HDMI to HDTV

I know laptops these days have HDMI ports so you can connect them to HDTV's. I also know that HDMI is basically a cable that carries audio and video thru the same cable meaning less wires. My last laptop (a toshiba qosmio) had an HDMI port on it. When I connected it to a HDTV, I couldn't get sound to work at all. I tried connecting it the TV and receiver directly but never could get it to work. Eventually I called Toshiba's useless customer support and they told me the soundcard\soundboard was not hooked up(by design) to the HDMI port so the only way to get sound to tv was thru the headphone jack. My two questions are
is there a way to look, by looking at the laptop's specs, to tell if it will support audio thru the HDMI port? Other question is has anyone here with a Clevo\Sager laptop been able to hook up to a HDTV using HDMI and get audio with that type connection. I'm looking to buy the Clevo x8100 and I don't want to get screwed again like I did with Toshiba. Thank you for any replies

 

Yes, the clevos support audio over HDMI

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I just bought a Sager np8760 with HDMI out and when I connect to my 52" 1080p tv not only do I not get any sound AND it looks like pure crap but also i get an error when I try to play blu-ray.