That's one of the reasons I think the empeg is good, because it can be pulled out of the car.

I agree... The only thing that *could* be better would be a unit where the components are distributed and totally integrated with the dash, where the only parts accessible to user (and hence a potential thief) are a well-secured display board that is nigh on impossible to remove quickly without destroying it (remove the motivation), and possibly a removeable hard-drive caddy. (I don't think that this would be necessary if hard drives had a wider range of operating temps).

Of course, the geeks amongst us would probably prefer the current removeable unit with the hackability that it provides, but Joe Consumer doesn't care about that as much as convenience.