[Rookie McRookerson]

I'm starting CDL class on Monday. I am pre-hired and hope to move directly from school to work. I have been reading all the information I can find on the forum about laptops, GPS, CB's, TV/DVD combos, satellite radio, etc. I have seen some photos of the interior of some cabs. I must say, they were a mess with all the wires and cables running from the components to the powers source (lighter adapters), GPS antenna, satellite antenna, CB wires, and so on.

I have to have a laptop with me so I can pay bills electronically from the road. So, I'm thinking of combining a laptop with a GPS software program (like Microsoft Street & Trips), a TV tuner and DVD player built into the laptop. That would save a lot of messy wires/cables being strung around the cab. It would also open up storage where the TV would normally sit.

I'm thinking of getting a laptop mount with articulating arms so I can swing and extend it toward the sleeper for watching TV and movies during downtime.

It just seems like it would be a much cleaner way of getting all the features I want. The amount I will spend is about the same as buying everything separately.

Before I go out and spend real money on the hypothetical system, I thought I would post my idea here and get some feedback from the subject matter experts (that would be you!).

[Uturn2001]

One thing to keep in mind is that with many companies, any "modifications" you do to the truck has to be completely removable/reversible when you vacate the truck. Also most companies limit the type of mods that can be done on a company truck.

[Malaki86]

I had my laptop set up great in the truck - you had to look to find the wires. It took me about 1hr to remove everything when I left Celadon. Now the fun part is getting it arranged into another truck. I think I will need to go with a standard laptop mount in this truck (Volvo 660) now.

You can see pics of my setup - do a search for 'finished my gps setup' in this forum.