I say ditto on the inverter. Also ditto on making sure it's a higher wattage than the specs on the laptop's power brick.

My wife and I wasted money on a 250 watt inverter only to find out that my wife's Dell laptop needed about 300 watts! That thing was a freaking monster. My work laptop only needs 150.

 

Yes they work great, I have one and have used alot of stuff on with no problem!!

Red

 

My girlfriends 08' liberty has an inverter built in. too bad they didn't include one in the JK

 

I use a 350-watt inverter that I picked up at Radio Shack. However, I plug it into the cigarette lighter, so it can't deliver the full 350-watts (must be connected directly to the battery bus for that much power).

As for recharging a laptop: While at EJS a couple weeks ago, after departing White Rim Trail in the Canyonlands, I started to hear a "sweeping" noise on my CB (similar to being near a radar). I asked TORN and High Roller, who were running with me, if they heard it. They didn't. Anyway, long story short: It was the laptop recharging. Unplug the laptop and the noise went away.

BTW: That wasn't he only strange electrical thing to happen after our runs at EJS. Following behind High Roller after we exited Poison Spider Mesa, I noticed that his third brake light was modulating in conjunction with his radio transmissions. Pretty weird stuff.