Hmm interesting that this got made into its own thread, some good points all around, mainly by SS. I'm not claiming that laptops are strictly better than desktops (yet), but rather defending the merits of Top Tier Elite Gaming Laptops, which are in another class entirely from netbooks/ultrabooks/macbooks and other cute contraptions like tablets/ipads etc. Sadly there are a fair amount of self-proclaimed "knowledgeable" emulation enthusiasts that upon seeing the world laptop or gaming laptop immediately fire off ignorant assertions that its not a viable solution or up to par. That type of backwards cave-man logic may have been the case in the previous decade, however things have changed rapidly, to the point where their claims are no longer based on truths, but rather outdated myths.
It is clear from Intel that their focus is on leveling the playing field between desktop and laptop processors, and with the recent release of Ivy Bridge the gap has shriveled to nearly non existent amongst both locked Cpu's and unlocked Cpu's. This fact means that any Pcsx2 or dolphin game that can be played seamlessly at full speed with a desktop, can be done with a laptop as well. The only thing that desktops had in their favor was decidedly stronger Gpu's (not really relevant for emulation, since it only affects how high the Internal Resolution/Msaa is) which makes a difference in regards to PC gaming. Until now.
The reason that I and millions of others across the world are ecstatic and celebrating, is due to the eagerly anticipated near-parity between Mobile Gpu's and Desktop Gpu's, which has finally been realized. With the introduction of the sub 100 Tdp Mobile King 7970m, we finally have a practically full powered 7870 in a mobile package, and at an amazing retail price of $450, which is nearly on par with its brother the 7870, and not much more expensive then the Gtx 570/580. Understandably its still slightly more expensive, but thats to be expected since ofcourse anything mobile is intrinsically superior to something unmovable, and Elite Mobile Chips are taken from the highest quality version of their respective chip, which adds a slight premium (note the Untouchable 3920xm and forthcoming highest clocked (3.1Ghz/4Ghz turbo) 3960xm which demand a hefty premium over the crony i7-2600k and the decent 3770k, due to being strictly better). The result in this case is a mobile Gpu that finally massacres the 560ti, cruises by the 570, and even challenges the 580. With a slight overclock made by the new 28nm chip it passes the monstrous Nvidia Flagship, with a respectable amount of overclockability remaining in reserve. As a result every single released PC game to date can be played smoothly at Max settings at a laptops native 1080p resolution, including metro 2033, crysis/crysis2, and even The Witcher 2. For the hordes of Gamers that connect/wirelessly stream their True Elite Gaming Laptops to higher definition displays, the 7970m's 153.6 GB bandwith (nearly on par with the Phantasmal Gtx 680 mind you) won't let them down.
No doubt desktop Gpu's still have a slight lead (eventually the Gtx 680 will actually be in stock, and have more than a paper launch, but until then the 7970m makes a mockery of Nvidia's Desktop fermi Gpu "flagships"), but anyone with a grain of intelligence can clearly see that the gap is diminishing at an alarming rate. No longer will the days of Gaming Laptops owners being treated as second hand citizens be tolerated. I hope that the dolphin forums will eventually come to the same sensible conclusion that the Pcsx2 forums has unanimously come to in regards to the viability of Laptops for emulation. Alas the day seems to be far off, but luckily there are a few Enlightened Beacons of Reason like Starscream and Shonumi around, and perhaps the day will come when others see the light.
P.S This seems like a hardware topic, since we are largely discussing the hardware of desktops/laptops in regards to Emulation/Gaming. Don't think these type of discussions belong in off-topic, since after all the most important thing regarding emulation is the first question asked, Laptop vs Desktop?
It is clear from Intel that their focus is on leveling the playing field between desktop and laptop processors, and with the recent release of Ivy Bridge the gap has shriveled to nearly non existent amongst both locked Cpu's and unlocked Cpu's. This fact means that any Pcsx2 or dolphin game that can be played seamlessly at full speed with a desktop, can be done with a laptop as well. The only thing that desktops had in their favor was decidedly stronger Gpu's (not really relevant for emulation, since it only affects how high the Internal Resolution/Msaa is) which makes a difference in regards to PC gaming. Until now.
The reason that I and millions of others across the world are ecstatic and celebrating, is due to the eagerly anticipated near-parity between Mobile Gpu's and Desktop Gpu's, which has finally been realized. With the introduction of the sub 100 Tdp Mobile King 7970m, we finally have a practically full powered 7870 in a mobile package, and at an amazing retail price of $450, which is nearly on par with its brother the 7870, and not much more expensive then the Gtx 570/580. Understandably its still slightly more expensive, but thats to be expected since ofcourse anything mobile is intrinsically superior to something unmovable, and Elite Mobile Chips are taken from the highest quality version of their respective chip, which adds a slight premium (note the Untouchable 3920xm and forthcoming highest clocked (3.1Ghz/4Ghz turbo) 3960xm which demand a hefty premium over the crony i7-2600k and the decent 3770k, due to being strictly better). The result in this case is a mobile Gpu that finally massacres the 560ti, cruises by the 570, and even challenges the 580. With a slight overclock made by the new 28nm chip it passes the monstrous Nvidia Flagship, with a respectable amount of overclockability remaining in reserve. As a result every single released PC game to date can be played smoothly at Max settings at a laptops native 1080p resolution, including metro 2033, crysis/crysis2, and even The Witcher 2. For the hordes of Gamers that connect/wirelessly stream their True Elite Gaming Laptops to higher definition displays, the 7970m's 153.6 GB bandwith (nearly on par with the Phantasmal Gtx 680 mind you) won't let them down.
No doubt desktop Gpu's still have a slight lead (eventually the Gtx 680 will actually be in stock, and have more than a paper launch, but until then the 7970m makes a mockery of Nvidia's Desktop fermi Gpu "flagships"), but anyone with a grain of intelligence can clearly see that the gap is diminishing at an alarming rate. No longer will the days of Gaming Laptops owners being treated as second hand citizens be tolerated. I hope that the dolphin forums will eventually come to the same sensible conclusion that the Pcsx2 forums has unanimously come to in regards to the viability of Laptops for emulation. Alas the day seems to be far off, but luckily there are a few Enlightened Beacons of Reason like Starscream and Shonumi around, and perhaps the day will come when others see the light.
P.S This seems like a hardware topic, since we are largely discussing the hardware of desktops/laptops in regards to Emulation/Gaming. Don't think these type of discussions belong in off-topic, since after all the most important thing regarding emulation is the first question asked, Laptop vs Desktop?