Re portable DVD

Had the same delimna. Tried wit the laptop but screen vision was not good enough during daylight in the car. DVD seems better when viewed from slight angles. Bought a DVD for about $200 and mounted it on the back of the front seat. 4YO only watches it occassionaly on long runs but if he breaks it who cares. If he broke the laptop I would be annoyed mainly because of the work stuff on it. Also the dust etc is less of a concern as it is a throw away really.

We recently travelled from Brisbane to Melbourne and we rigged our laptop up not quite in the middle console. The kids could see it quite well. As for heavy breaking well ... who knows too many varables but we didn't have any troubles.
Troy

Have a laptop which is kept in the back of the patrol and powered off a thumper. A lead goes from the laptop to a 7" LCD TV which is mounted on the dash.

An FM modulator is used to transmit the sound from the laptop to the FM car radio.

While I drive the wife watches DVD. The TV is mounted on a swivel mount and can be moved so the driver cannot see it.

I also have the laptop connected to my GPS and oziexporer and maps on the laptop. When needed I use moving map and the display is on the 7" TV. The TV is then moved so that the driver can see it.

travellingblooms yes lap tops work well as dvd player as for fixing we use velcro works well

I have a laptop harness (hangs between the seats) fixed to 4 points. Bought on ebay - fits any laptop. Only good for viewing in back seats. Use FM transmitter to tune laptop sound into car stereo. Works OK.
Could do with a remote !!!

Gav