Expedition GPS Laptop

[DHC6twinotter]

My boss loves the little thing. I've been thinking about getting one just to play around with since they are so cheap. Asus does make good stuff. I'm using one of their motherboards with a E6600 processor on my current PC.

[dontdo_that]

Another good feature is that it has a full qwerty keyboard and touch-pad mouse which allows it to act as a full laptop as opposed to a pseudo one more like modern PDAs. the 7" screen must be nice as it wouldn't get in the way of your AC/Radio/shifter, etc. if you decided to mount it right center between the driver and passenge seats (like police squad cars). Although I think I might go for something with a little more umph in it since I love technology.

This has been a known fact for a while now, but in case anyone missed it: Mobile Smartphones and PDA phones such as Blackjacks, Blackberrys, Iphones, Palms and other Windows based phones (perhaps even other random ones) have the ability to act as modems/network controllers for laptops. If you have a subscription to a data service, like having internet on your mobile phone which allows you to visit virutally any compatible site you want, you can set your phone to act as an access point for any laptops, effectively connecting them to the internet anywhere you have cellphone reception. For high speed data transfer, your laptop would be running off of the same connection/data network that your phone would normally use to connect to the internet. Naturally, this is only a good idea if you have unlimited data plans because it eats through download/upload bits rather quickly. Since I'm an AT&T customer and have been familiar with Cingular/AT&T's technologies for quite some time (and actually know nothing about Verizon, T-mobile or Sprint) I'll use AT&T as an example. AT&Ts most common data network is called EDGE and then they have 3G which is faster but less common. I have heard that experiencing 3G is almost like mobile Broadband. So if you have a mobile AT&T phone with a data plan, you either connect to EDGE or 3G based on your phone's capability and network availability. Your phone basically can also act as a link to connect your Laptop to the EDGE or 3G network.

Also, your smartphone/PDA phone can be used to act as a dial-up modem. If you have an old school dial-up service, your phone can act as a modem to connect your laptop to your dial-up service anywhere you have cellphone reception. I don't know much about this and I'm not sure if its as fast as 56k speeds but I know my Cingular 3125 Smartphone (not PDA phone) has the capability of doing both.

Some smartphones like the Blackjack can also do this wirelessly via Bluetooth. So as your crusing along on the road, you can be browsing the internet at semi-broadband speeds without connecting any wires!

I believe the Iphone is capable of also acting as a modem for your laptop but it does not work via Bluetooth and must be physically connected via USB. I'm not even sure Iphones have Bluetooth to begin with.

Having a phone that is capable of acting as a modem would really really enhance the usefullness of a expedition gps laptop. Maybe even posting some pics and stuff on UY while you're out on the trail! now thats an idea...

[troyboy162]

i am using the asus eee-pc with iguidance4, MS streets and trips 09 and google earth.

google earth is best for off roading. you can store sat images for the area you are going to and then use google earth without the internet. it costs 20 bucks to get the gps portion of it to work. aka you have to buy google earth pro.

the asus eee-pc is a good choice for someone thats pretty tech savy. it has no cdrom drive so loading programs is different. most versions come with linux so switching over to windows is also tricky without a cdrom drive. you can also solder in a touch screen like i have to make it more user friendly.

id be happy to help anyone out with it though since they are dirt cheap used now.

[Good Times]

You think you can post a separate thread on the eee-pc? Would be interesting to read about the conversion you did.

The introduction of the netbooks that are priced really low makes it ideal for a great expedition lappie. Solid state drives and a cheap usb gps makes it really nice compared to a garmin/lawrence gps. Would make for some interesting gadgets that gives you the "mobile pc" experience

[Erich_870]

You think you can post a separate thread on the eee-pc? Would be interesting to read about the conversion you did.

The introduction of the netbooks that are priced really low makes it ideal for a great expedition lappie. Solid state drives and a cheap usb gps makes it really nice compared to a garmin/lawrence gps. Would make for some interesting gadgets that gives you the "mobile pc" experience

Yes, please do share more!! My brother has one of these little guys but he's not that tech savvy. I'd like to see what can be done with them on top of his anecdotal info.

[troyboy162]

Yes, please do share more!! My brother has one of these little guys but he's not that tech savvy. I'd like to see what can be done with them on top of his anecdotal info.

i put this post up to help explain a few things about the gizmo. i admit its a little breief but at least gives a place to elaborate on the use of netbooks
http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.ph...6&topic=5852.0