[NavySealsGuy]

Okay, I am still very confused by home theater systems because I am new to all this.

Question 1: I have XBMC set up on my laptop(Dell Inspirion 15r), now to get this on my TV could I use a cheap HDMI cable to watch the movies on my TV?

Question 2: Is that all I really need? Im using an iphone as a remote so got that covered.

Question 3: What is the advantage of buying an actual HTPC box over using your home laptop? What is the advantage of using an Apple TV2? (ATV2 seems like a disadvantage since it is over the internet, cant connect my external storage)

Help please?

EDIT: Question 4: Do I need an AVR and what is the point of this? I do not have any external speakers, I would just be using the ones built into the TV. (I am broke)

[Atomic Zombie]

Yes, you can use your laptop to display to your TV.
Yes
many people use HTPC boxes because they have there movies etc in another room on a NAS or on another computer, the advantage of this is no noise form the hard drive.

[Orclas]

To elaborate a bit further on question 3 as well as giving some input on question 4:

Laptop vs HTPC:
What Zombie said, plus the fact that a HTPC is usually built/chosen so that also fan noise is limited. Laptops are simply not built to shed heat as efficiently/quietly as a decent stationary computer.

AVR:
You dont need it. Sure, surround sound and stuff is nice, but it's not needed. I myself come from a slight hi-fi background and sound system has always been about the best sound (as in 2.0 sound). So far I'm not willing to scrap my Classé stereo amp and my B&W speakers for getting surround.

In my opinion the really big lift is moving from plain TV set sound to proper speaker sound, particularly since modern day flatscreens often have worse sound than older sets (it basically has to do with physics and "sound box" size). So, if you're kinda broke, but not quite, I'd recommend trying to buy some cheap, decent and simple stereo amp and small speakers for a much better movie experience*.

Sure, surround and a heavy subwoofer is better still, I wouldn't say anything else


* Plus a 3.5 mm stereo plug to RCA adapter cable

[NavySealsGuy]

Thanks for the help guys, you answered my questions perfectly!