http://club.aopen.com.tw/NEWS/News_ShowAnswer.aspx?RecNo=9514



looks kinda cool

Looks cool but nothing really new.

fitting a full pc, with a dvd combo drive, 512meg of ram, a built in gfx card and a 40 hard drive in something that size, that runs from a 12v supply is nothing new ?

Nope, it may be a lot more powerful but its been done before.

More natural progression. There has been one you can fit in your pocket for quite a bit, although it needs a separate DVD drive. It may fit into the cars dash but thats also been bound to happen. Most cars have computers in them anyway so not really novel there.

TBH the only advantage is you dont have a laptop on the seat beside you, except it doesnt have a screen and there are now micro PCs that are appearing that have one. Try using it on the go and the police will be after you.

a full pc running windows xp tho....

I know people have built there own, and theres some small ones you can buy out there... but the size of a car radio ?... thats not much bigger than a normal cd drive !

store films, mp3s sat nav, email.. etc... all at once is pretty handy tbh

No keyboard, screen or mouse!

Vista in your pocket!

http://www.pcw.co.uk/itweek/news/2173081/mini-pc-run-vista

I think what knighty has been trying to say is that this is the first commercial PC, that has been designed to fit straight in a din slot (radio).

The only other in car systems I have seen are bodge jobs sticking a small LCD screen in the dash and hiding the PC and everything else away somewhere.

It also has to be useable though, just because you can do something one way doesnt mean its best. I think you mean custom jobs rather than bodge too, most are professionally fitted. Its easy enough to put a docking station for a laptop somewhere like under one of the front seats, then you can both use it on the go through a dash screen or take it with you.

Then there is the thief problem. Most music centres are relatively easy to remove for them, this would be no different and equally visible.

Until we get cars that drive themselves there are always going to be limits to what you can do with a computer in a car.