car pc

A

ashgull80

Geek Trainee
hi, i would like a pc in my car to run my music off! but have looked at a few and they are very costly so i was wondering if its gonna b cheaper to just build 1 into the car? if so what do i need to do that? any help please!
thanks
 
Here's a nice website, it's from a hobbyist who built a pc into a car. Very simple but some of the components might cost more than you'd want to invest.

This guy even made a whole blog about building a car pc into his Grand Cherokee. Same thing has to be said about the components prices.

There are some nice ideas on where to put certain hardware though. Check it out.

Greetings,

Marcus
 
How about a idea of fitting a Laptop in your car? If new one is expensive then get the older one coz, main thing you need is music. You can watch videos as well. If you are worried much about music clarity then throw a external sound card with it....
 
Ok, well how would you wire this into your stereo? I would definitely want to keep my current head unit so how would I take the audio out form a computer and make it play on the car sereo? Maybe one of those little radio transmitters would work, but you then lose sound quality. Any ideas?
 
Its very easy and completely possible..........but I would like to know the main reason of adding a computer into your car?? I mean, is listening music is your main concern or you want to see the videos(which might be not good if you are driving) as well?
 
Then you just need a wire which will take output from the speaker port of your laptop and there will be a input port at the back side of your Car Stereo. Any car shop guy can fix this for you or if you can open it up then you can also do it....

Edit: A laptop can provide you the ability of using all those features, you have shown above. However, having a separate audio port will give you more possiblities to connect things like IPOD etc...
 
If your head unit has AUX (Auxillary) inputs (Phono - red and white) then you can but a mini-jack to phono lead, that'll run the sound output from your laptop (probably a headphone socket) to youe head unit, then you just select the right input on your head unit.
 
just stick a propor pc in there, put it under back seat or somthin? get an X-FI with front panel, that has abseloutly loads of connections on.
 
You don't need loads of connections, the head unit will only take 2 channels. Look at what I found. A barebone just for the car. It has a DC-DC PSU and can fit under the seat. It will also monitor the battery so it doesn't drain it. It's not a gaming machine but, hey, it has audio and video and 2 IDE connections. Throw in some RAM, a laptop drive, and a DVD drive and you have a carputer. I will almost definitely be doing this. The whole rig, without a GPS sensor ($100) only costs about $800. What do you guys think?
 
Matt said:
The whole rig, without a GPS sensor ($100) only costs about $800.
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With this price, I would say No!...
Reasons...
1. Flexibility: To use this thing, you always have to sit in the back seat. You cannot take this outside of your car. You cannot use it for any other purpose like for your school/college/office work.
2. Price: Price is too high. In this price or may be couple of hundred more you can buy a good laptop with an OS cd.
There are heaps of points you will notice if you look at the scenario....
Its just 1 audio wire which will come out of your Car Stereo, which you can hook up with your Laptop/Ipod/Any other audio device which works with a headphone port...... You have also said that you will be using internet on your coputer so this must be your best buy.....However if you have any strong point which is pushing you towards your side, please post here coz I would also be interested to know about that.
 
Karanislove said:
With this price, I would say No!...
Reasons...
1. Flexibility: To use this thing, you always have to sit in the back seat. You cannot take this outside of your car. You cannot use it for any other purpose like for your school/college/office work.
2. Price: Price is too high. In this price or may be couple of hundred more you can buy a good laptop with an OS cd.
There are heaps of points you will notice if you look at the scenario....
Its just 1 audio wire which will come out of your Car Stereo, which you can hook up with your Laptop/Ipod/Any other audio device which works with a headphone port...... You have also said that you will be using internet on your coputer so this must be your best buy.....However if you have any strong point which is pushing you towards your side, please post here coz I would also be interested to know about that.
Click to expand...


1. The monitor would be dash mounted with a wireless keyboard w/ touchpad so you could sit anywhere. You could stand outside if you really felt like it. You could, in theory, use office apps on it. There is no reason you couldn't but why would you? Maybe if you were on a long road trip. Anyways, you could also get an AC inverter and a small inkjet and print inside the car if you really felt like it. USB ports would also be accessible so you could save to a flash drive and print elsewhere.

2. Cool factor, anybody can sit in a car with a laptop but who do you know that has a carputer? Also, that price includes Microsoft Windows XP MCE 2005. You could use home but I think MCE would be more suited to the task. Using home would take about $20 off the price.

The sole purpose of the carputer is not MP3 playing. Yes, that is a big part of it but you can also play video, older games (you could probably manage Halo, I've included 512 MB of RAM), and it is highly scalable.

You can, as I said, add non-Wi-Fi internet (Wi-Fi I have included in the price) such as the Verizon BroadbandAccess service.

You could also, as mentioned, add GPS for far less than a standalone unit. Also, the computer, with most every concievable option, would be less than most factory installed GPS systems (the 2006 Saab 9-3 GPS System costs $2000).

