Youtube on X30 1.2 Ghtz 512 Ram

[dlbeaty]

I have been using a 7200 RPM drive with dual boot Win98 and Win2000 until my registry was corrupted and I have to reinstall most of my programs in W2K.

Thinking it would be easier to get up and running I replaced the HD with a Samsung 5400RPM drive that already had XP SP3 on it with the IBM recovery partition.

Everything else works fine, but Youtube videos do not line up with the audio. I really do not need XP for anything else I do, except it would be nice to get Netflix on occasion. I am looking into getting maybe an X61, but this laptop is still in such good condition, and I like its features.

Is there the possibility that a faster 7200 RPM HD or some settings in XP would allow me to get better video performance? I had no problems in either Win98 or W2K before. System performance in Task Manager now shows I have available ram, but CPU usage keeps maxing out, even after I removed many things from startup.

Dan

[ganon11000]

all drivers for the gpu installed?

[jronald]

I have found that 50% of the youtube videos, dont sync. Of that 50%, 50% of those are approaching a 1 second delay.
Vista, several flavors of uBuntu, XP and W2kPro. Its the video, not the OS.

YMMV
Ron

[dlbeaty]

all drivers for the gpu installed?

I just updated the drivers I got from the original IBM site with the latest from Intel. I think it improved some, but only when using IE6. There I get the message that they are presenting a lower quality version for an outdated browser.

With Win2000 I saw a difference between the performance with Firefox and Opera. In this case, Opera is newer and with more features than IE6. The same videos are unwatchable.

[RealBlackStuff]

To see Netflix movies, you must first install M$ Silverlight.
Maybe that also helps for some Youtube?

[dlbeaty]

To see Netflix movies, you must first install M$ Silverlight.
Maybe that also helps for some Youtube?

Already have Silverlight.

Just wondering if there is a setting in XP or my browser that will save on CPU resources.

[Neil]

Maybe have a look at Pale Moon browser. It's supposed to be a lighter/faster version of Firefox for Windows. I use it, but can't tell that it's much faster than regular Firefox.

There are probably at lot of services that could be turned off in XP as well, but that's a bit above my pay grade to give advise on.

[Puppy]

Just wondering if there is a setting in XP or my browser that will save on CPU resources.

Yes, get rid of Flash Player.

[dr_st]

FWIW, the HTML5 player of Youtube seems to be even more resource-demanding than Flash.

If the idea is to avoid random flash on websites, then I agree with you. Flashblock plugin for Mozilla-based browsers is a good solution.

[pianowizard]

The OP wants to watch YouTube videos, which require Flash.

I think the OP should either revert to Windows 2000, or get a new laptop. An X61 can be had for around $100 these days.

[emeraldgirl08]

^^^ This

IMO it also seems as if Flash has been becoming more hardware demanding within the last couple of years. I have a low voltage SL9400 (Core 2 Duo) CPU in my X200T that can play flash video content on battery as well as netflix. Not sure if you can do that with any of the other pre-X200 series Thinkpads.

[dlbeaty]

The OP wants to watch YouTube videos, which require Flash.

I think the OP should either revert to Windows 2000, or get a new laptop. An X61 can be had for around $100 these days.

So far I have not found an X61 for $100 that did not require an HD, OS, or something else that drove up the cost. Having said that, the deals aren't bad.

Now.. if anyone sees one ready to go for that price, let me know. What do you think about this deal?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=110606

[pianowizard]

So far I have not found an X61 for $100 that did not require an HD, OS, or something else that drove up the cost. Having said that, the deals aren't bad.

Regarding the OS, what matters is that the Certificate of Authenticity sticker is intact, which enables you to install that particular version of OS for free.

With patience, it's not that hard to get an X61 or X61s for $100 shipped on eBay. Bidding at the very last couple seconds sometimes helps.

[Puppy]

IMO it also seems as if Flash has been becoming more hardware demanding within the last couple of years.

Flash is unable to use hardware acceleration on most of older XP systems. Similar video quality played by VLC player, Windows Media Player or Silverlight player on the same machine does.

[Temetka]

A few things.

First off the X30 is a wonderful machine.

That being said, if you are running XP with SP3 under 512MB of RAM, you are asking for trouble. I would upgrade that 2GB. It will certainly help things a lot.

Secondly, as awesome as the X30 is, it is getting on in age. As others have suggested I would look into a X61 system. Today's streaming video requires more hardware muscle than it used to. To be blunt, you are asking too much from that older system.

I would get an X61 system, go to 4GB of RAM, a small 64GB SSD and a Broadcom HD BCM70015 decoder card. With that setup for around $200 or less you should be able to play youtube and netflix just fine.

If you are dead set on sticking with the X30, then upgrade your RAM if you can and use youtube downloader and play the files locally using VLC. You might get better results that way.

[dlbeaty]

I did get an x61, and am fairly happy with it. The ram for an x30 is costly and hard to find, but it is still good for many things.

A few things.

First off the X30 is a wonderful machine.

That being said, if you are running XP with SP3 under 512MB of RAM, you are asking for trouble. I would upgrade that 2GB. It will certainly help things a lot.

Secondly, as awesome as the X30 is, it is getting on in age. As others have suggested I would look into a X61 system. Today's streaming video requires more hardware muscle than it used to. To be blunt, you are asking too much from that older system.

I would get an X61 system, go to 4GB of RAM, a small 64GB SSD and a Broadcom HD BCM70015 decoder card. With that setup for around $200 or less you should be able to play youtube and netflix just fine.

If you are dead set on sticking with the X30, then upgrade your RAM if you can and use youtube downloader and play the files locally using VLC. You might get better results that way.