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Carputer.....Well,notebook

So where are the best deals to be had on one of the 'pooters then?

Hate to even think about buying a PC into my Mac household, but I s'pose it could stay in the car and never come into the house.

Tesco have one at £150. There are many on Amazon etc at slightly less but I have some Tesco vouchers. Are they all pretty much of a muchness? All I'd really want to do is get memory map on there and a GPS pinger. Not just for laning but general navigation and 'stuff' when I am out an about. Don't really need any other function. Maybe basic word pro capability for making notes, but other than that...

What's the perceived wisdom on this at the minute.

Chris
 
I think the thing to watch out for is whether the laptop is powerful enough to run the MM software. Most modern laptops should be fine but some of the 'netbooks' (small profile laptops with less powerful processors) might not be up to it as they are primarily designed for browsing the internet and lightweight applications. I suggest you go with hardware that has been tried and tested by others if you go for the lightweight machines.

I had a problem with my Acer Revo in Spain. I was running Garmin's nRoute with Spanish maps on the Acer. The problem was that there was a lag of as long as 15 minutes between my actual position (where I actually was) and where the GPS/Acer showed me to be. How did I notice this? Well, I would be going round a bend (and believe me it did nearly drive me there!!!) while the software would still be showing be driving along a straight stretch of road. Also when I stopped drving, the software would show me as still moving. I need to investigate this further but I suspect that it boils down to processing power. I will report back on this when I get a chance to investigate it.

cheers
 
As you know chris, Im not up on these things at all.

I brought mine off paul humphreys second hand :thumbup:

Paul had uprated the gubins inside.

I would ask him as i think he knows his stuff.

Memor maps works great and is fast on mine :thumbup:
 
Thanks Carl - but that's double what I intend to spend. This is just a sort of toy really. No way I'd spend that on a Bill Gates product.

But thank for the linky.

Chris
 
I got the ex a acer netbook for christmas. 180 squid and it was great for what she needed.

I paid 130 i think second hand but it was uprated and paul put m/m on for me :thumbup:

Im well happy with it.

Maybe flebay would be a good place chris.

Would have thought if you can buy one for 180 new then surely secondhand around the 80/100 squid mark :think:
 
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Sorry guys, I should have been clearer with my question. I am a perfectly capable internet shopper; Google is my middle name but I kinda need to know what to get re-spec and what to avoid on one of these things. Reinhard seems to have had problems running his mapping. Should a standard (cheap) netbook be up to this? Tesco have an entry model at £150 - new.

Chris
 
I am running the same basic system as Tony in Lil Blue Chris & the spec seems well able to handle the mapping - Linky dinky

I don't know if this will assist you in specc'ing up a laptop or not...

Cheers
 
I think the processor is a Intel Atom 330. The only issue I have from a performance perspective, is that I am unable to record any decent quality video with the webcam I installed. This is due to the processor spec. So if this is important to you Chris then look for something a bit better than the Atom.

As far as price is concerned I think you will struggle to get this solution with a touch screen in your budget. I would look for a 13" laptop on ebay....
 
Have you got a link or the spec for the Tesco machine Chris? The processor is only part of the spec, chipset and memory details can be just as important so you have to consider the whole spec to get an idea of suitability. Surely you have an ipad being such a mac fan, can't you use that? :)
 
@Tony - touch screen? Is that necessary? What's that for? I just want a simple plotting screen that says 'you are here, going this way'

@Jon, Yes, I am a Mac fan, but I am not so blind as to realise that I have no use at all for an ipad. We have 3 Macs in our house and I have had a play with my BIL's ipad and I still have no idea what they are for. Just found it infuriating.

How do you get round the lack of CD drive on these piddly machines? Do you have to buy an external drive then or can you slip it all on there using a USB stick or summat?

Chris

Tesco machines is:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.211-2739.aspx

Actually having read the reviews, it comes out sounding pretty good. Not rushing in, but no one really had anything bad to say about it. Suely it can run some mapping. How much processing does that actually need?
 
A touch screen makes it easier to use when you are trying to move the map around etc especially when you are driving....it is necessary no not really, bit of toy for the sake of it. As I use the computer to play music, sat nav, MM I find it much easier to use a touch screen and not rely on a keyboard and mouse... but then for me it's also a bit of a IT thing..

Also I would have need a screen of some sort to connect to the computer, so for a few bob more I got a touch screen, a different decision if you are using a laptop.

The spec on that laptop is pretty basic, but I recon it should be able to run MM, but can't be sure. It's only a single core Atom N450, so not cutting edge.
 
Looks ok Chris, bit short of memory with only having 1GB so it may chug a bit from time to time if you're manipulating the map but just cruising along in show me where I am mode it should be fine. Touch screen is handly for messing with it on the move which of course we never do :whistle:
 
Ok boys, that's pretty helpful. I'll look around based on perhaps a slightly higher RAM then.

And CD drive issues? I don't have one of those, but I have a large hard drive or two that I could copy a CD to from my Mac. Then run that onto the NB. Or just buy an off board drive. All starts to add up doesn't it.


Chris
 
What's a CD drive, do people still have those? :mrgreen: I've got by just fine with a memory stick for 10 years and not needed to plug a DVD drive in :)
 
I need to be able to get maps etc off a CD onto the stick. Happy with that, but some discs are not Mac compatible. Obviously it's the disc's fault. Generally as long as I don't have to try and read the software, a Mac will generally copy any disc.

Still shuddering about buying a PC (thinking, slightly about the possible prospect of MAYBE buying a pc, that is)

Chris
 
Chris said:
I need to be able to get maps etc off a CD onto the stick. Happy with that, but some discs are not Mac compatible. Obviously it's the disc's fault. Generally as long as I don't have to try and read the software, a Mac will generally copy any disc.

Still shuddering about buying a PC (thinking, slightly about the possible prospect of MAYBE buying a pc, that is)

Chris
Click to expand...

USB CD/DVD drives are cheap, the only thing you need to watch out for are the ones powered by the USB port generally need 2 usb ports... or an external psu.

If you really are not keen on a PC... you can of course get a Memory Map app for the iClone and iPose.....
http://www.memory-map.co.uk/iphone/

Seems like a good excuse to get a iPad :whistle:
 
I put the entire Memory map program (instalation files, and ALL the uk maps) onto an 8gig SD card then installed it onto the netbook ... works sweet and it's suprisingly quick
 
Cheers Carl. Nice one.


Chris
 
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