I'm planning on a carputer for both of my cars and so far have gotten the touchscreen and have been playing around with Roadrunner just to get a feel for it.

I am still unsure about what to do about the computer.

I live in northern VT where temps can be pretty extreme so I will definitely be using an automotive HD, probably from Toshiba.

The other consideration is size, but the cost of mini-itx vs micro-atx is significant.

But, my biggest concern is my battery.

Say my wife is in Macy's and there's no Best Buy or any other male friendly store in the area and I decide to wait in the car and want to watch a movie from the computer.

If I use a computer with a std desktop (approx 65W CPU), what could I expect from my battery for something like this?

If I spend the extra bucks to go low power or even mobile (cut the CPU consumption in half), would I expect the same reduction in draw on my battery?

 

i think if you keep your car running every now and then your bettery is find but gass while you waiting. i think when your running is also charge your bettery. but see what other have to says. how much you willing to spent on your pc? i build mine for 400 bucks with intel 2.2 dou core. 2gb ram 200hd build in video card and build in HD sound card.

 

Since I am looking at building 2 systems, $400 is probably in the right range.

I am leaning toward AMD since they seem to make the lower powered CPU's for much less cost.

With global warming, idling your car is quickly going to become illegal. In some towns up here, you can already be ticketed.

I've been building PC's for a long time, but never had to look at power consumption before. My current PC can heat my room with the amount of dasd and processors I have.