to a site in the US

http://www.short-circuit.com/categories/boards.html

Do a search for “VIA EPIA MII”. These are small 17cm x 17cm motherboards. Just like the real thing except smaller. Can get these for $250 aussie dollars with built in CPU, power supply $100, just need to add 2.5”HDD and suitable case. Another link to a heap of these boards

http://www.epiacenter.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=39

Still trying to decide which way to go, laptop or permanent setup! Maybe permanent

I have been following this post and the other one from last week or the week before. I am going to be doing the same in my Patrol, mainly for navigation. Going to run the screen in the second din slot and the lappy under the seat. It will just be cool to download the videos from the day straight onto the lappy when we sit around the fire and we are not doing much that way it's already done. I think if you already have a lappy you might as well use that....it's allot cheaper coz all you need is the touch screen or am I missing something?

Hi Chump,
I have installed "In Vehicle Navigation and Entertainment system" - NavNet with the 7 " VGA touch screen in my Prado several months ago. This small PC is designed by Australian company for "OFF Road conditions". With NavNet I have GPS - Street to Streeet Voice navigation, OzyExplorer (moving maps) with all Digital maps of Australia and 4x4 tracks, DVD, CD player, Video, Mp3 and Mp4,Reverse camera, LAN with my Home PC, wireless internet, USB port for digital camera and much more.
NavNet is easy to use and NavNet software is designed for easy access to the most popular applications installed on the NavNet in Vehicle Navigation and Entertainment System. I can listen my music while GPS is giving me all directions
(visual and audio) watch DVD and etc.
Have a look on this web : www. dmck.org/git
It was the best investment for my 4x4 .

Cheers,
Mirek

I have just installed a car pc in my Rodeo. Got the PC from http://www.bitdistribution.com.au
The PC is the same height and width of a car radio and about 2 inches longer so it will fit in most dash boards.
PC runs win xp, has 80Gig harddrive, DVD, 2ghz processor, etc (It's better than my home pc) and runs on 12volt. Cost $1100
Also got a 8" touchscreen monitor of Ebay that can also be used as a tv (in built tuner) and has connections for a reversing camera as well $300.
For sound I am using an FM transmitter connected to the headphone socket on the PC and just tune the car radio in.

I already had a GPS which is connected to the pc via the com port

Personally I am very happy with the result and for the cost (about the same as a home pc) consider this the best way to go for in car DVD, navigation, photos, video, music, reversing camera, diary, contacts, games, office docs, games and much more.

With a wireless network to home pc I can surf the net and update programs from the garage as well as transfer photos, etc to the home pc.

It's amazing that car pc's are not more common ( I'm sure they will be soon enough).

In relation to using a laptop. Before I found this unit I had considered this but was put of by the room taken up by a laptop. I was even considering a ceiling mount but found that this blocked half the windscreen.

Cheers Geoff

Hi,

Now where to start, check out some of the available systems available on the internet right now - as simple drop in "DIN" size units. I have also found many deviations from this design - from cases that look like real cases to small form factor cases that resemble amplifiers.

The HDD is not a problem as these systems generally utilise laptop drives anyway - Compact flash is another way to do this - using something called a Ramdrive totally eliminating issues with vibration.

Now regarding the power supply - you will also find off the shelf PCB's specifically designed to run the computer within the car, even overcoming voltage drops when the car starts and offering battery low voltage monitoring.

I can't think of a reason these systems are not more popular with the many possible uses including: Hands free for your mobile, Internet access via GPRS, GPS and Sat Nav, Entertainment including Radio and TV, Email, Office Applications, you can even monitor your cars ECU for faults etc....they can connect to any number of camera's and even record the images, you can view digital images and edit them in the car - then follow up by sending them off as soon as you have reception.

I could go on but instead I will leave a few links and let you decide for yourself. By the way I am a Computer Hardware Engineer with one of these systems fitted to my 4WD which does many miles of hard 4wd'ing.

link text
link text
link text

Rod

Greetings

I went through the same process about 12 months ago , i finally built my own
system based on a VIA Epia-m motherboard , a 40gb laptop harddisk and a 7"
Lilliput touch screen , the system runs under WIN xp and i use Ozieexplorer for mapping.
A few pics are shown on my rig profile

jim