We are intent on acquiring a laptop that will read and decode DVD-ROM &
CD-ROM disks and communicate both the video and the Dolby Surround audio to a
big screen home theater installation.  We hope to display screens from
educational CD-ROMS and some PowerPoint presentations.  This appears very
complicated to the uninitiated.
     The IBM ThinkPad i 1478 appears to fit the bill.  It bears a PII-366 CPU
with the additional multi-media instruction set and the printed material
indicates that it has a built-in DVD-ROM player and software.  The video
accelerator is the NeoMagic MagicMedia256AV, 256-bit with 2.5 MB and an
S-Video ouput port.  Apparently, this also performs the MPEG-2 decoding.
Some reviews suggest that this is less than an ideal multi-media device.
     The IBM ThinkPad i 1480 is scheduled to be released this month for
roughly the same price and devoted to the same purposes.  It will bear a
C-466 CPU and a built-in DVD-ROM.  However, it will have the ATI Rage
Mobility M multi-media accelerator chips and 4 MB of video RAM as well as a
S-Video output port.
     It appears that my more knowledgeable friends believe that this second
configuration is much better suited to the purpose and that they have advised
us to await the newer model for the same price, albeit with the Celeron
processor instead of the P-II.
     This clearly is a hardware evaluation issue and this list might appear a
profitable place to posit the question:  for roughly the same price, is one
configuration clearly superior to the other for multi-media play, decoding
and display on a big-screen television?  What might be the basis of a
recommendation?

Tommy Holmes, Jr.
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