I ran into this knowledge base article (“DVD Player 3.0.1: Compatible Computers“) on Monday and thought your other road warrior readers might be interested.

Earlier PowerBook computers

DVD Player 3.0.1 does not work with PowerBook computers that do not have built-in FireWire ports. Based on the combined performance of microprocessor, memory, and bus speed, and on graphics architecture, Apple was able to add Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) and Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) computers to the list of computers that work with DVD Player 3.0.1.Apple does not plan to update DVD Player 3 to work with earlier PowerBook computers.

I would like to encourage owners of Wallstreet and Lombard PowerBooks to post feedback to the Apple Mac OS X feedback page about the lack of a DVD player in OS X. I think my 2-year old, $3500, 512MB RAM machine with a hardware-based MPEG2 decoder needs a DVD player.