GoPro/Computer question

The reason I didnt put another video on my post, (http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,31548.0.html) is because when I try to watch the videos on my laptop that I recorded at SWS today they play really choppy.  I recorded them in 1080p (#5) on the screen on the gopro.  My last video I recorded doesnt play back choppy and i used setting #4 960p.  So, is it that my laptop has trouble playing back 1080p video?  I uploaded the 1080 video to youtube and it doesnt play back choppy on there.  So is it my computer?  I want to preview the videos before I post them to NCKA but watching a diving video that plays back choppy sucks!  Any suggestions?  Is it my laptop?  Whats going on?  Dang computers!

Your pc is not ment to playback 1080 smoothly, due to many limitations.. I have a high powered laptop and I can't play 1080 and running 1 gb of video memory... 720 is the best per bandwidth use wise.

Now my TV set which does 1080, streams youtube well through my roku

Depending on your laptop you may be able to add a card in to process HD video.  Think they run around 200$ though.  You can probably find a utility to downgrade the quality as well.  But like Chaeki said, you can also just record at a lower resolution and it will probably come out fine.  Or if you upload it to youtube directly, without edititing, it will probably work on YouTube, cause they will do a conversion for you.

Wow,
Good to here all the tricks.
If most computers won't play back the 1080 would it be better to save a little $$ and just buy the next lower unit? I ask because I was thinking of getting a GOPRO to record some of the great events of NCKA.
Which model is the best bang for the buck?

See Ya Soon,
Eric / Yakhopper

The primary reason I record and upload to youtube in 1080 is because I show all my videos at home on my wide screen TV which is 1080.   If you upload in the highest res, you can always downplay all other levels.  If you upload in 480, you can never see better quality than that.

All these new tablets play hi res, and tv's. 

I got the 960 at BestBuy for 150$, had no problems viewing it on my home PC, which is a couple years old, but was a pretty good one at the time    It looks fantastic to me!

Thanks guys, 960 plays fine on my laptop, just not 1080, thanks for answering my question!