Suggestions on cheapest laptop

[severed]

I currently use a Lenovo Thinkpad E545 with AMD 2.9Ghz and Radeon 8450G, but this laptop is not mine and I will be getting a new one for myself soon.  I know this laptop can run wind waker with 25-30fps depending on where i set the internal resolution.  but i was dissappointed to find resident evil 1 (REmake) barely hit 20fps with all settings turned down.

the lenovo thinkpad e545 is under $400... can anybody recommend something that might run dolphin a little better without going much higher in price? it would be nice to play skyward sword too but i doubt i can afford a laptop like that right now...

also I just saw the thread about AMD GPU performance guide maybe that will help me get my fps up (ill have to read it more later) but I dont want to be messing with this comp right now since its not mine.


thanks

[KHg8m3r]

An Intel 4th gen processor is the most recommended CPU for Dolphin, since Dolphin is a dual-core program that relies on the CPU more than the GPU. AMD processors are not focused on single core speeds, but rather spreading the workload out on the CPUs, so we tend to say to stay away from them.

At that low of a price point, you won't be able to get a good computer. However, a ULV (ultra low voltage) 4th gen Intel processor will still be better than the AMD you're currently on. Here's a cheap one from best buy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-refurbished-15-6-inspiron-notebook-6-gb-memory-500-gb-hard-drive-moon-silver-moon-silver/1311361910.p?id=mp1311361910&skuId=1311361910

[severed]

thanks for the reply!
I was actually just reading about how AMD is not that good, I dont really know too much about this stuff but I dont want to buy used.

what would you say about this one:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-350-G1-Performance-Professional/dp/B00Q3J64EI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1420181598&sr=1-3

its a little steep for my price range but, if people here can vouch for its specs, id be willing to go for it to play dolphin smoothly!!

[yl-smash]

I'd probably look for one with an i5 4200M

[severed]

(01-02-2015, 06:02 PM)yl-smash Wrote: I'd probably look for one with an i5 4200M

thanks!!

any other tips would be appreciated... or maybe a place I can read up on why the 4200M is better then the 4210U and such?? there seems to be quite a price difference between them... oh i guess its cuz the 4200M has 2.6ghz compared to 1.7 for the 4210U lol


edit: I found a laptop with the i5-4200M and Intel HD Graphics 4600 would that be able to play skyward sword?

[cyrax33]

(01-02-2015, 06:14 PM)severed Wrote:

(01-02-2015, 06:02 PM)yl-smash Wrote: I'd probably look for one with an i5 4200M

thanks!!

any other tips would be appreciated... or maybe a place I can read up on why the 4200M is better then the 4210U and such?? there seems to be quite a price difference between them... oh i guess its cuz the 4200M has 2.6ghz compared to `.7 for the 4210U lol


edit: I found a laptop with the i5-4200M and Intel HD Graphics 4600 would that be able to play skyward sword?

Look at the letters at the end of the CPU models. Big difference, the 4210U is an ultra low powered CPU which means it is designed to throttle down during high workload. The 4200M is a mobile CPU which will turbo boost instead. As far as skyward sword is concerned I'm pretty sure you'll be able run it without any slowdowns using the latest dev build as I haven't tried this game. Just make sure to use a real wiimote for this game.

[severed]

i found a really nice one for a decent price, the i5-4200M seems like exactly what I need, Ill be thrilled to play skyward sword!! thanks again guys and if anybody else has any other advice, Im still thinking about maybe waiting to get a better one but idk so let me know

[zephyrsurfer]

(01-04-2015, 12:18 AM)severed Wrote: i found a really nice one for a decent price, the i5-4200M seems like exactly what I need, Ill be thrilled to play skyward sword!! thanks again guys and if anybody else has any other advice, Im still thinking about maybe waiting to get a better one but idk so let me know

Could you do with a desktop and what country are you in. I'll give a look for you. Some games are quite difficult to run.

[severed]

(01-04-2015, 12:30 AM)zephyrsurfer Wrote: Could you do with a desktop and what country are you in. I'll give a look for you. Some games are quite difficult to run.

USA

I might get a new desktop next year (when I can afford top of the line) but right now I mainly want portability


Heres the list of games I would like to play the most
- Wind Waker
- Resident Evil 1 (REmake)
- New SMB
- Skyward Sword
- SMG2


Maybe a few others but those are the ones I really want... I can already play WW and NewSMB so I mainly want REmake at this point and if SS or SMG2 worked too that would just be fantastic... if you think SS will lag with the i5-4200M + 4600 GPU than I might wait a month or 2 and save up for something a little better... are SS or SMG2 considered high demanding? would it be wrong to assume that if I can play SS I can play most other titles?? just out of curiosity, what other titles are the most demanding?


thanks

[zephyrsurfer]

(01-04-2015, 03:40 AM)severed Wrote:

(01-04-2015, 12:30 AM)zephyrsurfer Wrote: Could you do with a desktop and what country are you in. I'll give a look for you. Some games are quite difficult to run.

USA

I might get a new desktop next year (when I can afford top of the line) but right now I mainly want portability


Heres the list of games I would like to play the most
- Wind Waker
- Resident Evil 1 (REmake)
- New SMB
- Skyward Sword
- SMG2


Maybe a few others but those are the ones I really want... I can already play WW and NewSMB so I mainly want REmake at this point and if SS or SMG2 worked too that would just be fantastic... if you think SS will lag with the i5-4200M + 4600 GPU than I might wait a month or 2 and save up for something a little better... are SS or SMG2 considered high demanding? would it be wrong to assume that if I can play SS I can play most other titles??  just out of curiosity, what other titles are the most demanding?


thanks

Hi there if you found an affordable laptop with a 4200M then I'll tell you it's so much better than the 4210U you have no idea.

But the U variants don't work very well for applications that demand any real speed. 

This is a simplication:
It's not just the clock speed you see; it's also targeted at consuming ~ 15W so it will stick to near it's stock speed a lot. This is a problem also because vendors don't care about performance on there lowest priced intel laptops so don't provide good fans.
The 4200M has a TDP of more than twice that at 37W so in essence the manufacturers need to provide with sufficient cooling and so on so it can go near it's 3.1 Ghz Turbo frequency(not just the 2.5 Ghz stock speed you thought).
I couldn't find any laptops worth recommending unfortunately but 4200M is good.(And certainly miles better than that U variant as you should have gathered)

As far as demanding games go this question on Skyward Sword I'd say yeah most other games should play fine if you can handle it.
The very demanding games are exceptions; most things have become very playable lately and SS would be a good indicator for most.
As an FYI some of the hard to run games will see a dramatic increase in framerates soon enough but it won't affect the other games though.