Newbie Question - MBA or MBP to playback x264/MKVs

[SnifferUK]

I'm about to take the plunge and buy a Mac of some description after using PCs for 25 years and I thought I'd dip a toe in the water with either the MBA (13" 2.13GHz) or the MBP.

However, whilst the majority of tasks I do are around the normal web browsing, emails, documents, music etc, etc. I do want to be able to use the machine when I'm away (I travel a lot) to watch video content. Typically this video content is either 720p or 1080p MKVs encoded via x264.

I don't want to have to re-encode anything (I've never had to on the Windows laptops I've used recently) in order to watch the content but this would be a show-stopper if I was unable to do it on the MB I bought.

So - any all advice/experience gratefully received.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The 13" MBA will be able to play 1080p content, even my 2007 iMac can do that.

 

[nightfly13]

Yup, any modern (C2D or later) Mac will play x264/MKVs easily. I have the first gen MBP at my work, with only 2GB ram and even that plays it back smoothly with the old crappy video card.

I use VLC for this task, although quicktime can do with the correct pluggins.

 

[Nachos]

It works perfectly on my MBA. No problems at all.

 

[duky]

I wouldn't say it works perfectly but it does work. Once in a long while you might get a little stutter which is usually caused by blockage of vents on the machine (heat). This wasn't an issue with any of my MacBook Pro's or iMac. Having said that, as long as you keep the machine in an orientation where it can let out the heat, it works great.

 

[damnyooneek]

Use VLC it plays everything

 

[DarwinOSX]

Huh? Do you put yours under a pillow?

I wouldn't say it works perfectly but it does work. Once in a long while you might get a little stutter which is usually caused by blockage of vents on the machine (heat).