I have my 7" touchscreen mounted to my sun visor. The laptop is mounted on a shelf at the foot of the bed. I run CoPilot Truck mainly, with backup info coming from MS Streets and Google Maps (plus the MCRA and directions to the shipper/receiver, of course). I also have an addon keyboard/touchpad in the front. I use that mainly for Drivers Daily Log.

Pics:
http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/2904/cimg0978lp7.jpg - touchscreen monitor
http://img287.imageshack.us/img287/126/cimg0970hu5.jpg - laptop on shelf

I need to take new pics - I built a custom stand that has "U" shaped legs that extend under the mattress to hold the stand in place.

 

The computer repair shop told me that using your laptop while moving it around (even though its portable) can damage the hard drive.
I just found this out when they repaired one of my computers a few weeks ago. Seems the arm that scans th HD was jostled while it was running and it shorted out.
Seems like BS to me,...anyone heard of this??
It was a warranty thing so N/C to me but it got me thinking.

 

How new is your laptop?

Older laptops were designed to work when stationary. Moving them while on was (and is) a no-no.

Newer ones are better at preventing damage--especially ones that are designed to be on and jostled about. I have a 3-yr old IBM ThinkPad. I can basically drop it while it is running and it will be fine. Of course I have never drop-tested my noteback to see if the marketing hype actually works as advertised! :lol:

 

Yes something as small as a dust partical can crash a hd.The head doesn't really touch the platter,it reads the magneticaly charged valleys and pits on the platter..If it is moved when it going 7200 rpms that's one hellva stoppage in movement..you will hear that grind and crash....oops

 

I use Delorme with my Dell that I bought in 2003 with all the RAM it could hold. It is still going strong. Delorme is an awesome program.

 

The unit is an ACER and runs XP, it was only 6 months old, and the hard drive sounded like a hard clicking on start up and error message "can not find operating system"
I guess I should have purchased a better unit,...more durable anyway.
Imagine my surprise,......."Your portable computer isn't really portable, you have to shut it off to move it, or the hard drive can become damaged"
I'm thinking to myself,.....why not just get a cheap desktop instead of a laptop,.......but I love the small computers.

 

Wally world has wood tv dinner tables for fifteen dollars, leave the legs collapsed and strap them to the passenger seat. this puts the table just right of the shifter low enough that it does not block the mirrors. when not using it fits behind the seat or you can eat dinner. Wally world has velcro in the fabric department for securing the lt to the table.

 

In the past, Acer hasn't been known for quality computers. Sounds like you bought yours used...was it refurbished from a store or did you buy it from someone at the local flea market?

FYI for the future...you can get a good deal on a used, refurbished notebook (laptop) computer from various manufacturers. Make sure it is designed to withstand bumps and jarring--especially if you're running it while moving on down the road. As mentioned earlier in my post, the IBM T41 Thinkpad that I have is a durable unit (mine is around 3-yrs old). Panasonic makes a Toughbook model (though I'm not familiar with it).

 

It was new leftover unit that was at a computer shop,...but it was only $799 and had a 80 gig hard drive, and a 15" screen.
It works fine now, and I have a Nuvi 660 gps that won't break while moving.

 

Is the co-pilot GPS program as good as they claim.