Is this fast enough to play DVD Movies?

[560zlaptop]

I have an IBM Thinkpad 390E and I was just wondering if it is fast enough to play DVD Movies
Here are my specs
Windows XP PRO 5.1,Build 2600
PentiumII,MMX,333MHz
256MB Memory
2.5MB Video Memory





Does any body have this laptop or knows how it will play a dvd?

[Jarhed7276]

Sorry, but no. You need at least a 450-500MHz cpu to play DVD without a hardware decoder card.

[560zlaptop]

Oh Darn I was just wondering Because IBM sells dvd drives for an ibm thinkpad 390E and i seen them on ebay.



BTW Whats a hardware decoder card?

[Jarhed7276]

A DVD decoder card is a pci card that decodes or reads the DVD instead of having the cpu do it. It had a cable that connected to the video card output then the other end connected to the decoder card. The monitor was then connected to the decoder card. It was good back in the days when cpu's were slow. I'm not sure you can even buy a new one anymore since the speed of cpu's have increased so much. I had one when I had a Pll 300 cpu and it worked great but with the faster cpu's they are just not needed any more.

[dahippo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhed7276

Sorry, but no. You need at least a 450-500MHz cpu to play DVD without a hardware decoder card.

That's not actually true. IBM shipped the 390e with DVDExpress, which works on less powerful CPU's than that.

If you look here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...id=MIGR-4Q2KLZ

you can see:

"# (ThinkPad 390E/390X, i Series 1780) For DVD playback, use DVD-Video Player (DVDExpress), version 5.00.00.15.6."