This question harmed me a little bit.

How dare you watch porn on Onboard Graphics!

What codecs are you using? I can't imagine you'd have too much trouble if you're using x264.

Ok, this may sound stupid, but if your brother-in-law goes with a Sandy Bridge CPU and wants to use the onboard graphics he will have to go with a mobo based on the H67 o Z68 chipset as those are the only ones with video connection (D-sub, DVI and/or HDMI). Forget the mobos with the P55 chipset. And the same goes with the former i5 and i7, you had to buy the H55 or H57 mobos, not the P55.

On the other hand, the whole range of AMD mobos has video connections.

Yes, if you mean Sandy Bridge/Llano integrated.

Like Snesboy said, on-board is always good for basic stuff. I have a laptop with a Turion X2 and ATI 3200 for the basic stuff.

I'm not quite sure of the model, but it's a higher end Foxconn mobo.

And it was 720p Youtube content (which I believe is x264)

An ATI HD 4350 fixed all that though, 1080p no problem.

That's weird. I manage to run 720 stuff on my old laptop (about 4/5 yrs old with integrated Intel chip) and connect it up to my TV, although I never tried streaming youtube in 720. Seems to work OK with MKV files in media player classic. But yeah, the ATI card would definately sort that

the latest Intergrated Intel and AMD CPU cost a penny but that basically combining the two together but gaming is a no go for the lastest game.

Tho GPU's aren't used just for gaming, but as well for Heavy Graphical Programs, such as Unity, UDK, Maya(maybe) etc. And a CPU and a good GPU would cost you around 400 dollars, being 200 dollars each. A Core i5 and a HD Radeon 5750 wouldn't be that bad.

An besides if he does get a good GPU, you will be able to use it for some latest games.

Thanks for the input.
You all are very helpful!

If your bother-in-law must have dedicated graphics then suggest a cheap card along the lines of an ATI 5400/5700 or nVidia 430/450 because a properly expensive gamers card is by no means needed for media playback and resource light things such as MS word or browsing.

Bear in mind also that for video playback the media player and codecs you have make a big difference.

Probably the most popular one currently is 'Media Player Classic' with 'CCCP' codec pack... Other good media players include
KMP, a very versatile media player that doesn't require any additional codecs for almost all media content be it audio or visual, I think the only issues I have run into with it are when trying to play .FLV (Flash Video) files. This excels at audio playback.

Splash Player is also a very dependable media player with almost the same functionality as KMP or MPC but has built in multi core support making it more efficient, however comparing it side by side with KMP its audio playback isn't the best but wont disappoint. This has a very nice user interface and is easy to navigate with informative statistics and useful features such as powersaving options for laptops and Hardware acceleration.

For me the smoothest and most efficient set-up I have come across is plain old windows media with 'Core AVC' codecs... however Core AVC isn't free unless you sail the high seas, this has played all HD content, on my now ageing (4 years old) laptop (Toshiba Equium A300d-13X), all the previous media players have struggled with. The problem with this set-up as compared to MPC with CCCP and Core AVC is that MPC has more extensive options for things like subtitle selection and audio channel selection, in this area WMP fails considerably in comparison.

Ofcourse there is everybodies fall back option VLC which uses witchcraft to play nigh-on everything in existance without the use of codecs what-so-ever but isn't the most efficient nor is it the most stable player but it can play pretty much anything you will ever come across.