In truck laptop

I need to get organized with my sales territory. 

I got a laptop to run excel and outlook on the road so i can take notes, fill out orders, schedule stops, and do cold call research. 

What do i need to know about mounts and charging? I have a mount designed in my head that fits the truck and can be made with crap i got laying around. However, it would be a very rigid mount.  And i hate propping one on the steering wheel to use it.

Its a regular cab long bed 2500 on 10 ply tires, so its rough and cramped. 

My go to for things like that is Zips/AWDirect.

I'm the old guy - paper, pen, portfolio but I encourage the young guys to get set up to work remote.  

My Silverado has wi-fi I pay $15/month and a 110 volt receptacle inside the cab.  I would find a cop car style laptop holder - you want it to look nice when customers get in and it needs to be easily removed when staying in hotels in Detroit.  
 

I've spent a lot of time with a laptop opened in a car. Be mindful of laptop size. A 14" screen laptop is about as big as you'll want.  For me, I just use it on my lap or on center console. 

Being a major brand truck, there must be a cop car mount made for it.  Nonack probably has an answer for you. 

Other passenger seat organizers

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Set your phone/handset to act as a wifi hotspot which will then deliver internet to the laptop. But, you probably can talk and surf at the same time. Test that to verify. 

You'll want something compact and low-powered, a Chromebook might work. Make sure it has an SSD rather than a HDD for vibration-resistance. You can set up the inverter-adapter Rube Goldberg machine to get power, but a DC-DC cig. socket power supply would be the best option, much more efficient and less bulky. Some newer Lenovos can run from USB-C power like a modern phone (like my big-money X1 Carbon work laptop...I didn't pay for it!)

I'd also recommend setting up full-disk encryption since it will be particularly vulnerable to theft.

Ram Mounts are the ones we use for  police, fire and industry. Most of them have dual mounting feet that use the front seat bolts on the passenger seat. Very rugged, with plenty of config options.

rammount.com

I just use a thin cheap Asus when I travel - its been pretty good.  Gets 8 hrs on battery still (somehow, after 5 years).  All the keys work.  Screen works.  Wifi is good and can be decent to type with.

When I need to send something long and I am on the road I pull over and either sit on the tailgate, inside at a rest stop or McDonalds, or the passenger seat.  I like a change in scenery when I can afford it.  

Thanks for the thought so far!

Im running a Lenovo thinkbook. So that part is a fixed target. 

Looking at the premade stuff,  im not seeing much for a 2020 ram regular cab. Regardless, this investment is out of pocket so budget is a significant concern. 

I mainly need to check spreadsheets and orders on the fly, and input things in parking lots before leaving. 

I like the thought of a cigarette lighter power supply. I tried my usb-c phone charger and the laptop got angry. Suggestion for a dedicated device?

Thanks yall. Ill figure out how to be an organized and successful salesman if it kills me....

Don't stress out too much.  One of my coworkers retired after 40+ years and he was a successful sales person but terrible with technology.  He knew when to ask for help.  

Nice thing is sales is like farming - it takes time so plan out the king game.  

Dusterbd13-michael said:

I like the thought of a cigarette lighter power supply. I tried my usb-c phone charger and the laptop got angry. Suggestion for a dedicated device?

You'll need a charger with ultra-high-speed charging capability to power a laptop, something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Samsung-MacBook-Cigarette-Lighter/dp/B09QM3SPM1/

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Thanks for the thought so far!

 

I like the thought of a cigarette lighter power supply. I tried my usb-c phone charger and the laptop got angry. Suggestion for a dedicated device?

Doesn't that truck have a 120 vac outlet in the cab? 

In reply to APEowner :

Not that I have seen.  Its a stripper work truck.  Where would it be?

I used one of these for years.

The 'pad' on the top keeps the laptop from slipping. It sits on the passenger seat and you run the seatbelt through the slot to hold it in place. Mine doesn't have the file holder on the desk top portion and it also has a shelf that slides out from under the desk top which is really handy.  They may still make them in different styles. Auto Desk, can be found on Amazon and elsewhere.

Mine is languishing above my garage now that I no longer work in the field. Too big to ship, but anyone near central PA who wants it can have it for free.

We used a plug in power supply to the cig lighter that had two receptacles. One for the laptop and one for the printer. Never had a problem. I probably have one of those around here too.