I think the perfect complement for our car just arrived.



Its the smallest Windows XP PC today by Sony.
This VAIO U is released in Japan yesterday.
I dont know when will it hit the states.

Price is bout $1600, I think thats almost equivalent to any good navi setup in your car. Not to mention the screen is touch screen, perfectly navigatable without keyboard.



Now all we need is a mount on the car and it will run your ODB scan tools, games, GPS mapping, MP3 playing, etc... like any normal laptop.
Except its almost half the size.




What you think?
By looking at Sony japan site, there is no mention of a car adaptor... but looking at the jack it uses a similar input as any other VAIO, so maybe if there are existing car power adaptors for VAIO it could be used to power this.

 

This would be awesome as an aftermarket navigation. I would consider something like this.

 

I don't think it would be as integrated as the stock Nav. However, with so many "naked" WiFi networks, if it has WiFi, one could war drive and get maps off of mapquest. It could be promising. I guess no worse than any other carputer.

 

try to use that when you're driving!

 

It probably won't hit the states for a year or two.
BTW, the VAIO is highly overrated.

 

Windows OS. No thanks. I bought my RX-8 to have fun.

 

Hey now. Some of us make decent money keeping windows networks up and running.

Oh, I guess I see your point. :p

 

wow
see it on ebay in a yr or so

 

I dont think it will be that long, it should be at most 6 months before SonyStyle USA have it on sale.

I still think the potential is there.
Its touch screen first of all, just about the right size for the dashboard.

For Naviation, 1500 dollars is a pretty decent price, considering how much other navigation system costs... which btw only works if you live in Japan, Europe or USA... the rest of us, need third party systems like this. Id be happy just to be able to display a high resolution scrollable map of my city on this.

Theres a CF slot above which you can use for Modem, or TV tuner. Inexpensive internet in your car right? The driver doesnt have to use it, you can get your girlfriend check out the nearest restaurants, locations, etc... how convenient is that?
Of course, EMAILs, ICQ heheh...

Entertainment... add a DVD player, MP3, WMA, anything you can think of, you can use iTunes for music on the fly even.
Internet radio.

For checkups, connects to your ODB CAN softwares, display your custom meters on it, check your car status, timings, etc.
How much does that Mazda Speed meters cost? You tell me this is expensive.

Can you suggest a better replacement that could do all that?
Will it fit on that dashboard?

I think if you are willing look past the old gripes with Windows being crashy (mostly due to improper use too.) or VAIOs are expensive, I think you will find the potential for this machine.
XP is not that crashy and at $1500 (I think $1200 for the low end Celeron 900 model) is not that expensive.

 

Bluetooth GPS reciever = moving map with no wires. Naked Wi-Fi's are for downloading certain pictures.

 

wonder how you could id buy it i feel like watching movies in my car i need **** :D

 

Ok....

How big is the screen? If it's less than 6.5" then it's too small. Average carputer uses a 7" or 8" LCD.

You do know that you can build a complete carputer for about $600... right?

You do know that Sony Vaio mobile products break easily and quickly... worse than a Walkman. Even Sony lovers here in Japan, readily admit that.

Power... cigarette lighter options are pretty messy...

What optical drive? By the looks of it, all such things are external.

There are 1DIN-sized PCs... I find that using one of those in maybe the stock nav location, in the pass through or where the BOse amp goes if you have a non-Bose ride.

 

good info japan 8 yah everybody knows alienware and vaios are waaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated!