WB, this is a copy/paste from a similar thread I just replied to:
I've had a laptop mounted in the 80 for several years now. I started with a Jotto mount, and have been very pleased with it. The only change I made in mounting was to use heavier screws thru the hump and a few dabs of loctite. I ran a Compaq R3000 15.4 until recently.
I've found, through experience, that trying to spy a cursor to click away at a GPS program on the fly was ridiculous. I started to pine away for a touch screen setup. Actually my wish list included a few fundamentals.
* Touch screen
* Daylight readable screen!!
* Relatively antiglare, non-transmissive
* Approx. 500 nit.
* Bluetooth
* Wireless
* Semi-rugged
Originally I thought I'd get a Mac Mini, and a touch screen, as mentioned earlier. I was going to build a box for the Mini, and throw the screen on my Jotto. Would have been nice as far as app sharing etc with my iMac 24 I have running at home. Stay tuned though .. I might just get Leopard up and running in the new laptop ...
Ah, yes the new LT. Lost my mind a got a new Toughbook CF74. A tad heavier, but not as much as the CF30. It satisfies my criteria, and the bright touch screen is a great boost in safety.
As far as software goes, I've usually got two programs running. MS Streets and Trips, and Garmins Mapsource (for topo in Canada). I am making initial inquiries right now into Sygic Driver. They currently lack a North American distributor but the product looks very promising. I'll keep you posted on that...
Cheers,
TY
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This might be a tad overkill for you. If it's all about the 80 and GPS, go cheap serial GPS and beatup old toughbook (or any LT for that matter). I'd stick below 15" for room sake, but mount it on a Jotto universal mount. Good bang for the buck! For years I used a Delorme Tripmate serial GPS. That crazy old thing booted up insanely fast, and never let me down once. Probably find one on EBay for 12 cents
If you can get bluetooth in the LT, go for it. My Pharos BT GPS is nice .. came bundled with MS S&T's 2007.