Yet Another Intel X4500 Question

This is really confusing me. What is the difference between the X4500M and the X4500MHD?

Now as far as I have been able to figure out on my own is that, according to Wikipedia, "The difference between the GMA X4500 and the GMA X4500HD is that the GMA X4500HD is capable of "full 1080p high-definition video playback, including Blu-ray disc movies"

Now what exactly does that mean for me in the end?



Furthermore, I don't know if this means anything, but here are two sister laptops, the
HP G50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147823

and the

Compaq CQ50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834107021

The HP has just the 4500M, with an HDMI port, while the Compaq has the 4500MHD with no HDMI port...

And here is something from the Intel website: http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-integrated-graphics

Sorry to dump all of these links on here, but any help on clearing this up would be great. Thanks

 

Can anyone help?

 

Well last I checked, all laptops were equipped with the newer HD4500 as the X4500 didn't really yield much interest as an integrated chip when compared to other more powerful IGPs such as the 9400M GS or the HD3200.

As you said, the HD4500 is the one which has the ability to decode and process full HD content whereas the regular X4500 would struggle more for this.

The presence of the HDMI port is more or less a choice of the manufacturer. Not all laptops have HDMI ports on them. You can have an HD4500 without an HDMI port, it just means that it'll process HD content(such as Blu Ray) on the notebook's screen and the manufacturer did not give an option to port the image onto a greater external screen.

As for why the X4500 has an HDMI port...well either of two possibilities...

- Either Newegg or HP messed up.

- Neither of them messed up. An HDMI port doesn't necessarily need to process full HD content. It merely ports digital signal to an HDTV. Just for your info, 720p is still considered "high definition" whereas 1080p is called "full HD" and your wiki description states that the HD4500 can process the full 1080p, which means maybe the X4500 is capable of 720p.

 

Well, I’m not sure either. But from those links and from what I’ve read HD4500 has hardware acceleration for HD content (BluRay and HDDVD). But that doesn’t mean you can’t play HD content on a X4500; because most modern CPUs can decode 1080 HD videos on their own, so you can still watch HD videos but you won’t be able to multi task much while watching a HD movie with software decoding.

As for the HDMI port, even though HDMI is almost synonymous with HD video, it is NOT exclusive for 1080p HD videos! HDMI is just a digital Video output port like DVI, with audio support. I use a HDMI to DVI cable purely to drive my external monitor at 1920x1200 (even higher than 1080) it can even support higher resolutions like 2560 x 1600 with special high speed cables. For modern notebooks HDMI is just a replacement for DVI due to smaller size and versatility.

 

I think everyone using a different name for this makes it more confusing. In order I think they go X4500-->4500M-->4500M HD.

In just general performance, does the 4500MHD have any advantage over the 4500M?

 

For mobile, there is only X4500M and X4500MHD. X4500M=GL40 and X4500MHD=GS45/GM45/GM47

GL40=380MHz IGP clock for video and 3D
GS45=Two modes, low power and high performance mode.
*Low power mode=800MHz FSB, 333MHz 3D core and dynamically clocking video core up to 533MHz
*High performance mode=1066Mhz FSB, 533MHz 3D and video core
GM45=533MHz 3D and video core

 

I'd be real suspect that either of those laptops actually has X4500MHDs as they're fundamentally the same notebook and ussually that spec notebook comes with GL40 and consequently X4500M non-HD. If the HP is in fact GS or GM45 it's a better unit all the way around and has better upgradability.

 

So does this mean the 4500MHD would have better performance for "gaming". I realize this isn't a gaming graphics card.