Looking for a Laptop

[CK1]

Hi, I hope someone can help me!

I am looking for a laptop that will meet specific requirements. Here are the must have's: -

• a discrete grapics card for 1080p movie playback
• an HDMI output
• no bigger than 13" screen
• a dual core processor

For most the year the laptop will be a media centre PC, hooked up to a TV, hence the HDMI output. And for a couple of weeks or so it will be taken on holiday for general laptop use, i.e. email, internet etc.

I am able to spend around £450 but dont want to spend to much more.

Am I asking for too much?

Grateful for any help.

Kind regards

[cptwhite_uk]

I was going to say the Acer Ferrari One would fulfil your specification, but looking at the specs there's no HDMI port (thought there was). In that case you need to look at the Samsung N510 which Ebuyer currently have in stock for £382 approx. It's an Atom CPU, which isn't a great performer, but it would fulfil your stated requirements.

You don't necessarily require a discrete graphics card, both the HD3200 and Nvidia ION, and even the GMA 4500MHD can decode some forms of codec in HD.

[scaryjim]

For most the year the laptop will be a media centre PC, hooked up to a TV, hence the HDMI output. And for a couple of weeks or so it will be taken on holiday for general laptop use, i.e. email, internet etc.

I am able to spend around £450 but dont want to spend to much more.

I'd strongly advise you revise your original plans and buy:

Acer Aspire Revo HTPC - £145
Asus EEE PC 1101HA - £259

Grand total £404, leaving you about £50 for the optical drive of your choice: at that price you can get a slimline USB powered DVD-RW drive easily enough, or if you want Bluray you could opt for an internal drive + caddy / USB adapter for just a little bit more (internal BD-ROM starts around £50).

Plus this way you don't have to mess about pulling all the cables out of your HTPC to go on holiday, you can take your nice 11.6" netbook anywhere, anytime, and you can surf the interwebs while someone else is watching things on the HTPC...

[CK1]

Buying 2 PC's is an option but I would rather stay with one which is more powerful. The current Atoms will be obsolete in a month or so.

What is the integrated Intel GMA 4500 MHD graphics card like at dealing with 1080p movies?

[cptwhite_uk]

Read the link I posted, it gives you all the info you need about 4500MHD and HD decoding.

[CK1]

Read the link I posted, it gives you all the info you need about 4500MHD and HD decoding.

Err, where the link?

[nibbler]

That'll be this: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-G...HD.9883.0.html

[scaryjim]

The current Atoms will be obsolete in a month or so.

The ASUS I linked to uses the Atom Z and GMA500 which is a slightly more interesting setup than the standard N + GMA950, but it's not hugely powerful, no. However, the new Atoms (depending on performance) are likely to launch at a higher (potentially significantly higher) price point. So I don't think it's fair to say the existing Atoms will be obsolete - they are more than capable of dealing with simple office tasks and web browsing, and they're likely to drop in price too, becoming better value than currently.

The problem you'll have is that smaller screen laptops are generally priced well above their standard size equivalents: so you can easily get a 15" laptop with either NVidia or ATI integrated graphics (8200M / HD3200) easily capable of 1080p and HDMI out for ~ £400, but you can't get an equivalent 13" at less than ~ £600. But if you want something all-in-one that can match my earlier suggestions, and you can put up with the slightly reduced processing power of an Atom, then maybe the Samsung N510 would fit the bill?

EDIT: and I failed at reading cptwhite's post in which he suggests exactly the same thing, apparently...

[cptwhite_uk]

Second opinion always welcome jim

[scaryjim]

Second opinion always welcome jim

I guess. Certainly if I had the money it'd be very high on my list of possible laptops.
But I don't have the money, really...