JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Well, this is assuming you're comparing it to a desktop 3.5" HDD. The laptop 2.5" drives are designed for much higher G loading/shock rating. They're also designed in mind for higher allowable constant vibration(basically the conditions you will have on the road). I've known a few people that have built CarPC's with a Shuttle or miniITX configuration which utilized 3.5" HDDs. Two out of three suffered hard disk failure within a few months. As for mine, there's no failure as of yet and I've been running carPC's in all my previous cars for several years. For those of you that know me, I tend to toss the car around corners, so sideways, and do some *cough* heavy acceleration

Anyways, think of it this way. A laptop you can throw/drop onto a bed safely from around 10ft while running! Some can even withstand drop impact from 3ft onto concrete with no failure. Try either of those with a desktop and see what happens

Slooooooow

iTrader: (1)

Your suggestions about using a laptop make even more sense when you consider that, if you carefully choose and install your connection points, you can use ANY kind of laptop with the monitor, power inverter, mouse, keyboard, etc.

In other words you're not tied to ONE carputer; you can use your Windows laptop one time and your Mac laptop another time. And when they're old and outdated, you can easily/quickly swap in another.

Plus I realized I have a spare Acer laptop I bought not too long ago.

DangWhat

No I was comparing it to a standard 2.5 laptop HDD, I would hope no one would ever put a 3.5 in anything that is going to be moving. The 2.5 will degrade over time I was thinking using a good SSD would overall be better in the long run not sure if you ever looked into those the prices are coming down and will be the future of mass storage.

Slooooooow

iTrader: (1)

I don't think there are many who will argue the durability of solid state drives versus spinning disk.
Some will dislike the smaller capacity of solid state at this point though.
I guess the way around that is to keep an iPod or flash drive along with greater capacity to store tunes, videos and pics on.

I've been alternatively considering the "Netbooks" as a computer for the car. They tend to offer a shrinky-dink SSD (4, 8, 12 GB) or an 80-120 GB spinning disk for cheap!

Check out this Lenovo offer. Friggin' cheap. Nice tiny form factor for putting in a car. Pick this, a Carnetix, a monitor, keyboard/mouse and you're rolling quickly.

Would any of you consider this for your carputer?

Dattt

i would love to do this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IluSXPOKIU

Dattt

nice scott you found a use for netbooks! haha

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Well, this isn't exactly mission critical or anything lol. So a 2.5" laptop HD is quite sufficient. A 250-320gb drive can be had for less than $100, but that's waaay more storage than you would ever need for a CarPC. 80-100GB drive is sufficient and is dirt cheap at $30-40 a pop. I would care less if it took a crap, not to mention most still have a 3yr warranty. Also, for the CarPC I just have a barebones OS without much software on top. The music, video, games, etc are all stored on my server. If the HD does crash, I can have everything restored and running again within an hour.

Long story short just use a 2.5" laptop HD and it's good enough for a carpc unless you just feel like burning a hole in your pocket and spending $350+ on the same 80gb capacity. That's just my take on it, and so far I haven't had a HD failure.

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

hey jeff, few questions for you...

what are you running for power and turn on for the laptop setup you have?
what did you use to mount the screen?
what did you use for audio conversion? external?

i had a fully integrated carputer in my TL, but am thinking about swapping it into the GS... i am trying to plan the project and am looking for alternative set ups...

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

1) I have a Carnetix P2140 power supply which also has a built in power controller. It sends a power on and power off signal to the computer as the key is turned on/off.

2) Bought a Metra dash kit. Cut it up and modify it to fit the screen in there. You have to pull the bezel off the LCD and mount the actual screen itself to the frame on the dash kit.

3) I have a Audigy USB sound card on the laptop, hooked up to a 1000w amp sub amp and 600w 4chan. Basically you ditch the stock wiring and amps all together and just run all new wires and amps.

Matador

Jeff are you awake early or just havent gone to sleep?

NAiL05

He never sleeps.