Gizmodo: car pc

Shuttle Car PC: A Techier Way to Die

Mark Wilson — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:00:58 EDT

Shuttle just announced their new Car PC—or what looks to be a Mac Mini genetically enhanced with car audio badassness (known to some as a heat sink).

Internally, the Car PC will run an Intel Core Duo chipset (not the 2 Duo, apparently) and store information on a standard laptop hard drive. 7.1 sound and graphics are predictably integrated onboard.

But what's so appealing about the Car PC is that it's powered by your car battery and will automatically shut down with no lost data when you turn off the ignition. So that quarterly budget you finished on the way to work will stay safe even after you park your car outside the hospital. – Mark Wilson

Shuttle's Upcoming Car PC [tweaktown]

VoomPC-2: Put a PC in Your '94 Civic For Only $395

blongo3 — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:22:40 EST

I find myself continually interested in putting a PC into my car, ever since the Mac Mini was introduced. But then you have to get into all the details of how you'll keep it powered, is the enclosure designed for car use, etc. However Mini-box.com has made this just a little easier and affordable. For $395, you can get yourself a 1.5 ghz PC designed from the ground up to be installed in a car. It's even smart enough to keep Windows/Linux from getting scrambled when you turn the car on or off.

Here's a quick rundown of what else you get for your $395.

VGA and S-Video output, USB 2.0, FireWire, Ethernet, PCMCIA Type I and II, a CardBus interface for hooking up to GPS or Wi-Fi systems, and a 5.1 audio support.

While I am primarily a mac user, I'd definitely consider the VoomPC for my car computing needs, if it means less headaches during the installation. How have any of your own Car/PC experiments turned out?– Ben Longo

Mini-box.com Rolls Out Low Cost Car PC [Digital Trends]
VoomPC-2 [Product Page}

iMobile Atlas Car PC: Does GPS, High Speed Data, and Windows

Brian Lam — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:35:11 EST

The iMobile CarPC is a full fledged PC that fits in those double-sized car stereo slots. Yea, it does turn by turn with the built in GPS module and its 6.5-inch touchscreen. But on top of Windows, it runs a top layer UI program, like media center, with big buttons that makes for easier clicking while swerving. The cool thing is that it has both Bluetooth and a PC Card slot. I'd drop in an EVDO card, or tether it to an EVDO cellphone for some high speed highway browsing.

Most second tier GPS implementations look like hell. Surprisingly, iMobile Atlas's screens don't look half bad.

The PC also has a light sensor that switches the display from day to night mode, Core Duo chips, a 40gb HDD, a DVD drive, half a gig of RAM, an AM/FM tuner, XM hookups, and a 40 watt, 4 channel amp for driving speakers directly. When its out in Feb, it'll ship with Vista v1.0. Car crash jokes, anybody?

–Brian Lam

iMobile PC [iMobile]

iMac in a Mercedes CLS

Travis Hudson — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:00:07 EDT

You may have a pearly white interior in your Mercedes CLS, so you obviously need a pearly white computer to go in it. Luckily one smart car customizer, Mattes Interieurtechnik (awesome name), realized that one company does make a pearly white computer.

Mattes plopped an iMac into the backseat of this CLS. He wasn't very happy with the color matching, so he even wrapped the iMac in leather to match the interior a little better. There is a slight problem, though. He installed it directly in front of the vents. That would be fine during the summer because the air conditioning could also cool the iMac, but during the winter ... can you say overheating? – Travis Hudson

Customizer puts iMac in Mercedes CLS [Left Lane News]