Portable DVD: Why not use a notebook?

By Alex Kidman on 15 October 2004

Even the lowest-end notebooks on the market these days sport DVD-ROM drives, so why shouldn't you just plump for a notebook to meet your portable DVD watching needs?

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Comments (8)

  • JamieT commented on 17/12/2009 18:47

    Many portable DVD players can be completely and permanently region unlocked too, allowing you to play DVDs from all over the world... Most DVD drives in laptops can only be region changed 5 times...

  • Neetish commented on 06/07/2009 03:52

    Here's why not to use a notebook: BECAUSE THEY CAN'T PLAY DVD'S!!! All they can do is BREAK, and BREAK, and BREAK, and BREAK, if they play it at all. I don't get why a normal dvd player can play a dvd without a single problem while on a laptop the same dvd just keeps getting stuck!?? Whoever suggests using laptops to play dvd's as a good idea is a COMPLETE IDIOT!

  • Leona commented on 29/11/2008 01:17

    WHAT A GREAT IDEA! I'VE ALSO BEEN LOOKING FOR A PORTABLE DVD PLAYER, BUT TODAY WHEN I LEAVE FOR MY SON'S, I WILL TAKE THE LAPTOP AND A COUPLE MOVIES FOR THE KIDS TO WATCH. IF IT WORKS WELL, THEN MY FRIENDS WHO DO NOT WANT A TV IN THEIR HOME, MAY DECIDE ON A USED LAPTOP TO USE FOR WATCHING FAMILY MOVIES. THANKS!

  • Tombraider commented on 30/07/2007 10:22

    A portable DVD player is cheaper. I have been allowing my toddler to watch DVDs on the notebook. It's much less expensive to replace than a laptop if he smashes it on the floor or something!

  • yudista commented on 11/06/2007 17:19

    Nice article. make me rethink myself to buy another gadget...(again).

  • TTTLE commented on 27/03/2006 15:43

    I've got a great DELL notebook. With 12" and light it sounds great to use as a "portable DVD player" for my kids on the road. But....I end up have to hold it on my lap for 2hours during the trip. It wasn't pleasure for me!!!

    If you can suggest any better way to use laptop to replace a real "portable DVD" in my case. I'm more than happy to practice before looking to buy a portable DVD!!!

  • Bernie commented on 10/12/2005 05:04

    Alex,

    I use a Dell Latitude c840 laptop with a DVD-ROM, GeForce4 440 Go video card with 64 MB of video RAM and 1 GB of main RAM. I was very disappointed the first time I tried to play a DVD movie on my laptop. The movie played fine for a few minutes but then it began to stutter - the video and audio would repeatedly stop for a split second. I tried using different software and made sure the DMA was activated but I could not get a DVD movie to play smoothly.

    However, I noticed that if I rip the files from the DVD and store them on my hard-drive the movie will play smoothly. I have also had good results with DVD movies that have been compressed into Divx and other popular formats.

    Can anyone comment on the following?

    1. Is there something my laptop is missing that makes DVD playback poor?

    2. Since the ripped DVD files play just fine from the hard drive is it possible that my laptop doesn't have enough power to play the movie and spin the DVD?

    Thanks in advance,
    Bernie.

  • Lance commented on 11/10/2005 19:37

    Thank you so much for your article. I have been thinking about getting a portable DVD player for a while now and I've been researching on the net for a little while also. I came across your article and I have to say, I felt really stupid. Of course! I have a notebook with DVD capability! Why haven't I just used that? To tell you the truth I don't know. How dumb do I feel!? Thanks heaps, you saved me a lot of money.

    Lance

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