Cheapest way to get semi portable media/gps device...

[BliND123]

What would be the cheapest way to have something small enough to have in the car with music, GPS, and web browsing capabilities (preferably wifi)? I think the best thing would be something like an Archos with the GPS addon but that comes out to be like $400 total or something. Any ideas? Would like to have a touchscreen but maybe even a cheap laptop would be good. Are there any laptops that can easily be modded?

 

[abaez]

You can get a netbook and a GPS usb puck for $35 and use that.

Here's mine:

This is the original eee 701, which you can probably pick up for cheap nowadays. Hell I'll sell you mine if you're interested.

 

[shortylickens]

I have an Acer Netbook and a USB GPS unit. Got the netbook for 300 from Staples and the GPS from Amazon for about 30 bucks. Got a car charger and laptop case from Amazon for 20 dollars.

Thats probably the best in car GPS setup you can have. The screen (even a netbook screen) is much bigger than any in-dash system you can buy, you can simply type in stuff to navigate instead of pushing a hundred touch-screen buttons, and if you find a wi-fi hotspot or have cellular service on the laptop you can even Google for stuff to find and addresses.
Been using that for a few weeks now and its great. Much better than the crappy Pioneer car navigator I bought last year.
Right now I have a Motorola Droid and thats even better.

If you do the Laptop I recommend Microsoft Streets and Trips, though I hear Google is soon going to have voice navigation on their web-based map service.