I have a 06 Civic EX Sedan, 5MT w/Navi.

We will be doing a road trip very soon. I was wondering if anybody has tried pluging in a headphone output from a laptop into the Aux/mp3 player input? My wife would like to watch afew movies off the lappy as we are going down the boring western part of I-40. The audio thru the car speakers would surely be better than the tiny lappy speakers.

Thanks

psy

 

I usually have my iPod connected via the aux jack but I did have the one occasion when the iPod was powerless and I had to plug my lappy to the aux. I can't see where it would be harmful... unless your watching the movies while driving.

 

Thanks for sharing. I will go buy a patch cord tuesday then and see if it will work for me. Wife will be watching them... I may peek here and there. I dont need her to be my navigator and get us lost. I have this gal in the dash I can snip at.

 

If you didn't have Navigation in your Civic, you could also get "Streets & Trips with GPS" (software from Microsoft) to get maps and directions for under $100. An AC-DC power inverter (around $30) is another good option, it allows you to plug-in your laptop if it runs out of charge.

 

That's exactly what it's there for. I've done it and it works way better than the stupid FM transmitter I had before it.

 

The Accord dosent have navi. Guess it does now.

 

Psyshack, if you get S&T please let us know what you think.

Here you can find a tour of the different features of the program:

http://www.microsoft.com/streets/

I had it for about a week but I haven't used it that much while driving. The advantage of using a Laptop for navigation is that you can take it anywhere and plan your trips ahead of time at home.

The program can also be loaded on a PDA or some cell phones but you'll need to get GPS hardware. The GPS hardware that comes with the program is intended for laptops and connects to a USB port.

For long trips I normally get a Triptik from CAA (Canadian AAA) but this program seems like a better option.

 

Ive had S&T for sometime now. I really dont like it. Its a typical Mickysoft program. I much prefer the OEM Navi in the Civic over S&T. I like google earth alot. Will use it over S&T on the laptop in the Accord.

 

For us Canadians Navi is not an option in the Civics. Personally I don't need Navigation for every day driving, I only need it for vacations maybe once or twice per year, a software option for my laptop seems like a good option.
In my case I cann't justify spending thousands of dollars for a rarely used option and it doesn't matter if it is made by "Mickysoft" as long as it works in Windows .

PS. Doesn't Google Earth need a connection to the Internet ?

 

For the audio hookup, I suggest using the line out rather than the heaphone out on your computer, so that you don't overdrive the line input on your car stereo.

And what's this about the western part of I-40 being boring? I live on that part - but you're right, it is pretty boring :-) Have a good trip.