5.1 Standard for Multimedia Computer System



The standard of multimedia computer system was first developed in 1991 by the Multimedia PC Marketing
Council (MPMC).
It was then further developed in 1993 and 1996 as illustrated in Table 5.1.
The MPMC consisted of companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Fujitsu, Creative Labs and Gateway.
They created the "Multimedia PC (MPC)" trademark which describes a PC with minimal specifications to
support and run multimedia applications on computer systems.
The logo, shown in Figure 5.1, was put onto all computers that met the minimum specification that was set
by the MPMC.

5.1 Standard for Multimedia Computer System



 
1991 (MPC Level 1)
1993 (MPC Level 2)
1996 (MPC Level 3)
Processor
16 MHz 386SX CPU
25 MHz 486SX CPU
75 MHz Pentium CPU
RAM
2 MB
4 MB
8 MB
CD-ROM
1x (single speed)
2x (double speed)
4x CD-ROM
Display
256-color
16-bit color
16-bit color
Sound
Sound Card outputting 22 kHz
Sound Card outputting 44kHz
Sound Card outputting 44kHz
Video
640x480 VGA video card
640x480 VGA video card
352x240 at 30 frames per second
Operating System
Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions
Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions, or Windows 3.1
Windows 3.11 or Windows 95

Table 5.1: The development of the Standard of Multimedia Computer System over the years

Due to CD-ROM drives being relatively new in the early 1990s, it was a challenge to communicate to the
consumer all the hardware requirements needed to support and run multimedia applications.

5.1 Standard for Multimedia Computer System



This is where the MPC trademark logo proved useful as it reassured the consumer that the computer system
which he/she were going to buy/use has the hardware requirements/specifications that will be able to support
multimedia applications/software.



Figure 5.1: The MPC Multimedia PC logo