Watching DVD's on a laptop in the car

[Ellester]

My dh has just gotten a new laptop and we are thinking we will use it in the car for the kids to watch DVD's on long car trips (upgrading to a 15" screen from a 7" screen). For any of you that do this, how do you secure the computer in the car/van? I've looked at cases online but none seem to offer the same kind of hanging/securing ability that our little case for our DVD player does. We'll have two kids in the middle seats in the van and one in the way back, so there's no real way to put it on a seat. Any suggestions?

 

[Kellyscrapbooks]

When we use ours in the car, we simply put it between the kids on the car seat. I'm not quite sure how you would secure it otherwise. Would it fit in the dvd holder that you have?

 

[winjos]

We have an organizer for the back of the chair that folds down so that the kids can use it as a writing board. My DH jerry-rigs (spelling?) the organizer between the two front seats so that it is in the middle of the back seat (ties it to both front seat headrests). We place the DVD player on it and both kids can see it. Not sure if it will support the weight of the laptop, but I'd give it a try.

Purchased the organizer at Target or Walmart.

Good Luck!

 

[mrsltg]

I understand the concern -you don't want the laptop to become a projectile. I would either skip it entirely or use the dvd player you already have with the restraints.

 

[estherhead]

on long trips. We just put it on a kids lap or on the seat between them. We've never had any problems.

 

[Ellester]

I'll look into the travel desk, that just might be the ticket. On the seat or lap won't work because we have three kids, so one would be left out. With carseats, they can't all three sit in the very back of the van comfortably. At least one of them has to sit in a captain's chair in the middle. The DVD player bag we have now is half the size of the laptop, so that won't work. Thanks for the suggestions! Keep them coming!

 

[stczt]

When we did the laptop the monkey in the middle got stuck holding it. Now they all 3 have there own dvd player so the each hold thier own.

 

[bedgraynexl]

In our van we had the kids sit in the back row, folded the middle seats and secured it on top with some bungy type cords. It seemed to work pretty well, but of course I never had to make a sudden stop.

 

[princesspwrhr]

What kind of van & laptop do you have? We have an Odyssey and what we do is put up the center tray for the front seats, open the laptop and using flat straps stratigically located by computer guru dh fasten the laptop to the tray. Then we put down the front arm rests and the display screen is 'snug' but not forced. We've also set it up on top of the cooler between the two middle rows of seats but now that the little ones are bigger they can reach and kick it if it's too close.

Now - the CD/DVD drive on my laptop loads from the front so this is easy. Attaching it this way also allows us to plug in the power cord in the back and hook it to the APC converter so we can plug it into the outlet in the van and not run down the battery. We also connect the wireless mouse and give it to our oldest in the backseat so she can start the movie and handle the controls.