Seen alot of post on the advantages of the carputer. But I need a new laptop anyways. In the car, plan on using it for ACT database (for work), NAV, MP3, Internet access. Planning to stick it in the trunk and hook it up via the Digtial Wheelz screen.

What would be the downside of doing a laptop besides the price? Guess there would be issues w/ video card to Xenarc screen and power supply. Any help would be appreciated.

 

There are people on here that know a whole lot more than me about carPCs (ie: rcdash & god_of_cpu) but I'll throw my $0.02 in.

Sitting here and thinking about it, I can't find a whole lot of downsides to using a laptop if you plan on using the laptop outside of the car too, otherwise it's a bit of a waste of a laptop (as you'll be completely negating the value of the screen if all it does is sit in your trunk).

You can pretty much write off any chance of getting native resolution on the xenarc. I think the only chance you have is if you get a laptop with an nforce based video card chipset. I am currently researching which (if any) ATIs work. Intel and SiS, which is what comes in a ton of laptops, are both out of the question... neither work. The only reason the nforce and ATI chipsets sometimes work is that they are based on their big-brother-desktop versions, which allow for custom resolutions very easily.

Another complication you will face is powerup and shutdown. Short of powering on the laptop before you place it in the trunk, and powering it off via Windows Shutdown before you take it out of the trunk, there is no simple way of remotely turning on/turning off a laptop.

Lastly, I'd look into a docking station/cradle for your laptop. Not only could this serve as a means for mounting the laptop in the trunk, you could have the xenarc attached to the docking station, all your USB devices attached to the docking station, the docking station attached to a power inverter, etc. That way you simply open the trunk, place the laptop in the docking station, hit the power button on the docking station, get in the drivers seat, pop open your xenarc and enjoy. Eliminates the need to connect all the wires everytime you put it in the trunk.

 

More pennies for the pot.....

I also looked into doing a laptop style setup myself, but after more and more research, building a dedicated pc for the car made more sense. Biggest problem with using a laptop is the power issue and getting it to properly startup and shutdown for system stability and power. If your laptop does not shut down when it is in the car, it's time to get a new battery and you could also be stuck in the middle of nowhere. You can build a descent carpc for about $500+ or so, and not have to deal with alot of those issues. Mine cost me about $1,500, but thats including the DW screen, GPS software, shutdown controller. PAC adapters and all the little crap. By the way, where are you in Cali, I might be able to help you out.

 

thanks for the reply. i live in Castro Valley which is in the East Bay. any help will be appreciated! especially since you've done the DW LCD. Just like everyone else i'm waitin for God's "StreetDeck".

checked out the threads on MP3.com. isnt helpin cos there's pros/cons to both. looks like u can set your winXP to shutdown when low on batttery. but that's ghetto

 

I just got my DW screen, look awesome!.

I made my own comp, I have about 160 GB of space. As far as powering, save yourself the hassle and get an opus powersupply. It shuts down the comp after the car igintion is turned off. I recommend this product to anyone who is planning on doing the carputer thing. No hassle and easy programing with the opus. It cost abit more than a powersupply and a shut down controller, but well worth it. Don't use a laptop for a carputer, just get a nice shuttle or some other small form board and case and go from there. Plus when using the touchscreen with a laptop, its get kinda funky with Accuracy. So far I spent about $1500 and couldn't be happier. Now if my copiolt live 8 software would just get here.

 

I've run 5 different carputers so far in my g35 and the one I currently use is an SP13000 w/ M1-ATX power supply. The main reasons mainly come down to convience and reliability.

A laptop will work, but as was mentioned before, your probably going to have to splice some wires or solder something to get it to turn on automatically. Turning off can be achieved by a utility to detect when the computer goes on battery power to automatically shut it down. In any case, if your going to be buying everything new, a laptop is not the way to go.

I use to run a shuttle XPC and OPUS 150, the problem I found though is that the shuttles use a heat pipe for cooling. Heat pipes are a very effiecient way to cool, however, the problem is they are made to work in a specific ambient temperature range (room temperature). I had problems running it for hours on end when the ambient temperature was over 100 degrees in the trunk.

I like the OPUS, but it has killed my battery for no apparent reason before. I find, the M1-ATX to be a better power supply assuming you don't need as much power.

 

Ok I keep seeing people mention batteries going dead from their carPCs. And I guess this question is directed mainly at God_of_cpu. Are you talking about your battery going dead while using the carPC when the car is on? That's one helluva drain if it's pulling enough power to max your alternator and drain your battery. I'm *hoping* when people talk about their power supplies/carPCs killing their batteries, they are talking about when the car is off... due to either a power hungry machine using too much power too quickly, or a system that does not properly shut down and stop drawing on the battery after the car is off....

