Well I'm thinking about buying a power inverter and setting up my laptop in my Pickup, and I've been toiling with the idea of where to put the laptop. I plan to use it primarily for MP3 playback in my truck, but was also considering buying a GPS unit for it. It would be nice to have the laptop tucked away somewhere, but still be able to see the LCD. Anyone have any suggestions/pics of their set ups? I want to minimize space loss as much as possible (i.e. still be able to carry passengers and have the laptop out of their way). My truck is a standard cab, so space is pretty darn limited.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have the same deal with my 4runner, I pipe MP3/DVD audio into the truck.
I have tons more space, but if the laptop isn't in a backpack, I keep it under the passenger seat in a laptop sleeve/bag. Got mine at EMS for $15, and has already paid for itself; had to slam on the brakes and bounced the laptop off the dash. Started right up.

 

If you want to be able to see the screen as when you use the GPS, you need a holder.

http://www.dhc.net/~pmhack/mercedes/laptop.htm

I use to have a site bookmarked for the kind that police & state patrol use, but I can't find it now.

The one above looks like it can swing up & out of the way of the passenger.

I had hooked my GPS up to my laptop several months ago, but it slid around to much on my seat.
Need a good bracket for sure.

Alan from Seattle on here may know of where to view these brackets online.

 

An alternative I am looking into is to get hold of one of the TV screens thta are often fitted in the 3rd Gen imports. These use NTSC format and you could then use a TV out (either inbuilt or via a PCMCIA card) on the Laptop to drive the screen. You could use a Wireless keyboard to drive the laptop if you need to change anything.

If the PC is hidden though you will need to set it to keep running with the clamshell closed.

 

MP3car.com has a great forum for these kinds of things...I dumped the laptop idea because it was too big and wanted more power. Also too expensive. I went through several setups from mid sized tower in the trunk to bookpc under passenger seat, to waht I have now...Ezgo in my center console running at 900mhz w/128mb.




Touchpad above 4wd shifter, power button above that. I use a remote control to do everything. Notice IR sensor under ashtray...

 

I was just researching this stuff last night, and I came across an awesome setup (Although this is on an Xterra, it should work on any truck). Pretty much this guy is running a complete computer in his truck. The one thing that I think is really cool is the screen he's using, here's a few pics of it...









And he has the computer (He calls it a "Book PC" but it looks like one of those old computer cases that sits flat on the desk. He has it mounted under the seat, with the power source kind of sticking out the side.

It looks like an awesome setup, and it's something that I would love to do when I have the money.

Good luck with it!

-Braden

 

I have thought about running the laptop behind my seat and hooking up an external LCD monitor, I'm just not sure if I want to go that route. There are quite a few cool LCD screens out there though, and a 7" flip-down up front would be very cool. I was thinking more of going the route of the "police style" mountings. I'm liking the idea of the police-style mountings as they seem most cost-effective, but I'm going to see how much the LDC screen would run me as well.

Thanks guys.

 

I bought a laptop so it would be portable and I could take it anywhere, so why buy yet another machine and hardwire it into the truck? It can only be used in the truck, you can't change the layout and you have to transfer all your files with a laptop or a long ass cable anyway, you can't move it away if something spills, why not just run off the laptop? Not to mention bigger screen, internet, batteries, etc. You can pass it around inside the vehicle, and face it any direction, put in on the hood, roof or you can take it out and compute /watch movies on a picnic table or a tree stump. Then on monday it goes back on your desk. Doesn't seem to make sense to me to install one of these. Just another toy I guess...
The laptop holder is another issue, I can see the utility for a laptop, but I'd imagine it would get in the passengers way all the time, and the driver has to stop before using it anyway. Why not stop and keep it on top of your... lap?

 

A very good point. I suppose the best/most cost-effective solution is really to just throw the laptop in there and not mess around with all those other connections. I think I'm probably going to take the cheap way out of this and just slap it on the passenger seat. When I have a passenger, they can either navigate using the GPS, manage the playlist, or both.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

 

Yeah, it all depends on what you have already. I mentioned my desktop concept because its more portable than my laptop and I dont like being able to see things through my window. My lil desktop ezgo is the size of a CD walkman and was only $350. I also wanted to avoid using a power inverter and get a DC-DC psu for more effiecient power drainage. As far as transfering files and whatnot...mine pops out in 3 seconds, but I use a USB hard drive, so I just unplug that in 1 second. Remote control lets anyone use it...but you are right I cant take it out of my truck and watch a movie on a tree stump haha...ohh well. I started this project 4 years ago, and it was by all means the more powerful and cost efective method if you are starting from scratch. But if you have the parts...thats what you should go with. You only need 75mhz to plan an mp3 and 400mhz to play a DVD.

Once again, check out the mp3car.com forum. There are tons of ideas for laptop and desktop setups. Very knowledgable people on the forum...

 

I was at a truck show last year and saw a fulsize ford with the lap top mounted in the glove box with a cordless mouse on the center console when he closed the laptop it look like part of the dash he had the glove box door mounted to the bottom of the laptop it looked real trick. I wish i had a pic of it

 

I think you may be looking at a couple of the more obvious solutions.

1. Get a mp3 decoding cd player. True, it only holds about 650 mb of music, but hey, you have to get out of the truck sometime (like to see a man about a horse).

2. Get a mp3 player and patch it in through a stereo jack. Apple's iPod is Mac/Windows compatible and can hold from 5 to 20 gb of music. Plus there are already car mounts for it that charge it at the same time. No computer required. Plus it's portable, so you can take it with you (like when you have to see a man about a horse).

 

Braden,

How does that Xterra get on the web? Is it through a cell phone? Or is there some sort of WiFi or Bluetooth setup that I don't know of?

Call me curious!

My 1300th post!

 

Bluetooth with a cell would be the most practical method. However some markets also have wireless broadband (11 mbps). I've heard a rumor that El Paso will be getting it late this year or early next year.

1300 Posts Cebby?
You really need a woman!

 

Once I have money to waste...my plan is to mount a server in my X-cab, give it a wireless card, and get a wireless cam for somewhere on the truck.

Ideally, whoever I'm wheeling with will have a cam too...and the server will just capture all the vid. That would be sweeeeeeeeet!

Jim

 

While you're at it, be sure to put a 802.11b access point so the rest of us can use your truck as a base station.

 

Dude I'm married with three kids. I'm on here so I don't add a fourth...

 

There ya go, now you're talking. Still can be done with a laptop though. I may have to use my last W2k license and build a Dell 2Ghz and mess with this idea.

1st Gen live...

 

Thanks for keeping me in a job!...I'll teach 'em chemistry.

 

Yeah, the wireless idea (someone else brought it up in casual conversation)...would be pretty easy. Size-wise, a laptop would be nice. I have the little storage compartments in the cab, big enough for a PC, sans-case. Mount some kind of antenna on the outside, even make an Intranet kind of website. Damn, that would be cool.

Jim