Running laptop in car for long move

I asked this question a couple of months ago here, but then focused on getting an mp3 player. Now I'm back to the idea of just charging my laptop via the cigarette lighter, but am a bit confused reading over the prior thread. In short, I am driving from Colorado to New England and want musical company other than bad AM radio. My two options are:

1) Buy an mp3 player (probably a Sandisk Sansa Fuze 4gb for $90ish); get a car charger ($10+) and some external speakers ($20ish), for a total cost of $120+.

2) Buy some kind of adapter/converter/inverter to plug my laptop to the cigarette lighter ($20ish), and purchase decent external speakers ($30ish), for a total cost of $50ish.

Given that funds are a bit tight right now, I would prefer to go the second route.

But I'm a bit confused. What exactly do I need to run my laptop relatively continuously via the cigarette lighter for three days? I don't really understand the difference between adapters, inverters, and converters and don't really need to--unless you feel so inclined to explain--but I do want to know which one would be best for my needs.

Thanks!

 

To run your laptop just go to walmart and look for a inverter that goes from 12V DC(car plug) to 120V AC(house plug) and plug your charger into that. To get the sound from your notebook, I'd see if my head unit has aux in, and if not then maybe look for a decent FM tuner, getting speakers would be a real pain in the rear IMO.

 

Thanks for the response.

First off, I've made it through 34 years without entering Satan's Store Walmart, so I think I'll look elsewhere.

Secondly, I've connected my laptop to a stereo for sound, so wouldn't that work ok? If not, how do I check if it has an aux in? I've heard bad things about FM transmitters (crackle and pop).