[CompooterDummy]

I was watching one of my favorite TV shows, "Numbers". Built into the story line was a break-in at one of the character's home. They caught the theif by tracking a gps in a stolen laptop. One of the characters, who had been trying a far more complicated method of catching the theif, made the comment: "yeah, why didn't I think of that. GPS comes built into all laptops since 2005." I can't find any information about this on the internet. Do all laptops since 2005 really come with built-in GPS?

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My laptop doesn't have GPS. My friends laptops don't have gps either.

[TheQuickBrownFox]

My laptop doesn't have GPS. My friends laptops don't have gps either.

[TechSabre]

I know for a fact they don't have GPS systems. I think it may be possible to get one though

Edited by TechSabre, 26 July 2008 - 06:42 AM.

[james_8970]

No they don't have GPS, this is TV for you. Unless laptops were continually connected to a cellular network or satellite, they'd be no way of tracing it. Even if this was a possibility (which it is), it'd be a major drain on your laptop.
James

Edited by james_8970, 27 July 2008 - 06:16 PM.

[TechSabre]

I agree with you there, James.

[ScHwErV]

[dsenette]

if you're going to believe something that you've heard on a FICTIONAL TV show (there are a lot of really interesting Non-fiction shows that will have you looking over your shoulder)...you might want to pick one better than Numbers...there isn't a single concept in that show that is logical...and VERY VERY few things are even plausable

plus....IF there was a GPS unit in every laptop without the customer knowing it...then SOMEONE (i.e. the gub'mint) would have requested that they get placed there...i doubt G-dubs would be happy that a TV show had blown their cover...

[TechSabre]

I agree with dsenette - 100% spot-on.

(Oh by the way, congratulations on reaching 20,000 posts )

[CompooterDummy]

if you're going to believe something that you've heard on a FICTIONAL TV show (there are a lot of really interesting Non-fiction shows that will have you looking over your shoulder)...you might want to pick one better than Numbers...there isn't a single concept in that show that is logical...and VERY VERY few things are even plausable


plus....IF there was a GPS unit in every laptop without the customer knowing it...then SOMEONE (i.e. the gub'mint) would have requested that they get placed there...i doubt G-dubs would be happy that a TV show had blown their cover...

Um, actually, I didn't say I believed what I had heard on Numbers, that's why I posted the question, aside from the fact that I just thought it'd be a fun and interesting question. However, the line in the show did make me wonder a little bit because "Numbers" doesn't present itself as fiction like "X-files" fiction, which, by the way, if I'd heard the line in the X-Files, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. Nothing in my question precluded the idea that I was just watching a TV show writer enjoy creative license. Beyond College Calculus II, I have no knowledge or understanding of "higher mathematics" and thus no personal experience and/or knowledge for evaluating the veracity of any of the mathematical concepts presented in "Numbers". I enjoy the show because it's a crime show and I'm a crime show junkie.

And, I wasn't really thinking in terms of subversive government actions. I wasn't assuming that GPS was being added "without the customer knowing it". All I said was that I couldn't find any information on it and if anyone knew anything, perhaps because they knew where to find the information and I didn't, I'd like to know. After all, why post the question if I thought it was "subversive government action"? What would I really be hoping? That some government agent would be lurking on the boards and reveal a government secret to me? I posted the question to a bunch of techies because I felt sure that if anyone would know, they would. Sorry, but I really do believe that for the average viewer (like myself) "Numbers" is closer to fiction like "CSI" fiction where ideas and concepts are wrapped around every day real life in a way that asks the "average" viewer "to know" (not "believe" like the x-files). In the case of Numbers, "to know" that mathematical science can catch the bad guy. In the case of "CSI", "to know" that forensic science will catch the bad guy. And having the line I quoted in my original post in a "fictional" series with this type of bent would cause any astute listener to question whether or not it is true.

Anyway, thanks James for explaining how GPS works. Your comments lead me to research GPS in cell phones. I had no idea GPS operated mostly through wireless networks operated by cell phone companies or, for that matter, how GPS worked at all. I just knew it had something to do with satellites orbiting the earth. Your simple explanation helped answer my question just by considering the actual feasibility vs possibility of gps in a notebook computer.

And, by the way, I wouldn't have been terribly alarmed if I found GPS was in my notebook. Part of me would have even liked the idea that it could be easily found, if stolen since laptop theft has been on the rise for quite a while and I often cycle and hike for hundreds of miles around the country, with my laptop. My cell phone goes everywhere with me, and it has GPS in it, uh-huh, far from paranoid.

I left my tinfoil hat in New Mexico

[TheQuickBrownFox]

Haven't seen that in a while...

[silverbeard]

I find the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie works better.

[Troy]

[Windows 95]

Lol, not in PCs, but in some Macs they do. I belive you can phone your mac and you can get a video and tape the guy who is using your stolen mac. I saw that on the news.

[dsenette]

actually the mac's don't use GPS for that....they just "call home" as soon as it sees an internet connection

[hfcg]

Due to the cost of satalite time gps users pay a monthly fee (cell phones, on star, Etc...)
If you are not paying for a service you most likelly do not have it.
With the tens of millions of laptops the cost would be prohibitive with out a service charge.