6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

Or is it something you just have to put together yourself?

Rick99TAWS6

iTrader: (4)

There are few CarPC's for sale all set up, most who do it - do it themselves......

For some good CarPC info check out the forums on this site - MP3CAR.COM

Flaring Afro

i've looked into them you are going to want to build it yourself, or use a laptop. unless you have extreme $$$ to put into it. but to be fair they will do a lot more than the $1500-2000 headunits you can buy at audio stores.

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

Hmmm... in that case I will probably offer them for sale as well since I found a guy who makes them and I can just be a distributor for him. Probably offer a basic one with screen for $700 and $500 without but will also offer add-ons (GPS, an AI I am having made, etc...).

This all started after my car was broken into and my in dash DVD/etc. got stolen two weeks ago. I wanted to replace it with something harder to steal...

transambandit

iTrader: (6)

Ouch mark that sucks, had my truck broken into and got jacked for a bunch of stuff on labor day. mp3car.com has a lot of stuff and there is a guy on ebay that puts togther some great carpcs, some complete others you need to add your own hard drive too. I took my laptop harddrive and stuck it on of his carpcs and its great. Right now i am working on upgrading to a 10.4" screen.

blackbyrd

iTrader: (14)

very interested in this but my question is does it have all the pre outs for a amps?? like a sub and a rca's?

F3RR3T

Yes it will be able to be integrated to your stereo

phantomzer0

iTrader: (17)

I don't doubt that it can be done, but if your an audiophile, onboard sound won't be very great.

My buddy does alot of car pc stuff, check out his site, mobile-effects.com

blackbyrd

iTrader: (14)

buddy of mine used to be an installer and that was what we talked about was that he didnt think it would be like a quality head unit with the correct pre outs, i dont have anything crazy but i have a eclipse 12 and 2 xtant amps pushing the sub and door speakers

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

You have to amp it for sure and isn't that enough for a good sound? I know nothing. F3RR3T is my guy on this and a few other products I plan to bring into production soon...

transambandit

iTrader: (6)

There are a couple things you can do for the sound, you can get an external sound card and you can plug the RCA's into that, or you can get one of the rca to microphone plug adapters and use that, i have my carpc running off a sound card, works great. Also for the "on" wire to the amps i cut into my yellow ign wire of the radio harness, wired up a switch, because you can get some thumping if you have it wired directly, because the carpc will take about a minute or so to load and you want the amp to turn on after the PC is loaded up.

F3RR3T

Audio will be taken care of by using mini din to male RCA adapters. the adapters plug into the sound card and the Then your RCA's will plug into the adapters to your amplifier. or you can run them to a Line driver to up the pre-out voltage.

Sound quality is great if done correctly. i could tell no difference going from my Denon headunit to using my car PC as a source unit

Flaring Afro

Brought this back since I'm reconsidering doing this in the summer and have been researching a little more. What you could do, and what I would do, is get a used laptop for cheap on craigslist or ebay and use a power inverter for it. Simplest way, cheapest (at least if you buy a laptop with a broken screen), and the best. At least, its best in the fact that you can have the carputer so to standby instead of hibernating or shutting down with ignition off because it has its own battery for power. Then when you run into a store or even in the next couple days, instant use instead of waiting for boot up.

And as far as sound you can get a usb 5.1 sound device for about $25 (or sound card if desktop) that will sound good and have rear and front out. Then you use an adapter that converts 3.5mm to left and right rca.

transambandit

iTrader: (6)

The only problem with that, which is what i initially did was how you power it initially when you get in the car, there were some people who soldered wires to the power button and extended it to where they could push it on when they got in the car but for me the solder points kept breaking so i said F-it.

DOUBLEDMODS

iTrader: (3)

Car PC's are awesome. I am building one right now for a magazine feature C5 Corvette that will be running live HP tuners to help control the 1100 RWHP


Watch the screens cause some wont work with certain operating systems.

Flaring Afro

depends on the laptop. some have bios options to power on when plugged in (or when your inverter receives the power). I hope to find a laptop that has this option. Or maybe there is a way to add it to your bios. I have a friend majoring in computer sciences so maybe he, or a nice professor, could do this (if possible).

Also, many have wakeup on lan so you can buy or make a module that sends a signal through a telephone cable to your computer when ignition turns on.

If not you can buy a docking station which has a power button you can wire. Problem with this is they cost from $15 to hundreds depending on what model they are for.

The main problem with inverters is people have claimed they create noise in your sound system. However, I would think if you isolated it in our spare tire well it wouldn't, I would think. An amp's power wire can too if not placed well.

Rick99TAWS6

iTrader: (4)

would like to see that - course then I already have but it is still a work in progress

99bowtieZ

Rick, do you have any pics or info you could share on your own setup?

gbal4

this is what I would like to get when I get a double din bezel for my camaro
http://www.galleongps.com/product_details.php?id=17

loaded with a full PC

BobDoLe

iTrader: (11)

you guys are hardcore... i was just going to get a tiny new $400 laptop from best buy and keep it under the passenger seat.