i miss my carputer //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gifcomputer in the car up and running like always. New music added on a weekly basis. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif
the price seemed reasonable to me, given that it is a miniitx board.For not including a screen, that seems a bit pricey.
The cheapest way to go is to just use a MicroATX motherboard and just build a computer off of it, http://www.newegg.com is the way to go. It is much easier to get more power with less money going this way, however the tradeoff is obviously the form factor. That motherboard is only 17cm square and comes already installed in a neat little case with all the other stuff. The cheaper route will have much larger components, and will most likely require custom fabrication.
I'm a big fan of doing things yourself, and a CarPC has always been a project, not just something you buy and install like a head unit or something. Do you want to put in work, or spend a bit more and get something that's pretty much ready to go? It's up to you.
usually size is an important factor for most people. But the major issue is power consumption. The beefier you get the more power you'll need. Its not a bad price for a "prefab". but i did speak with him through pms, i asked i ftime was a factor, he said no. so he is probally going to take the time to buy the parts separately by shopping around.These are the items/prices included, listed at the bottom.
1 of VoomPC-2 CarPC Enclosure ($118.99 value!)
1 of Major Brand 120GB 2.5" SATA Hard Drive ($74.99 value!)
1 of 1GB DDR2 DIMM PC2-4200 RAM ($47.64 value!)
1 of VIA C7 2.0GHz Processor Mini-ITX Express Motherboard J7F2WE2G ($194.95 value!)
1 of Panasonic Slot Load CW-8124 DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive 24x24x24 ($68.00 value!)
1 of M2-ATX 160W Intelligent DC-DC PSU ($89.94 value!)
$120 for a case? Seriously...that's a TON of money for a computer case, small or not. You could fiberglass your own custom case for less than that.
$75 for a 120Gb HDD? Sure it's a laptop drive, but I paid $45 for my 250Gb desktop drive. The slight size decrease isn't worth the price IMO.
RAM I guess is alright, if you used a regular mobo instead of that miniITX one you could buy RAM considerably faster for less.
$200 for the motherboard is pretty good. Decently powerful and tiny as hell.
$70 for a CD burner? That's really expensive.
DC PSUs are expensive anywhere, but it's a necessary expense, so no complaints there.
meh $80 was cheaper than the retail price for the same drive of $194!! I got lucky on the find //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/santa.gif.e1ec9cf2e0a0dd232ad35aa594a126d0.gifyeah usually I don't like the looks of regular drives in cars. It can be done, but in the dashboard area where most people put them, it just doesn't look right. If you mount them on your actual case and put it somewhere other than the dash, I don't think it really matters though.
I still think he could do better than $80 for a slot-load cd burner