Help connecting laptop to 1080p LCD HDTV

Hi, sorry I have a lot of questions but the people at the stores here are just looking for commission so I don’t really trust their advice. I have searched for hours but I can’t seem to find the answers to any of my questions and I’ve become quite frustrated. Thank you in advance for any help.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop that has an HDMI port. I am planning on buying an LCD HDTV so I can use it as a screen to watch movies and maybe play a few games by connecting it with an HDMI cable.

First of all, I want to know if my laptop would be compatible with a 1080p HDTV. The graphics are integrated (I believe it’s the Intel X3100 and it is on the 965 Express chip) so I don’t know if the laptop would be powerful enough to display movies and games on a 1080p tv. I don’t plan on playing any graphically intense games so I don’t see it as being a problem, but you never know.

Secondly, if my laptop is not capable of outputting 1080p or for some reason I wanted to reduce the resolution to play a more graphically intense game, how would this appear on the 1080p tv? Would the image be stretched or would it just be smaller with a black border?

Thirdly, if I only plan to use the tv as a monitor for my laptop then would it be better to just get a 720p tv instead?

Does the type or brand of TV I buy make any difference as far as compatibility?

Finally, is this a complicated process or will I just have to connect the tv with the laptop and change a few settings?