In-Car PC

[dodgy]

My take on it would be, why would anyone want a pc in their car in the first place? Surely a laptop would work just as well, or am I missing the point completely?

Bragging rights/showing off. Same reason why these people have blue lights on their wipers and under the car body.

Dave.

 

[Fnaar]

My take on it would be, why would anyone want a pc in their car in the first place? Surely a laptop would work just as well, or am I missing the point completely?

Too obvious... mind you, it'll give blokes a sort of modern alternative to "I'm off to tidy the shed"... "I'm off to de-frag the in-car PC" sounds very 21st Century!

 

[Night Train]

I suppose it is less nickable then a laptop in the car but then if someone nicks your car they would have access to all your documents, passwords, cookies, etc.

I don't need one but I can see it being useful for people who work from their cars (Gadget Show, last week).

The law on phones covers anything that distracts a driver while driving including talking to their passenger, checking a sat nav or map, smoking, eating or drinking, and so on.

 

[CopperBrompton]

The idea of them is to integrate lots of things into one device (PC, GPS, in-car entertainment, etc). Like most such multifunction devices, it isn't especially good at any of them. I'll stick to separate devices.

Ben

 

[zimzum42]

Sat-Navs are far more distracting IMO, people watch them like it's actually their car on a little TV screen or something....

 

[SmileyBoots]

When reviewed on the gadget show, it was mounted on the dash board and the presenter was using it while driving. Sometimes, when not looking at the device or doing his 'piece to camera' he was seen to look at the road.

 

[Keith Oates]

It seems to me that some very strict rules are needed to show where they can be installed and more importantly where they can be seen and operated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rhg]

There's a page on the site that deals with the legal issues:

www.in-carpc.co.uk/legislation

 

[Evilcat]

Completely stupid, IMO. I'm normally a sucker for in-car gadgets but:

- the PC is a generic device, and there is no way the full breadth of functionality is needed

- for useful things like SatNav, dedicated devices are likely to be safer, faster and more usable

- mounting the PC screen in many modern cars will inevitably lead to driver distraction since they'll end up being pretty low down on the console

- I can get exactly the same functionality using my in-built SatNav (better and safer since I have a head-up display), a Bluetooth connection to my phone (with voice dialling) and my PDA when I need to stop and pick up emails

The makers of the video also seem to be living in the 1980s: 4 sales reps in a Rover driving up a down the motorway! Incidentally, there are some cars in the US that have a PC with a Microsoft operating system built in, but these are properly integrated with the vehicle, not clumsy bolt ons.

EC

 

[rhg]

I think the point is that a car pc can do all the normal things like sat nav, but a whole load of other things that can't be done without a PC. Yes, you can use a laptop but have you ever tried using one in a car? It's not very comfortable! I suppose PDAs are ok for email, but their functionality is severely limited. Surely it's much easier just to sit back and dictate an email to an onboard pc than use a PDA.

I don't see how having a PC screen in a car is any more distracting than any other type of screen, be that a separate sat-nav or a factory fitted system. As detailed on the above page, it says you can't do stupid things like surf the internet while the car's moving, so the fact that it's a PC is irrelevant. Are you going to ban all sat-navs? I think sat-navs increase road safety because drivers are less sressed, and they don't have to keep looking down at a map.

You also said sat-navs are going to be faster. Really? I don't know what processors sat-navs use but I'd put my money on an Intel Core 2 Duo chip performing a lot faster! Also the PC has a much bigger screen than portable navigation devices, which makes it safer because it's easier to see, and much more usable too.

Obviously not everyone is going need one, but I can see plenty of uses especially for businesses with sales reps and engineers on the road. By the way, do you know which cars in the US have the Microsoft operating system you talked about? You're not thinking of Ford's 'sync' are you, which is made by Microsoft but is just a glorified phone kit and music player, not a proper PC.

 

[tdr1nka]

The idea of them is to integrate lots of things into one device (PC, GPS, in-car entertainment, etc). Like most such multifunction devices, it isn't especially good at any of them. I'll stick to separate devices.

Ben

Does that still leave you with enough room for luggage and a passenger tho?

 

[Arch]

Sat-Navs are far more distracting IMO, people watch them like it's actually their car on a little TV screen or something....

I had my first experience of a sat nav on holiday and felt it balanced out - I was less stressed about being lost (the alternative was remembering chunks from a map, and I found it harder to remember the French place names than I would have found English ones, maybe that's just a language thing), and therefore concentrating better on the road, but I did feel a compulsion to look at it which was hard to break. In the end I simply incorporated it into my normal eye movements (road, rear view, road, speedo, road, wing mirror, road, sat nav.. etc) but I felt I was getting to be at the limit of how much information I could take in... I certainly don't think I could have added in, for example, a hands free phone call or anything like that (not that I'd do that normally anyway) without something else giving...

 

[Fnaar]

no mac version? pah!

It's PC gone mad!

 

[Evilcat]

I think the point is that a car pc can do all the normal things like sat nav, but a whole load of other things that can't be done without a PC.

My point exactly: you just don't need to do all the other PC-type things in a car, and where there are specific requirements you are usually better off with a dedicated and/or properly integrated device which is faster and safer.

I don't see how having a PC screen in a car is any more distracting than any other type of screen, be that a separate sat-nav or a factory fitted system.

Go take a look at modern cars and then try and work out where you'd put the screen of an additional PC. Even the product video has a few shots of the screen at a very low height which is far more dangerous than being in the line of vision. I couldn't put an additional PC screen in my car: the existing LCD screen is already in the safest and most logical place.

You also said sat-navs are going to be faster. Really? I don't know what processors sat-navs use but I'd put my money on an Intel Core 2 Duo chip performing a lot faster!

Dedicated devices can, by definition, be made faster than a generalised PC device. Having a large screen does not make it safer to use, in fact it creates a bigger distraction in the driver's vision.

You're not thinking of Ford's 'sync' are you, which is made by Microsoft but is just a glorified phone kit and music player, not a proper PC.

Sync is based on Microsoft Auto which is a fork from the Windows Mobile family. It's not a great implementation (and misses out SatNav) but the underlying environment is a proper operating system which can have a decent level of integration with the car, rather than just being bolted on/in.

I can just about see that SatNav is a useful tool for many drivers, particularly when installed properly such that it does not distract or confuse. Providing drivers with a large, additional screen, possibly not at eye level, would seem like a poor choice.

EC

 

[Smeggers]

There's been TV's in excec cars for donkeys - whats the problem?

They dont work when on the move (unless hacked).