Cheap Laptop For VDPAU Decoding? GFX HW?

[pfennig]

I am looking to replace my aging iBook G4 with a new laptop running linux.


My top choice would be an Nvidia Ion based netbook - other than playing back video, I plan very little that would be performance intensive. I don't need an optical drive, don't need a big screen (need video out, HDMI preferred, for hookup to HDTV occasionally), etc so an Ion netbook ought to be perfect. Except that nobody seems to be in a rush to produce one! :sad:


My next choice would be for a budget full sized laptop with Nvidia graphics. But I'm not sure which of the various mobile GeForce graphics cards will be sufficient to run XBMC with VDPAU support at 1080p resolution. Some examples:

$500 Lenovo SL300 NVIDIA GeForce 9300M 128MB (expired sale, but possible indicator what can be found)
The GFX ram seems very low - would this not work as a result?

$640 Lenovo Y530 NVIDIA GeForce 9300M 256MB
256MB on a discrete 9xxx card ought to be sufficient, but does that general rule work for a mobile graphics card (and a 9300 rather than a 9400 or better)?

$650 Acer Aspire AS6930-6942 NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS 512MB
This one sounds like it would definitely be sufficient, but I'm still not 100% sure since it is still a mobile GFX card rather than the 'full blown' 9xxx series card one would find in a desktop machine. Any idea if it'd work?


I currently feel that getting a current-gen netbook would be relatively useless for XBMC - I'd be running into content that I wouldn't be able to playback properly pretty frequently, and that would only get worse as time goes on. A current Atom based netbook would be hardly any faster than my G4 iBook. But if my choices are $300 for a netbook and over twice that for an XBMC capable laptop (that's also bigger, heavier, and with less battery life) I'd probably just skip 'good video playback' as a feature this time around and upgrade again in a year or two.

I want to avoid Windows, even though things like the CoreAVC codec might enable me to get by with lower end hardware and software decoding.

Are there any alternatives that I have overlooked or advice you'd give to someone looking to run XBMC on a laptop?

[BLKMGK]

The ACER would do it I'm pretty sure. The others would run into issues with Video RAM although I seem to recall motd2k mentioning some possible ways to get it working in 256. 512 is really want you want to be optimal. Some folks have gotten ATOM based system put together to run VDPAU enabled content but they weren't laptops - why the focus on a laptop? An ATOM based desktop is pretty efficient, lightweight, and dirt cheap. They can be had with the dual core ATOM and at least one person put a PCI NVIDIA card in one and reported success....

So far as I know the mobile chipsets work fine with this but reading the VDPAU hardware compatibility chart would give you most accurate information.

[pfennig]

Laptop is a requirement for this particular machine - it will be my wife's computer, and will move between the kitchen counter, the couch, my parents' house, and (if I can justify VDPAU hardware) the media cabinet frequently. A desktop just won't cut it unfortunately.

I'll hold off for an Ion based netbook for as long as I can.

[Pvt_Ryan]

Dell vostro 1510

they have the 8400M (is that vdpau enabled?)

[pfennig]

For those interested in the idea of XBMC on laptop hardware, I'm guinea pigging myself - I've ordered the Acer Aspire AS6930-6942 with NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS 512MB from NewEgg. They lowered the price $50 so I went ahead and jumped. Seems like a good deal for $599 shipped (there's a coupon code) :D

I'll probably kick myself if someone comes out with a cheap Ion based netbook in the next month or so, but the Acer seems a lot less likely to be underpowered for anything I throw at it. Once it arrives and I set up Ubuntu on it I'll post back with XBMC results.

[Anastrophe]

how's the Acer going?

[pfennig]

Sorry for the delay posting back to this thread. Somehow other things became more important than getting XBMC fully operational, go figure.

Anyway, I recently upgraded the Acer to Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty), and now that XBMC 9.04 is final I installed that from the PPA too.

Flawless :D

I'm not using the laptop to power an external display yet, so I haven't hooked it via the HDMI or the spdif. But on it's own screen it's able to play back 1080p video via VDPAU with only 5-10% CPU usage on each core.

Not a bad deal I think, since I got it shipped for the same price as an entry level Mac Mini. And I get a laptop form factor, four times the ram, twice the HD space, GeForce 9600M w/ 512mb rather than 9400M with shared memory, etc. I'm glad I jumped!

[motd2k]

upgraded the Acer to Ubuntu hehe i like this

[Rrrr]

...very interested to hear more.

Can you check if SPDIF output and HDMI video/sound out are working?

Amazing solution, I very much like the idea and versatility:
probably very silent?
How is the heat generation?
Are you dual booting with Vista?
Have you tried XBMC Live?