Netbooks mounted in car

[Russ WA Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Russ WA]

I noticed the net books are getting cheaper and more powerful.
A solid-state net book is only about $400 and will run whatever you want to throw at it.
The problem is how to mount it and make it attractive and practical.
I have seen the floor mounts with the RAM mounts.Works well but what is another solution?


Ideas ???
Cheers Russ

[Bazza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bazza]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

G'day,
Not trying to be a smartarse, but I have a serious problem with the increasing amount of electronic gear being used/mounted in their 4wd's. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was involved in a "sandwich hit" ( hit from behind and pushed into the vehicle ahead ) on the way to a weekend away. It did'nt seem like a big hit, but it was enough to dislodge their small nav. laptop from it's mounting, bounce of the windscreen, and smack his wfe in the right eye. She has now lost 75% sight in that eye, but she came very close to losing the eye.
My point it this .... we used to install cargo barriers to stop gear becoming misiles, but now we more "stuff" in the front, most of which is not very well secured.

Something to think about ... rant finished.

Regards,
Barry.

[goanna Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close goanna]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

All NSW Police General Duties cars including there Pajeros etc are now having Panasonic Toughbooks installed for the passenger to use to access there stuff. Not sure of the mounts, ill try and find out as my Brother installs them out in the country. Being police issue and the safety side of things im sure they are pretty strong.

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

I wonder how the NSW Police are getting around the ADRs ( Australian Design Rules ) ?
These are some pretty tough standards which make it very hard to mount notebooks in a vehicle.
For example they are not allowed to interfere with airbag deployment in any way, and it must be outside of a radius arc where driver or passenger's heads can come in contact.

[jarrah7rally Member Find all posts View Profile Close jarrah7rally]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

Hey Russ,

Have a bit of info/experience in this matter - call it work related knowledge.

WAPOL use custom made brackets to mount the data screen in front of the air conditioning ducts & unless I am wrong they remove the standard AM/FM radio to allow access to suitable tie down points.

Key boards are tied down so they can only be used by the person sitting in the silly seat (aka the front passenger)

Mounting is made so it doesn't effect airbag deployment

Part of ADR's do state that any on-board DVD or computer apart from auto route units can't be used by the driver whilst driving, fair enough I say for the obvious reasons like safety.

One thing I wouldn't do is expect a glass mount to support & hold a 2 or 3 kg laptop as per the picture you have shown, I unsuccessfully tried to mount a 7 inch screen in this fashion and it was a dismal failure.

So on that basis I am leaning towards the inbuilt dig_options so that way everything I need is securely mounted.

Cheers

Jarrah7

[Crisp Image Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crisp Image]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

With the change in VIC road laws a driver is not allows to see a VDU from the driving position and GPS (Tom Tom Type) should be mounted on the right hand side of the dash which is a problem to get power to them. For me I have mine mounted on the left of driver below the level of the windscreen. The netbook will just have to be hand held
Regards
Crisp Image

[Strahan Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Strahan]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

Telstra Bigpond Hiace vans have laptops mounted on the flodup middle seat, in the storage bin. Not sure if they can be used while the vehicle is in motion. Can definately be seen by the driver though as there is only one person in the van.

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

With the change in VIC road laws a driver is not allows to see a VDU from the driving position and GPS (Tom Tom Type) should be mounted on the right hand side of the dash which is a problem to get power to them.
Regards
Crisp Image

How then does the Prado rear view camera and GPS in the Kakadu (mounted in the center and visible to the driver) fit with these rules. Or do they need to be removed when we cross the border to Vic?

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

... and GPS (Tom Tom Type) should be mounted on the right hand side of the dash which is a problem to get power to them.

I also feel this rule is not optimal for visibility. I've tried that position, and felt my peripheral vision was significantly reduced when flicking my eyes to the right-hand side, compared with having it mounted centre of windscreen. Looking toward the centre also has the benefit of capturing a snippet of the rear-vision mirror.

LFaR.

[Crisp Image Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crisp Image]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

With the change in VIC road laws a driver is not allows to see a VDU from the driving position and GPS (Tom Tom Type) should be mounted on the right hand side of the dash which is a problem to get power to them.
Regards
Crisp Image

How then does the Prado rear view camera and GPS in the Kakadu (mounted in the center and visible to the driver) fit with these rules. Or do they need to be removed when we cross the border to Vic?

More than likely OEM euipment does not fall into these rules. Only aftermarket addons. I dont have the OEM one so I try to obey the rules as best as practicable. I do not think that mounting a GPS on the windscreen up near the mirror or up high on the RHS is very good as that would restrict the view of the driver.
This is my opinion and not that of anyone else. Unless of course someone else thinks the same.
Regards
Crisp Image

[FlyNdrive Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close FlyNdrive]

Re: Netbooks mounted in car

I know my situation is different because of the placement of the air bags but here is my setup with a touch screen tablet PC.