Laptop Mount

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(heimdm @ Jul 26 2006, 04:57 PM) [snapback]292891[/snapback]</div>

I have the same question.

I'm in the planning stages for a mount for my ThinkPad T60. My current thought is to have a mini docking station connected two two feet or so of wiring coming out of the center console below the armrest. That should give me a lot of flexibility. I can get a RAM Mount that can mount it anchored to the passenger seat floor when there's no passenger and I'm on a long trip. If there's no passenger but I don't want to get out the whole mount assembly, it can sit in the passenger seat or on the armrest. And when there is a passenger, it can sit in the armrest position, closed and on its side. The armrest won't close while the laptop is there, but that's OK.

A big advantage of this is that when I remove the laptop, I just close the armrest and there's no visible sign of the laptop dock. When there isn't a passenger, I can use the big laptop screen and keyboard. And when there is a passenger and it's in place of the armrest, I can use an in-dash touchscreen.

I haven't yet decided which model of touchscreen to use. Patching in to the MFD would be great, but I'm not sure how that would work out in my 07. I could use LockPick 3 and a video converter to get the output to the screen, but I'm not optimistic about reading out the touchscreen pointer position. I know the CAN-View can do it on older model years, but not on the 07. When using the LockPick 3 for video, it's not clear that the touchscreen is sending out pointer information at all. So I'll likely use a second touch screen, though I haven't decided which one. Maybe at some point in the future someone will find a way to get a computer hooked to the 07 MFD.

There's already a 12V outlet in the console under the armrest, so that part is easy, and Lenovo sells a mini docking station for this laptop that seems to have the same power connector as the laptop itself, so the 12V adaptor for the laptop will also fit the dock. So then it's just a matter of running the video out to the touchscreen and the touchscreen input back to the laptop. I'm also putting in a mount for a Garmin handheld GPS, so I plan to run the USB cable for the GPS to the laptop dock also. Finally, I want to get a CANUSB and run that to the dock too.

The laptop has a built-in HSDPA/GSM data radio, and if I install a wireless cellular amplifier, that should help the laptop too, so I should get a decent broadband connection. The only thing I'll really be missing at that point is satellite traffic information, but at least if I'm in a Cingular service area I can use traffic.com. Maybe at some point in the future there will be a satellite traffic adaptor for laptops, along with the software to make use of it, and I can add it then.

Any advice? I haven't been able to find any reports of anyone else installing a laptop dock in their Prius, so I guess I'll be the first if I decide to go ahead with it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sunnyvale Prius @ Jan 23 2007, 02:05 PM) [snapback]379730[/snapback]</div>

I've just discovered that ALK's CoPilot PC software has a feature to use real-time traffic information from the internet. That is a lot slicker than manually poking around traffic.com. My handheld GPS connected to the laptop plus the broadband Cingular HSDPA/GPRS/GSM data connection coupled with the latest CoPilot software should give a nice, integrated navigation system that automatically routes around traffic problems.

The Cingular data service areas are limited, but the areas with a lot of traffic are exactly the areas that are likely to have the best Cingular data coverage. When I'm driving around away from major cities, lack of traffic data doesn't matter.

I couldn't find information on the source of the CoPilot traffic data -- hopefully, it's the traffic.com/XM/Sirrius database, not the lame FM traffic data service from Clear Channel.

 

http://www.ram-mount.com/laptopcomp.htm

http://www.mobiledesk.com/

http://www.autolaptoplinkinc.com/

Learn to use google

Or you could use a tablet convertible, which would allow you to position the screen in a more useful angle and even set it on the dash. Then you can use a wireless keyboard with it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmann @ Jan 24 2007, 05:45 PM) [snapback]380397[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the advice. I did use Google before I posted -- I actually did quite a bit of research over several days. I found a lot of useful information, in particular on PriusChat and mp3car.com. I also came across the three sites you listed. In fact, you may have noticed in my post that I mentioned my intention to use the RAM mount that your first link points to.

All three of these sites give products that sit on the floor of the passenger seat and provide a platform to hold a laptop. While this is useful, as I mentioned in my post, I'm looking for more and wanted to see if someone else has done more.

The tablet is an interesting idea, and I read some posts on this site earlier about that option, but ultimately I decided I'd rather be able to dock my existing laptop. That's partly so that I have access to all the data and programs on my laptop, and partly so that I can use the HSDPA broadband link built into my laptop. That's why I decided against a tablet or hard-wired carputer.