Anyone bring laptop in car for the ride ?

[stacgirl]

I want to bring my laptop for the ride so my son and I could watch movies.... The problem is....
I bought a plug adapter for the vehicle, it say "dvd on the go" 80 watt continuous / 150 peak...
My adapter for my computer says maxima output power 90 watt.
I dont know if the one I have is strong enough ? I was told I needed a 750 watt but that seems high....


Does anyone have a suggestion ?

I looked on Dell's website and it doesnt say.

Thank you for any help

 

[JTDisney]

I would buy an Ipod Touch for the ride. Yeah, it's $225 but it will bring hours and hours of enjoyment and you will get a ton out of it as well. Music, Movies and a ton of games that are free to a few bucks. Both of our kids have them and they really are amazing. You will also need to purchase the car adapter. I use it almost daily too.

 

[JoeyD]

We bought a portable DVD player. You can find good quality for less than a hundred bucks.

 

[Octoberbabiesrus]

I would check with a local pc shop. Ipod doesnt compare. Its comparing apples to oranges.

 

[JTDisney]

I would check with a local pc shop. Ipod doesnt compare. Its comparing apples to oranges.

True, but the iPod Touch blows away anything on the market for kids. They can play games, watch movies or tv shows and listen to their music all in one unit. It is a computer in every sense of the word and it kills a laptop for in car enjoyment. And if your hotel has wifi, you can surf the internet and check your email (personal or corporate). What is better than that?

 

[BenA81]

just don't do what I did and forget the power cord at home. i realized this 2 hours into our 14 hour trip.

 

[revmom]

We don't travel long distances w/o our portable dvd. This year we may get another one so they can watch their own movies. We have the car kind with two screens attached to the front seats.

 

[creativeamanda]

I'd get a portable DVD player. You can get one for around $80. Bring extra Sd cards for your camera, though. Usually the reason why I take a laptop for a trip is to have some place to put my pictures. This coming trip, I'm going to get 6 2GB Sd cards--one for each day--and put each day in a Ziploc bag.

 

[DisneyGrandParents]

You can purchase a power inverter (WalMart), which will allow you to run other electrical items in the car, or purchase a portable DVD player. As the other poster mentioned, they are relatively inexpensive. It would be about the same cost as an inverter.

I would opt for the DVD player.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

My kids have portable dvd players for in the car, but I like to have my laptop. I spent lots of my ride on DIS, and was able to keep an eye on the weather (you would need the satelite internet thingy, can't remember what it's called, my DH has one for work and I used it). We got the car converter thingy (don't you jsut love my knowledge of this stuff! ) at Walmart for about $35. The smaller ones will burn out, so get one that is made for laptops. It works great!!!

 

[lilrooster]

Black and Decker makes a small converter that plugs into your cigarette lighter. It is one unit, no wire. They can be found in the automotive department at Walmart by the car batteries. I have had one for several years and it does just fine with my laptop. They run about $20.

 

[stacgirl]

Thank all of you for your suggestions. I have my laptop, 2 I Phones, Nintendo DS and a Gameboy Advance. I think we will be fine for the 9 hour trip.

Thanks again
By the way, I leave in 2 days ! ! ! ! !