Gizmosis Car PC's

bluetribeca · Post by **bluetribeca** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:44 pm

Hey all,

Has anyone had any experience with in car PC's, am looking at the gizmosis range and looks pretty cool. Would go alright in the Tribeca I think.

They have the Infill G4 :

http://shop.gizmosis.com.au/productcart ... tm#details

Or the Atom :

http://shop.gizmosis.com.au/productcart ... tm#details

It would be nice to get one of these so I can load music and other gear onto the hard drive as well as having bluetooth, just don't know where I stand regarding Subaru warranty etc. What are your thoughts on the whole in car PC idea?

Cheers

last celtic warrior · Post by **last celtic warrior** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:40 pm

I doubt a simple "radio instal" which is basically what these units entail, would have any legally standing effect on your warrantee. That said, if they dont get enough ventilation and catch fire, then that's your problem, or your insurance company's.

For myself, I just load all my music onto SD cards for the player in my car. For the dash though, I'm installing a computer to run the two LCD displays for the virtual instrument cluster, with a larger touch screen in the middle above the console to operate the computer from. The computer will of course have all engine and other data fed into it, and will be connected to the on board cameras, mobile internet, GPS, turbo timer (sophisticated coldroom control unit) and alarm system.

Rocksy · Post by **Rocksy** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:55 pm

http://www.mp3car.com
If you have any pc know how, build one. you can do some serious installs if you have some spare cash and the will.

if you buy all the parts and the screen and the find a way to fit in a double din screen that is OEM looking it'll come in WELL under the price of that atom

And you still have to fit the Atoms screen.

bluetribeca · Post by **bluetribeca** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:31 pm

last celtic warrior wrote:I doubt a simple "radio instal" which is basically what these units entail, would have any legally standing effect on your warrantee. That said, if they dont get enough ventilation and catch fire, then that's your problem, or your insurance company's.

For myself, I just load all my music onto SD cards for the player in my car. For the dash though, I'm installing a computer to run the two LCD displays for the virtual instrument cluster, with a larger touch screen in the middle above the console to operate the computer from. The computer will of course have all engine and other data fed into it, and will be connected to the on board cameras, mobile internet, GPS, turbo timer (sophisticated coldroom control unit) and alarm system.

I agree with the warranty side of things, the warranty will just be from the manufacturer of the new screen that is installed.

I don't want anything too hardcore, bluetooth would be nice and I really like the look of the aftermarket screens as opposed to the ordinary Subaru display in the Tribeca.

This is the reason why I have been thinking of doing this......looks good I reckon!

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/cart ... -dnjj.html

bluetribeca · Post by **bluetribeca** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:33 pm

Rocksy wrote:http://www.mp3car.com
If you have any pc know how, build one. you can do some serious installs if you have some spare cash and the will.

if you buy all the parts and the screen and the find a way to fit in a double din screen that is OEM looking it'll come in WELL under the price of that atom

And you still have to fit the Atoms screen.

Good point on the install cost. I have know-how but not that much;)

Phizinza · Post by **Phizinza** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:02 pm

Buy a laptop, and build it into the dash! $1500 can get you a pretty good one.. Then you just take the screen off and stick it on the dash, and put the computer part behind. Then get a flexible keyboard and stick it to your dash next to the screen.. hahaha, just a silly thought. Personally I'd be a bit worried about having anything more then a $200 CD player in my car because of water damage.

nncoolg · Post by **nncoolg** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:21 pm

Why do you want a PC fitted in the car? sounds like a lot of dead weight to me...

ChPLAT · Post by **ChPLAT** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:50 pm

That one is way over priced. You can build a fairly compact one and just hook it upto a touchscreen unit mounted in dash. Would be well under a grand this way, just more screwing around.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 1:20 pm

I also rekon a laptop is a good solution. I recently bought an Asus EeePC, it was only $290 from JB Hifi. It's awesome, little 7" screen thing. It's got a solid state harddisk (no moving parts so basically shock proof) which is only 8gb but that's plenty of room for Windows and applications etc. It's got USB ports so you can plug in a harddisk or USB stick, also SD card reader slot. I've seen in a magazine a guy made good use of it by mounting it on a bracket on his dash and running a USB GPS on it - so it was acting as a GPS with massive screen.
It's abit over $500 to get the identical model but with Windows supplied, I got the one with free Linux for $290....let's just say Windows somehow got installed instead though

Laptop is good cause you can do anything you want on it - GPS, music, videos, with a 3G internet connection you can check your email or even post up on Ausubaru in the troubleshooting section when your broken down

bluetribeca · Post by **bluetribeca** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 1:26 pm

Thanks for all the replies, it was just a thought because I am fairly dissapointed with the stock Tribeca display. It is a family car so things like laptops and that aren't really an option, I just wanted to trick up the display without being too intrusive.

Rocksy · Post by **Rocksy** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:02 pm

if its already got a screen there just pull the face off and measure it, if a 7inch touch screen goes in your all set. You could build the PC in a nice litttle case to go under the seat. Done
It's only intrusive running the wires and mounting the screen, you might be able to just switch the screens on the same mount.