BU-353 GPS Receiver and Inspiron 1525
Before I go into my recent laptop upgrade, here are reviews of the BU-353 GPS receiver and Microsoft Streets and Trips, both of which I’m using on this laptop mod:
http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/microsoft-streets-trips/2380-review-microsoft-streets-trips.html
http://www.laptopgpsworld.com/laptop-gps-hardware/2599-globalsat-bu-353-usb-gps-receiver.html
Now I’m going to jump right in: I permanately mounted my BU-353 GPS receiver to my Inspiron 1525 by drilling a small 1/4″ hole into the rear of the laptop near the CPU exhaust port. I soldered the GPS receiver onto a (previoulsy broken) USB port and finished it off by sealing the port with GE Silicone II Kitchen and Bath clear silicone. The crappy pictures from my Blackberry don’t do the mod justice, but you get the idea.
I’m using Microsoft Streets and Trips 2010 for GPS tracking. This GPS works great outdoors and very well indoors. Satellite acquisition time is within 3 seconds from a cold boot. Laptop battery life has not been affected when in standby mode or while running on battery while not utilizing the GPS receiver. I plan to add an on/off slider switch at some point in the future.
One final note. I had problems with the receiver being detected in streets and trips. I had to change the port speed to 4800 from the default 9600.
John, this is very practical, since you don’t have to remember to bring the USB GPS with you – it is always with you.
Some laptops do have a built-in GPS receiver, but they seldom perform as well as one mounted externally.
I do like your solution, and I may one do the same mod to my HP tx2000.
Marvin said this on March 7th, 2010 at 08:57