Not to put some SPAM on the stack, but just looking for somewhere to mention my own experiences about some of this, maybe it'll be useful sometime.
I have a Toshiba Satellite X205 laptop with an Nvidia graphics card of some kind. I presume it would be a NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT, judging by current specs on the model. The laptop sports an HDMI output, which the Nvidia controls and the Realtek audio controls can make semi-full use of.
Recently, I picked up a Harmon Kardon AVR-254 receiver, hoping I'd be able to use it as an audio/video switch supporting connections e.g. from (A) my laptop and (B) my desktop-slash-home-network-gateway, ultimately to (P) some good speakers.
Previously, I'd had a Yamaha receiver, which I picked up about a week ago. I returned it, because when I plugged the receiver in, between the laptop and the monitor -- 24" HP w2408h monitor, namely -- well, the receiver then limited the available resolution on the monitor. With a direct connection from the laptop to the monitor, I was able to get a convenient 1900x1200. With the Yamaha receiver, I could get only a natural 1280x1024 or so, with up-scaling to other resolution.
I did some research, and found out that the AVR-254 from Harmon Kardon supports HDMI 1.3a, whereas the Yamaha receiver supported HDMI 1.2. I hoped that that would be enough to be able to get the full resolution out of my graphics card and monitor, with the receiver intervening.
So, I took another 5 hour road trip, to get this stuff taken care of with such brick-and-mortar resources as are available in Missouri.
Now that I have the AVR-254 plugged in, I find that it too cannot support the full 1900x1200 resolution of the direct laptop-to-monitor HDMI connection.
I'd read that HDMI series 1.3 specs were supposed to be able to support a wider range of resolutions, specifically for supporting computer graphics. I guess it's not wide enough.
So, I guess I'd caution anyone who would be considering using a stereo receiver between an HDMI-capable graphics card and HDMI-capable monitor, when said video components would support a natural 1900x1200 resolution with a direct connection.
As far as monitors, though, when I have my laptop connected directly to my monitor, I can get full 1900x1200 resolution, and it looks nice. HP w2408h monitor, wasn't too pricey, and it has a nice base on it. It has an HDMI input and a VGA input, allows you to switch between either. The speakers on the monitor are serviceable, but I'd recommend better speakers with it -- and good luck, at that.
For audio, with that monitor, I'd been using a pair of one-off Logitech speakers plugged into the laptop. The thinness of the sound, with those, prompted me to start piecing together a full stereo system, such that I thought I could use instead, with all the appropriate audio/video cable routing. As indicated above, that project is not working out all well.
It's off topic, sure, but I thought I'd throw this out, maybe someone would know, and I'll be darned if I know where else I could ask: If anyone knows of a stereo receiver that allows you get full 1900x1200 resolution with HDMI in from a graphics card, and HDMI out to a monitor -- when the receiver is intervening between graphics card and monitor, basically -- I could sure as sin like to know about it. I'm about spent for it, with all this driving and product-returning business. Maybe it just isn't possible with current audio/video component models....