more macbook questions

so i'd like to use my future macbook hooked up to a 19" screen and external keyboard and mouse when i'm at my desk. will that be a problem, outputting to the correct screen resolution and such?

also, if i want to copy my dvd's to the hard drive and play on a plasma screen (via appletv or whatever) would that work well? i'm assuming it would be almost as fast as the mbp because the processor is almost the same speed...but i'm wondering if a lack of dedicated video card would make a difference. i know it makes a difference for playing games, but does it make a difference for playing movies and upscaling to a large screen?

 

The integrated card will make it hard to connect to a big huge TV. high resolutions wont be happening either. But it should otherwise work

 

I'm not sure if you would be able to play your ripped dvd's on apple tv since it doesn't support many codecs, just mpeg-4 and h.264. Your cheapest option I think is just a mini-dvi to hdmi cable to a 720p capable tv. Should be smooth. But I haven't tried such setup so I'll leave everyone else to shoot down my theory

 

that's okay because i don't have an apple tv. though i thought you convert the films when you rip them to those formats anyway.

i think i read about other people playing ripped films via dvi cable...that should work fine, right?

 

Yea if youre TV supports DVI it should be fine. If it doesnt have DVI you can get a DVI>HDMI converter, or i think a component one as well.

 

A direct input to your TV will be the best option, assuming your TV supports it in some form (best option is DVI or HDMi there are also component options).

As far as your Macbook powering a 19" display, it should be able to, it depends on what you're trying to do and what resolution the display is. I don't remember when the maximum resolution output for the X3100 is, but I doubt your screen's resolution is more than 1920x1200 and I'm pretty sure the X3100 can at least support that. Do note, though, that if you try anything graphics intensive, your machine is going to wilt.

 

what exactly is "graphics intensive"? from what i understand....it's 3D games and 3D video manipulation, and possibly photoshop. is that it? but that doesn't include playing back videos, right? is there anything else i'm missing?

 

Photoshop is not graphics intensive, it is CPU and RAM intensive. Gaming and architectural software such as CAD are graphics intensive, yes. Playing back video isn't graphics intensive, but powering two displays to show video at the same time is VRAM intensive.

 

oh. okay. thanks...that means i should be fine with the macbook.

 

probably, though, as said above, playing back HD material (1080p for instance) on the plasma might show some limitations. If the Plasma supports that high a resolution. If not, probably no problems.
And now, after the MB has 1GB RAM as lowest, that should lessen the chance for problems, although I would like to be able to set the GMA950 to use more memory....


I haven't tested that on a MB, only on a MBP and its just sweet.

You will of course need the mini-DVI to DVI adapter, but that can be had at any apple store.

 

On a related note: my MBP hiccups when trying to play back 1080p Planet Earth - I assume this is the graphics card - right? It isn't my CPU/RAM holding me back?

 

The MBP should not have a problem displaying 1920x1080...but I don't see why your machine wouldn't powerful enough to display it fine. You have 2 GB of RAM, and your graphics card has 256 MB of VRAM...hmm...

 

Maybe you had a lot of other crap running besides that video...