Was thinking of getting the Mac mini to put in the spot of the radio. Then get a 7" in dash screen and have the Mac do the music, gps, dvds, apps etc.

My concern would be the sound quality coming the Mac to the stereo system. I have a 4 channel amp going to 2 component speakers and 1 10" sub.

What would be the issues with this and if possible what would be the solutions?

Would be a really nice option if it would work. Wouldn't need a deep in dash unit, just a simple 7" touchscreen LCD and then have the computer control everything else.
I would imagine there are decent gps programs for the Mac?
Would be nice to have Itunes just setup on with touchscreen for the music.
Probably the only real things I would normally use it for would be for music and gps.

 

Quick Googling yields:
http://www.routebuddy.com/

 

any idea how the hard drive would hold up?

my (stock AP1) CD player skips over some moderately rough roads, and I'm thinking a desktop computer chassis isn't designed to be jiggled too much.

cool if it works, though...
good luck!

 

My general experience of Apple's music products is that the sound quality is very poor indeed given the high cost.

A solid state solution would surely be the best. Plenty of Car PC options out there.

Having said that, an Android phone will do all you want right out of the box, the only limitation being memory.

An iPhone would do it as well, but you have to pay extra for GPS etc.