Can someone help me with Laptop GPS

I have a laptop, dell D600 I want to make it into a GPS unt for when I go on vacation, what do I need and where can I get software for it,
Jon

I use the software from ALK. My father in law uses Microsoft's. They're both good.

In the end, though, it's a pain to use your laptop. You'll be wanting to put your laptop away every time you get out of the car so thieves don't target your car's contents. You'll have to hook up the laptop to a car charger, plug in the gps dongle to the USB port and place it onto the dashboard, with wires dangling around. If you have a passenger in the front they probably won't be happy.

I borrowed my dad's Garmin Nuvi for a trip to NYC and that was such a relief b/c of how simple it is for setup/takedown.

Considering the simplicity of a standalone unit, and that their prices have come down considerably, there's a good argument to be made in favor of going with the dedicated hardware.

I agree with everything above. Using a laptop as a GPS is frustrating.

However I use one for boating and general amusement and for value for money its hard to beat 'Microsoft Street and Trips' that come with the GPS receiver that works better than some of the more expensive units.

I've used both. We used to use a laptop and a Garmin eTrex. I had the Delorme software and it worked great. You could avoid sections of highway if you knew there was road construction or an accident ahead. It was a pain because of the wires, but not too bad.

I now have a Garmin Nuvi and it is great too. It does allow you to reroute, but you cannot specify what section of the trip you want to route around. So, in some ways it is not as complete of a system. But it certainly is easier. It also is more expensive.

If you go the laptop route, you will need an inverter to power your laptop charger on anything except a short trip. We always used a cigarette lighter plug splitter that we could run the laptop charger and the gps charger off of. Garmin has a dual gps cord that allows you to power the gps from the cigarette lighter and plug into the port on the laptop.