all covered before i suppose but well its unique to me,
i am after a laptop for my truck, i want !!!
15 inch screen at most
wireless
digital tv
internet
sat nav
i have
24 volt 300 watt inverter
magmount dbtv ariel with both f and standard tv connection
2 indoor ariels both with booster on
how do i get satnav on lappy"what else do i need including software"
whats the best/cheapest/easiest way of being online 24/7
any simple help would be very much appreciated "lets not get techie out there guys it’s a tough world "
most important is i have around £300 for the whole lot
You’ll get a bunch of crud for that money, save up another hundred quid and you might be able to sort something mate. A truck cab isn’t the best environment for a laptop, you need something that’s at least mildly well built.
I use one of these Compaq Evo N400c laptops in the truck. (That’s a link to one for sale on e-bay). You would need to upgrade the ram on this one to 512. I think the battery on this one is knackered too, so you would be best getting a new one.
I use Autoroute 2007 with a GPS receiver for navigation.
I only use it on the internet when it’s networked on my home computer, it doesn’t have wi-fi built in, you would have to buy a pc card or pcmcia card for that.
It would be capable of running win-tv, or something similar, quite easily.
It’s got a 12.1 inch screen, so doesn’t obscure your view excessively.
It’s cheap and pretty robust (I’ve been using mine for 3 years now and it looks fit for another 3).
You would still have change from your £300, after buying that lot.
You’ll struggle to get a new lappy for much under £300 on its own. They start about £280 and go up. For the cheapest lappy’s get yourself on ebuyer.com - you won’t find them cheaper elsewhere - in fact they’ve even more expensive on ebay and laptopsdirect.
Ebuyer.com is not an auction site - something that a lot of folks think - it’s just a mail order company that specialises in computer gear at excellent prices.
Buy second hand, but have it checked out before you pay any money. If you live near Edinburgh or pass here regular, my mate and myself do pc repairs and networking and are very reasonable, we could check it out for you and make sure it is running to it’s highest potential.
Most new laptops come with built in wireless, if not you can either buy a usb wireless adapter, I got one for 12 quid. or a pci adapter a little more expensive but better signal.
There are some wireless hotspots out there, or if your near houses, quite a few networks are’nt secure. I’m not condoning it but it does happen.
As has been said before autoroute is great especially for europe, you can get a usb gps receiver from Maplins for 15 quid. be carefull though if you put the lappy on your dash board 1 it could fall off. 2 you could get a pull for obscuring your view.
As for tv I don’t know about that never used it.
Being online 24/7 isn’t that cheap, if you only do uk one of these dongles you get from 3 or TMobile are quite reasonable.
I’ve heard that if you have a phone contract with them you can haggle on the price.
I’ve got one of those N400c’s with Linux installed on it. Great little machines, I have it running in my boat hooked up to a touchscreen TV to control the MP3 player.
Yes it cost me about £60 if I remember rightly, great machines! but I did find it slow with XP, even with upgraded RAM so don’t expect a lightning quick machine for that.
I would have advised against a lap top after seeing the hundreds going for repair at DHL but we need them and I got a decent setup from Staples for 450 squids and use a copied autoroute 2007 european. I have the original UK mapping and Im not the most careful about throwing my laptop around the cab
I use my laptop when am going abroad but when I am in the UK i use ----
my NOKIA N95 8gb.
This is ideal it has got built in GPS you just need to buy the code £30.00 for 3years
built in wi-fi and internet and wap which I get free internet browsing(unlimited) and a load of other great features.When using the internet it’s not much slower than LAPPY but battery life does go down quickly but i just plug it in and carry on, you can also make+accept calls while surfing.
It is a bit fiddly at first but can now do it with my eyes closed.
well i bought a lappy and after seekin advice both non and pro people will not have satnav on the laptop but will have everything else, so all in all i have tom tom working on a navman for about £70 and a lappy with autoroute 2007 on as well as usual stuff for £350 and will get 03 network for internet for £10 a month so im resonably happy, thanks guys for the info and help its very much appreciated.
gezt:
well i bought a lappy and after seekin advice both non and pro people will not have satnav on the laptop but will have everything else, so all in all i have tom tom working on a navman for about £70 and a lappy with autoroute 2007 on as well as usual stuff for £350 and will get 03 network for internet for £10 a month so im resonably happy, thanks guys for the info and help its very much appreciated.
as a update i have decided not to put satnav on lappy but to continue using navman. the reason is simple,i dont want a 15 inch screen blocking my view, the lappy seems to work well on 03 for £10 per month.
all in all i happy at the mo but will see how it performs on the road.
well the laptop runs fine off the 300 watt inverter,and the modem seems to work pretty well ,although to be honest its not the fastest but it is the cheapest way of getting online from my truck and i never expected a broadband connection like i have at home… so far i have used it in gloucester area,bristol area,and up in ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ and kirkcaldy so im happy with the results.
all in all for me it was a good decsion and all for less then £400 (the inverter is used by other stuff so technically shared.)
all i have to do is make sure some theiving toerag doesn’t nick it.
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