Dual Screen Portable DVD Player - Can I use my laptop as a portable DVD player in my car for a long trip with the kids? Has anyone ever done it?

Can I use my laptop as a portable DVD player in my car for a long trip with the kids? Has anyone ever done it?

Public Comments

Yes you can. But you will have to run it on batteries. So depending on your battery strength, it may only last a couple of hours.
I've done it on my trips to Upstate NY. It keeps the boredum away and all, but I suggest you charge the labtop before you leave since once I forgot to do that and my labtop ran out of power halfway through the trip.
yeah u can just take ur charger and when the batery goes down conect to the lighter place but u have to buy a adapter itz like 15
ya ......got them installed in my van two them in the back seat
I've done it but it really drains your battery so either make sure its completely charged or get a portable plug that can plug into your ashtray so it can be charging while playing
yea, I do not see why not, as long as your kids are trust worthy with it, meaning they would not "mess with it." also as an added bonus, you can get a headphone spliter at RadioShack, so you can use to head phones, off one jack! They are about 3.99. That is if you would not want to here what they are watching.
sure you can, better have a good battery and hope that the resolution is suitable for a good picture quality.
yes you can, and I have done it, but there's always risk of damaging your hard drive if the road is too bumpy
Yes it is possible for you to do this but the power on notebooks nowadays are only good for 4 hours max. It is advicable to get car adapters for your notebook so that the notebook will remain on for the duration of the period of your trip. However I wouldn't advice this as the equipment is too expensive for you to do such an option even though it is possible. Here in Canada there are Portable DVDs for around $100 -- $200 that are specifically used for this purpose. Notebooks that are on and on a ride tends to be bumpy and isn't good for the hard drive that is in the system.
yes, it's actually quite easy. all you need is a converter from radioshak. It's a black box that's about the size of a box cigars. it plugs into your cigarette lighter and changes the direct current that your lighter produces and turns it into atlernating current like a plug in your house. They aren't too expensive and the guys at the store will show you what to do
ya, you can depending on what type and what year your laptop is. I have an apple and it lasts about an hour & 1/2.
Yah, my son does it all the time. He also uses it on the airplane. I don't have a laptop so I don't know how long the battery will last or if you can get some kind of adapter so you can plug the computer into the car's cigarette lighter so you don't have to worry about running out of juice. I think his has headphones, too.
Yes we've used ours a lot for that. You can get a special plug in that goes into your 12 volt (lighter) and just watch where you set it as it gets hot. One way to avoid that is to buy a fan plate that the laptop sits on which runs off a usb port. This is the way we have done it for 4 years until my ex husband bought a new Lariat with a dvd in it and now the kids use that. Hope that helps. Also, the portable DVD players that were $1200 a few years ago are reasonable now, I saw one at walmart today for $150 or so.
I have also used my laptop as a DVD Player. I used a cheap AC converter to keep the battery charged...but quickly discovered that I also needed a set of portable speakers (battery powered) to overcome normal road noise.
yes
You would have to make sure you have a DVD drive on your laptop. If you only have a regular CD drive you probably won't be able to play a DVD. Also there is the problem with the small battery life. My battery only lasts approximately 4 hours. You could purchase an adapter for your power cord to plug in to the cigarette lighter but probably your best solution would be to purchase a portable DVD player. The price has really come down and you can get a 'decent' one for less that $100. Then you don't risk damaging your laptop or draining the battery on your car. Especially if you have my luck and stop to eat and forget to unplug the laptop and it drains your batter! lol Hope this helps!
I have, and it works well. As long as you have the software to do so, it should work just fine. Here are a few things to consider - get some sun blockers (they sell the ones for kids at walmart) because it will block out some of the sun and make the laptop screen easier to see. During the day, it will be kind of hard to see the laptop screen if you don't have the sun blockers. Another thing you might want to consider is to check into whether or not your laptop's maker has a "car kit" like they have for the phones - for battery charging, unless your battery works relatively well. When I used mine for that purpose, we didn't get to watch the whole movie because the battery died, but I think it was because it wasn't fully charged and the battery is getting a little old. Hope this helps. =)
hey if your kids are into Nickolodeon i have a website with lots of Are you afraid of the dark and Kenan & Kel episodes available for download!! =) retrotv.re.funpic.org