video card required for 720p movies?

Hello,

I recently ordered a Lenovo U330 laptop (yay!). Here are the basic specs:

Processor: Intel C2D P7350 (2ghz, 1066 FSB, 3mbL2 cache, TDP 25w)
Graphics Integrated: GMA 4500MHD
Graphics Dedicated: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 256MB
RAM: 3gb DDR3 1066
Hard Drive: 320gb 5400rpm
Display: 13.3'' (1280 x 800 WXGA)

My primary uses will be school-related (word processing, browsing), but I also love watching movies. I plan on watching 720p movies on the laptop and on my HDTV via the laptop's HDMI port.

I know I could have spent less for a laptop, but I wasn't sure I'd have clean 720p playback, so I spent extra to get the dedicated graphics card and DDR3/1066FSB. I understand that I can do some decent gaming on this machine, which is a nice OPTION, but for this discussion we can eliminate the gaming factor.

My hardware knowledge is limited so I wanted to get your opinions: are these the right hardware specs for me? The processor draws low voltage, which is very practical for school, but I'm worried the processor may not be fast enough. I figured the DDR3/1066FSB would make up for it by providing a "smoother" user experience (i.e. less lag and choke? does that make sense?). Also, I'll almost always be playing video from the hard drive (instead of the DVD drive) and I just realized that the 5400rpm hard drive may be too slow?

Anyways, I think you guys catch my drift. Thank you so much for your input!

 

Your laptop will easily play 720p movies, my sister's able to play them with her laptop with a slow Intel X3100 integrated graphics and low-end 1.5GHz dual processor. Don't worry about that.

 

720 video is not gpu dependent its cpu dependent the cpu does all the work the video card only just has to display the image and its no harder than displaying your windows desktop.

That said there are certain codecs & video card combos that can help the cpu with the task and do some hardware level rendering, but any c2d should eat 720p alive with no help easy.