 

Wow I didn't know that about the OPUS. I always wondered why the light was still blinking when the car was off.

So the M1 is the way to go then? How difficult is the swicth to the M1 wiring from the current Opus wiring that is in my car right now?

And if the M1 is not enough is there anyway to modifiy my current opus to competely shut down?

 

Your car pc will never kill your battery when your car is on, the alternator supplies more then enough power for it.

The reason why my power died with my OPUS was because something went wrong. The OPUS, by design, should kill your computer's power if it detects your battery is getting low so you should always have enough power to start your car. It will also force your computer off if it doesn't shutdown in specific amount of time. The M1-ATX also functions in the same way. I don't know what combination of events caused the OPUS to not automatically shutdown when battery power got low, it is an extremely rare event, but I have had it happen twice with 2 different OPUS power supplies.

The light on the OPUS should blink when its off, it means its functioning properly. If you already have an OPUS and it working fine, I wouldn't go replacing it

 

You may want to look into carnetix power supplies. The quality on them is great and they are feature packed. I have been using mine for around 9 months and the only issue I had was that the fan was a little too loud since it was under my seat, I emailed Carnetix and they sent me a new whisper like fan and now I can't even tell the pc is there. The one I am using supplies 90 watts and has an extra 5v line for a usb hub, which is plenty for my setup.

 

this exactly why i was leanin towards the laptop. seems to be more issues w/ carputer than laptop. they have heat issues. doesnt that mean less processin power? carputer isnt that much cheaper either. I built one on mp3 and other sites and it ran bout $1000-1300. w/ no DW screen or software.

a new laptop will be more around $2k. But it's totally mobile. biggest issue is power on/off.

maybe i'm just 2newb to carputers. i trust laptops. never heard of some of carputer manufactures n stuff.

 

I have the OPUS 150W and it is a requirement if you want a P4 carputer. It has worked flawless for me for nearly a year now. I find my carPC drains battery down to "critical levels" (I think that's under 11V) after about an hour of use (with the engine off of course). The OPUS has always forced a shut down.

I did have problems during the initial install cause I thought I would be smart and put a power line filter between the battery and the OPUS. Well that seemed to really confuse the OPUS and I also got weird issues (like not turning on/off appropriately). Other than that it has worked well.

My 2.4 Ghz P4 running an ATI Mobility Radeon GPU requires an exhaust fan (12 cm) that takes air from the right rear corner of the trunk (below the mat, where the carPC is installed) and actually sends it out of the car using the little portal that is there. This has worked very well - even on 95+ days, the carPC has remained stable.

GOD_OF_CPU: I noted you are going to use an Extigy soon - I would recommend throwing the remote away and use girder to control it though as the IR receiver is "buggy" - or it was very tempermental on my unit.

Oh and I really DISLIKE CoPilot v8 laptop. I have complained bitterly - customer service is outstanding and they have promised the next version will be better (gotta pay for the upgrade though). Anyway, I'm testing out "StreetDeck" now that uses MapPoint 2004 (NavTeq maps). So far it's looking REALLY nice. I may just be ditching CoPilot...

 

The downside to laptops is the cost and complication of setup compared to a traditional solution

You dont have to hack up the laptop to access the power button if you buy a laptop that has a docking station which has a power button on it. Thats even more added cost then
Youll have to wire a relay for the laptop power button so youll have to have some minor technical knowledge (and then also solder the connection to the switch)


Its a really a pretty big waste though since that nice big LCD on the laptop goes unused completely when in the car. When it makes more sense to use a laptop is when you have a broken display laptop that was cheap





I myself use the tried and true VIA M10000 motherboard and Opus 90W. I had the Opus 150W but was displeased with it. Its major problems that I saw were its inefficiency at times and that it did not cut the 5v going to the USB lines when the car was off. That 5v drained my battery in my old car TWICE until I finally figured it out. I built a relay to stop the current but I wanted something cleaner so got the 90W which has this feature built in

 

So I contacted Opus, they said they can do the MOD to shut of the 5V problem. Any its only gonna be $10. Personally I think they should do it for free but, eh? What are you gonna do. They are local for me.

 

Yeah, I don't plan on using the remote, I already have a ATI Remote Wonder with RF. BTW, you can use all your girder plugins with StreetDeck without running girder, just drop them into the streetdeck plugins directory and goto the input options.