Can any modern notebook output 1080p to an external monitor?

Something like an Intel HD3000 would do it?

How about an intel atom or an amd c-50 or e-350 processor?

 

Pretty much any new notebook should have no problem doing so. For 1080p video content, an Intel Atom may struggle a bit though, depending on the particular setup.

 

I don't see why not. The older Intel X3100 in my Dell D630 outputs 1920x1200 without any problems.

Blu-Ray movies play fine at full screen (no frame dropping or audio sync problems), but that's with a Core 2 Duo CPU. Not sure how well the Atom etc. would fare.

 

Blu-Ray from a disk or compressed lower bitrate 1080p video? X3100 shouldn't be able to handle that unless it's pretty compressed. The X4500M had to be updated with hardware decoding to properly handle true Blu-Ray, hence X4500M HD.

Generally...

1080p @ <15Mbps (decent FHD)
HD3000 = Yes
Arrandale HD = Yes
X4500MHD = Yes
X4500M = May struggle a bit sometimes.
X3150 = No
X3100 = May struggle a bit.
GMA950 = No
Any Fusion APU = Yes

1080p @ >20Mbps (Blu-Ray Quality)
HD3000 = Yes
Arrandale HD = Yes
X4500MHD = Yes
X4500M = No
X3150 = No
X3100 = No
GMA950 = No
Any Fusion APU = Yes

 

you know, the CPU participates big time in decompression of video content as well. So talking about GPUs only is kind of half the story...

then, the type of compression used is also important.

anyways, I think HD3000 backed up with powerful CPU will be fine in general for 1080p video output.

 

In what way? Maybe if your GPU isn't remotely current, like the older Intel GMA's.

The CPU only participates if the GPU doesn't support DXVA. FHD Blu-Ray 1080p will almost bring a Core 2 Duo to it's knees without a GPU that supports DXVA. If you have hardware acceleration the CPU plays almost no part in video decoding.

 

Blu-Ray from a disc (via a USB-connected Panasonic drive). Not sure about bitrates, but last night I watched "2012" (~45gig disc, so presumably a fairly high bitrate) without any problems.

The CPU usage while watching a Blu-Ray tends to be quite high. I previously used a Radeon HD5450 (in the PCI slot of a Dell D/Dock) and the CPU usage was far lower, suggesting that the GPU was doing the work in that case.

(Sorry to resurrect this old thread... just thought it might be relevant to provide an answer to HAL's question, in case anyone else looks into this subject.)

 

You must have a fairly strong Core 2 Duo then. I'm guessing either T7xxx series or newer. My Merom Core 2 notebook can't handle 1080p, unless it's lower bitrate MPEG2 (which the GMA950 does somewhat support).

 

Yeah, it's a T9300. (I think my secondary D630 with a T7700 was also up to the task, but I didn't have it set up for Blu Ray playback long, so can't remember exactly.)