Help me choose laptop that can run dolphin

[apolloooo]

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a laptop this friday, and i've been eyeing this laptop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215662



the question is can that run wii emulator on dolphin? there's another
one with Nvidia 640m and i7 CPU, but it's like $100 more expensive.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215615

how much the second outperform the first, and do you think the $100+ difference worth it?

and what kind of performance i should expect from these laptops and does it able to emulate the wii and play intensive games like SMG, or xenoblade? which level of setting can it run? native? 720p or full HD 1080p?

and if you guys have better laptop to recommend, please do post it here
keep it under $1000 by the way

Thank you in advance,
Apolloooo

[DefenderX]

1st - The laptop with the i7 is more powerful. Go for it!
2nd - SMG and Xenoblade are heavy games, don't expect too much. You can't run this games @ fullspeed with a normal mobile CPU
3rd - 720p in all games and 1080p in some games

[admin89]

Quote:do you think the $100+ difference worth it?

It's hard to answer . The most common issue of multi-media laptop is heat problem , most multi-media laptop have single fansink for both CPU & GPU (gaming laptops have dual fansink) . When both CPU & GPU are at full load , your laptop temperature will skyrocket -> Overheating -> Turbo Boost will be disabled -> CPU & GPU clock speed go down -> Dolphin run slow

If you're only talking about specs ... Of course , the i7 is a quad core , turbo boost clock speed is also higher -> i7 3632QM is better CPU . Nvidia GT 640M 1080p (3x Internal Resolution , no AA ,16xAF) vs Nvidia GT 630M 720p (2-2.5xIR , noAA ,16x AF)

However , the i7 3632QM & Nvidia GT 640M run hotter ...

[apolloooo]

Ok, thanks for the quick replies,

if SMG and Xenoblade couldn't be maxed with these, could it at least run at playable fps at smallest resolution?

and i'm still torn between i5 and i7. do you think games (in general, not just emulation) in the future eventually will be able to use i7's quad core CPU efficiently? i mean looking into the future, i think i5 will age more quickly.

EDIT: and how much do you think external fans will help reduce the heat problem? i'm not really familiar with laptops, so sorry for noobs questions

[DefenderX]

1st - It depends on you, if you think, that games are playable. Some people think, that 60% speed is playable, some think that 75% is playable etc.
2nd - Yep, imo quadcore CPUs are the future.

[apolloooo]

what about 25-ish fps? imo, that's good enough

and yeah, actually i really start thinking that i7 is better for future investment

[DefenderX]

Xenoblade is a 30 FPS games, so 25 FPS are quite good But I doubt that you'll reach 25 FPS, I guess about 20 FPS with the i7. 25 FPS in normal 60 FPS games is very slow, but most games will run above half-speed with the i7. (you'll reach fullspeed in some lighter games though)

[admin89]

Quote:how much do you think external fans will help reduce the heat problem?

Those notepad coolers are crap . Even the most expensive one could lower 5 degree Celsius at best
If you intent play PC games only , those laptop will do just fine . However Dolphin is more demanding than anything

[DefenderX]

and as admin89 said, multimedia laptop will likely overheat when u play with Dolphin.

-> Apply aftermarket thermal compound (Arctic Cooling MX-4) and remove the dust in the fans of the notebook regulary.

Or even better: Buy a gaming laptop (but they're expensive)

[apolloooo]

@defenderx:thanks, i think 20 fps is manageable, i've played worse

@admin98: any suggestion on how can i reduce the heat problem? extra heat sink? ( i dunno if these are available for laptops )

Edit: hahaha i couldn't afford real gaming laptops, i got $500 from my parents for christmas and cope the rest with my saving from my part time job and summer job. that's the max i can spend out of my pocket right now.