Doubt this has been discussed before

[imported_waldo]

Ok, here is a question that I haven't been able to answer. I am trying to devise a mount for the ceiling of a van, for a laptop. It is for my brother. He wants to be able to install the laptop and pull it out fairly easily, and on long road trips the kids can watch movies or whatever. The tough part is the installaition of the laptop. Can't find any mounts or whatever that would work. And, we are thinking a widescreen monitor, was thinking that a 14in widescreen would work (the screen can't be more than 10in tall, because it will obstruct the rear view mirror), but may have to go with a 12 in widescreen or something. Any thougts? Best ways to integrate the audio?

We were thinking that if we put an fm modulator swithc in the hardwiring we would get the sound that way, and we could run a power cord of the ignition key. (we realize the conversion of AC/DC)

I was thinking it may be good to mount a docking station, becuase then all the wires are "permanently" connected, and you just have to mount the laptop. But no ideas as to how to mount the laptop. Can't find any products out there, so we are thinking of constructing our own.

Any thoughts? Post em all..even if you think it is just silly!

 

[imported_waldo]

Anyone?

 

[shoRunner]

well as far as the audio, some aftermarket headunits have auxillary inputs that allow a 2.5mm jack and you could just connect that to the headphone jack on the laptop.

 

[P0ldy]

Sounds like a contestant for ask slashdot. You might get more interesting feedback from people who've tried similar things.

 

[akugami]

This sounds like a job for the folks at Hackaday. http://www.hackaday.com/

 

[Nomada]

I don't know but be sure to mount it securely because that is one deadly projectile in an instant.

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, If the laptop uses an ac to 12 volt dc adaptor you don't have to convert the auto dc to ac and then back to dc. Just find a cord that will plug into the laptop and wire it to the auto 12v. Make sure you get the polarity right. Hope this helps, Jim

 

[imported_waldo]

THanks for the thoughts...maybe I will ask at Hackaday...where would I ask at Slashdot?

 

[RollWave]

why would you put the laptop on the ceiling, then you wouldnt be able to access the keyboard or mouse or anything, right?

 

[Biggerhammer]

Could he mount the laptop on a center console somewhere and run a monitor extension cable to the LCD that permanently lives on the ceiling?

 

[IGBT]

..I saw some kind of overhead mount at costco..not shure if you can load a laptop on it. It was for a moble vid.screen of some sort. But who ever makes that thing may make something that will work for you.

 

[imported_waldo]

You don't need the keyboard, mouse and what not while in the car if you are just using it as a entertainment center....infrared remote will solve all of those problems. The idea of mounting it, is also that you can take it out of the car, and use it as a laptop later.

I have been looking at other mounts, but haven't found anything great.

If the laptop were on the center console and the screen was permanent, then it would be pointless, and really should just install a normal lcd with a dvd player.