Looking for a netbook that can play 720p

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rayman2k2

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Hey guys, I'm looking for a netbook that I can (at times) hook up to a TV via HDMI to play some HD movies. The TV itself is 1080p but the movies are all 720p.

I was looking at some netbooks with nVidia ION, most of these are all in my price range of < 500 dollars. I was wondering what other netbook graphics processors could do what I'm looking for.

As a note, this will not be the netbooks main purpose. I will be surfing the web primarily but would like to occasionally hook it up to a TV to watch some movies.
 
Currently the nVidia ION partnered with the N450 is really the only platform that can smoothly decode 720p. You can do it with a N280, but I wouldn't recommend it. For your price range a 12 or 13 inch laptop would probably do you better then a netbook.
 
if you also want to play HD hulu, youtube, netflix, you'll need the ION w/ flash 10.1. the intel graphics don't support hardware accelerated flash, as far as i know. Also, some new netbooks are coming out w/ the Broadcomm HD chip, which is cheaper than ION but is no good for gaming.
 
mycomputersucks said:
if you also want to play HD hulu, youtube, netflix, you'll need the ION w/ flash 10.1. the intel graphics don't support hardware accelerated flash, as far as i know.
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That is incorrect.

Intel 4500MHD does officially support 10.1 flash hd acceleration. Check the notes.
 
If all you want is hardware decoding of video, and not games, get something with one of the Broadcomm chip. Costs like $30 extra, and should give much better battery life than an Nvidia solution.

An example of one is the HP Mini 210 HD.
 
netbooks don't use the 4500HD. They have either 3150, 950, or 500 series GMA processors that can't do HD.
 
CoreAVC might be lean enough to get 720p to run, I'm not sure. I heard it struggles with some of the various mp4-type profiles though.
 
DanNeely said:
netbooks don't use the 4500HD. They have either 3150, 950, or 500 series GMA processors that can't do HD.
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The ones with CULV cpus do.

Gateway EC1803h Notebook - Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4GHz, 11.6" WXGA LED back-lit, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, Intel GMA 4500MHD, Wireless N, Webcam, 6-cell, Windows Vista Home Premium w/ FREE Windows 7 Upgrade Offer* (GLX.WF80X.015) w/ 1-year International Warranty
 
I just picked up a Toshiba Satillite T135-S1209 @ Bestbuy for $476.99.
I used the HDMI out to my TV and it ran hulu very nice and smooth.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
Currently the nVidia ION partnered with the N450 is really the only platform that can smoothly decode 720p. You can do it with a N280, but I wouldn't recommend it. For your price range a 12 or 13 inch laptop would probably do you better then a netbook.
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The broadcom crystal HD chips play HD just fine. HP has them available.

I just bought an Acer 1410 and it plays 720p video just fine. It's a better option to an ion powered netbook IMO.
 
Get the CULV, you won't regret it. I have a Dell Mini 12 netbook, with a Z530 processor (equivalent to the N270). My sister owns the Dell 11z with the SU4100 CULV processor. Everything is A LOT snappier on her 11z. It feels like what you've come to expect from a modern computer. HD playback is smooth. Makes me regret ever getting a netbook.

Only tradeoff is the weight. We're prolly talking a difference of 0.5-0.7 lbs. Which does feel significant at the ~3lbs range, however the performance increase makes it well worth it.
 
Cheezor722 said:
Get the CULV, you won't regret it. I have a Dell Mini 12 netbook, with a Z530 processor (equivalent to the N270). My sister owns the Dell 11z with the SU4100 CULV processor. Everything is A LOT snappier on her 11z. It feels like what you've come to expect from a modern computer. HD playback is smooth. Makes me regret ever getting a netbook.

Only tradeoff is the weight. We're prolly talking a difference of 0.5-0.7 lbs. Which does feel significant at the ~3lbs range, however the performance increase makes it well worth it.
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How much does your Dell Mini 12 weigh?

My Gateway EC1803h is 3.148 lbs, which seems pretty reasonable for a 11.6" netbook with a flush 6-cell battery. Of course it comes with a SU3500 CULV, Intel 4500MHD with HDMI out, and it absolutely owns for HD playback.

For $340, it really makes a nice inexpensive small and quiet HTPC. :D
 
get the asus 1201n
it is one of the cheaper ION netbook( i don't know why)
and it has a N330 Atom cpu. which is a dual core atom
overall it is much better then normal ION netbook like the hp 311 or the samsung one.

also..
if you want to play some games ( light gaming)
borderlands
unreal tourment 3
fallout3
l4d

most of these game can be play pretty good, after overclock abit.

i have mine clock to 2ghz
and i was playing L4D2 on my netbook online for like 3 hours lol


ofcause if you don't bother playing games, then any culv notebook will works for you.
 
My original Acer Aspire One plays 720p H264 fine with CoreAVC and that is all in the CPU. That being said, any netbook will do 720p. If you want to do 1080p you will need an ION (Atom + 9400M) or a Broadcom chip.
 
fss69 said:
CoreAVC might be lean enough to get 720p to run, I'm not sure. I heard it struggles with some of the various mp4-type profiles though.
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My father runs 720p TV episodes on his MSI Wind u100, and I had no trouble with 720p content on my old Lenovo s10 with CoreAVC.

The newest Flash beta is also helpful for netbooks.
 
Yeah, at the price they're going for Ion netbooks aren't worth it at all imo... Unless you absolutely want something no larger than a 10" netbook. Most CULV laptops start at 11.6-12", dunno of any 10" models (tho the 11.6" Acer is truthfully about an inc wider than a 10" netbook, that's it). I have no idea how the current Flash beta works out on netbooks, but you can definitely play back most 720p content w/CoreAVC on a netbook tho (and the less compressed it is the easier the workload is, don't even need CoreAVC for 720p MPEG2 files exported from my DVR). If you want better Flash playback or 1080p on a netbook I'd say the HP model w/the Broadcomm add-in card included is definitely more cost-effective than most Ion models.
 
shurcooL said:
... or an Intel CULV cpu + 4500MHD gpu.

Argh. :p
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No. I have that exact setup in an Acer ultraportable notebook and it does not play 1080p. The 4500MHD + DXVA does not play nice with level 5.1 encodes with more then 8 ref frames. All of my 1080p encodes fall in that category. Only Nvidia GPU's + CUDA can tear through them without issue. I actually have no experience with the Broadcom chip to comment on that though.
 
criccio said:
No. I have that exact setup in an Acer ultraportable notebook and it does not play 1080p. The 4500MHD + DXVA does not play nice with level 5.1 encodes with more then 8 ref frames. All of my 1080p encodes fall in that category. Only Nvidia GPU's + CUDA can tear through them without issue. I actually have no experience with the Broadcom chip to comment on that though.
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I didn't have any problems playing a 1080P mkv on mine. 11.6" SU2300 + 4500HD. Granted the video was heavily compressed.
 
criccio said:
No. I have that exact setup in an Acer ultraportable notebook and it does not play 1080p. The 4500MHD + DXVA does not play nice with level 5.1 encodes with more then 8 ref frames. All of my 1080p encodes fall in that category. Only Nvidia GPU's + CUDA can tear through them without issue. I actually have no experience with the Broadcom chip to comment on that though.
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Fair enough.

Could you please send me (upload somewhere) a short version of such a 1080p file somewhere. I'd really like to try it on mine. :)
 
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