QUESTION

Here's my system:

Intel Pentium 166 MHz Tower
2.1 GB hard drive
32 MB RAM
CD-ROM drive
16-bit sound card
33.6 Kbps modem
15 inch monitor
IBM video card
Windows 95

I was wondering when DVD drives are to come out (or if they already have)? If they have, would it be as simple as just buying it, installing it, and I have DVD, or is there more to it than that??

Also, what kind of price range would I be looking at??

Thank you.

-- Scott Schultz

ANSWER

DVD-ROM drives have been out for a while now. You can buy just a drive for around $100-$200. However, if you want to watch movies on it, you'll want an MPEG-2 decoder board. It's a PCI card that decodes MPEG-2 at decent rates. Basically, that means that you can watch movies full-screen (or full-monitor) and they won't be choppy. The cards cost around $125-$150 and you can get a bundle with both for around $300-$350. The DVD-ROM drive itself will plug into a standard EIDE channel, just like your hard drive.