The final option, which will probably be my first upgrade to the system, is an OBD-II interface. This is a USB OBD-II interface which includes trouble code reading and clearing, thousands of diagnostic readings and controls, and a built in dynomometer.The integrated dynamometer alone is worth the money as a few trips to the dyno would set you back as much. This could also save you the trip to the dealership for a check engine light that was caused by leaving your gas door open. And the best part is that software upgrades are free forever.

In the end, no, this is not a need based purchase. But, who needs an X1900XTX and a Conroe 6700? Do you want an X1900XTX and a Conroe 6700? In the end all it becomes is another gadget, but it is a damn cool gadget if I don't say so myself. If my life was need based I wouldn't have a car in the first place.
 
Max said:
1. The monitor would be dash mounted with a wireless keyboard w/ touchpad so you could sit anywhere. You could stand outside if you really felt like it. You could, in theory, use office apps on it. There is no reason you couldn't but why would you? Maybe if you were on a long road trip. Anyways, you could also get an AC inverter and a small inkjet and print inside the car if you really felt like it. USB ports would also be accessible so you could save to a flash drive and print elsewhere.

2. Cool factor, anybody can sit in a car with a laptop but who do you know that has a carputer? Also, that price includes Microsoft Windows XP MCE 2005. You could use home but I think MCE would be more suited to the task. Using home would take about $20 off the price.

The sole purpose of the carputer is not MP3 playing. Yes, that is a big part of it but you can also play video, older games (you could probably manage Halo, I've included 512 MB of RAM), and it is highly scalable.

You can, as I said, add non-Wi-Fi internet (Wi-Fi I have included in the price) such as the Verizon BroadbandAccess service.

You could also, as mentioned, add GPS for far less than a standalone unit. Also, the computer, with most every concievable option, would be less than most factory installed GPS systems (the 2006 Saab 9-3 GPS System costs $2000).

The final option, which will probably be my first upgrade to the system, is an OBD-II interface. This is a USB OBD-II interface which includes trouble code reading and clearing, thousands of diagnostic readings and controls, and a built in dynomometer.The integrated dynamometer alone is worth the money as a few trips to the dyno would set you back as much. This could save you the trip to the dealership for a check engine light that was caused by leaving your gas door open. And the best part is that software upgrades are free forever.

In the end, no, this is not a need based purchase. But, who needs an X1900XTX and a Conroe 6700? Do you want an X1900XTX and a Conroe 6700? In the end all it becomes is another gadget, but it is a damn cool gadget if I don't say so myself. If my life was need based I wouldn't have a car in the first place.
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You can get all those features in your Laptop as well...the usb ports and all those things.

As you said that, have you seen anybody has carputer. Well, I would like to say, you are not driving a taxi so everybody enters into your car to see that you have a carputer. Whereas, if you have a blasting audio system and a sexy car then everybody would see you and notice you. Also, if you carry a laptop between your friends they they will notice you more than having a computer in your car.

Both of them are coputer, you can add anything....as you said that you can have a printer. To access your computer, you would never like to go outside your car coz you have to see the screen to do any action. So I dont think if there is any use of spending money on a wireless keyboard or whateva..About playing games, you dont want to just sit in the CAR and play games. You always wants to have a better place or may be you would like to play with other friends which you can attatch with the ethernet but kind of difficult job for CarPC.....

If you are going to attach this gadget at the back side of your seats then at the end if something goes wrong......It will leave a big hole or you have to spend more money for repairing your car...

In the future if you wants to sell you laptop, you will get better price for it instead of your Carputer.

At the end, I have no experience with the PC in a car or a laptop in a car. Anything which suits you best....Go with it. Its just ones opinion to not to have a attatched PC in your car unless you have a big bunch of money for extravagencey.....
 
Well, the sole purpose is not attention whoring, it is usage. But, I would rather have a carputer than rims or a custom interior. It will be very useful on roadtrips, the passenger can use it. That is the idea of the wireless keyboard, anybody in the car can use it without having wires running around. Besides, how many wires do you see in a car? The key is integration. The idea is that this will look like a professional install, not a laptop on a dash mount.

The primary functions beyond music would be up to the passenger, as it is illegal in the U.S. for the driver to have a screen that is distracting while driving.

The idea is not to replace a desktop but to get as close as you can when your desktop is inaccessible.

It would be installed UNDER the seat, so uninstallation would leave little to no permanent damage/modification.

Actually, a laptop can be bought many palces, but a fully configured CarPC is hard to find, and they are becoming more and more popular. It would probably be very easy to sell it on one of the CarPC oriented communities.

But you're right, in the end it is whatever you want. If you plan on spending a lot of time in a your car (me) it could be considered a worthwhile investment. I basically had money set aside to work on my car, and this is what I have decided to spend it on. I could upgrade the suspension, modify then engine, get wheels/tires, or do this. I think this will offer the most functionality for the money.
 
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