Tough Laptop Buying Situation

[noah]

I found 2 laptops that are "coming soon" so they will most likely be in stock on my birthday. Here is the first one:
http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=8043111&pid=1218863724040

And here is the second one:
http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=6913616&pid=1218812665125

I know that the second one is a GREAT deal and is a whole lot better than the first one. It is $399, though, and the price could go up or down. The first one is one that I can get for sure after my birthday. It can run Visual Boy Advance, DeSmuME, Jnes, ZSNES, PJ64, and ePSXe at full speed with every game, correct? How would it run Dolphin? It is .1GHz slower than i3 3120m and the same speed as i3 3110m. And how would PC games run? Should I wait to get the i5 Dell? How long would that take?

[LordVador]

(03-08-2013, 10:46 PM)IlovetheGamecube Wrote: It can run Visual Boy Advance, DeSmuME, Jnes, ZSNES, PJ64, and ePSXe at full speed with every game, correct?

Probably. Not sure for DeSmuME though.

(03-08-2013, 10:46 PM)IlovetheGamecube Wrote: How would it run Dolphin?

Not fine.

(03-08-2013, 10:46 PM)IlovetheGamecube Wrote: And how would PC games run?

Same thing.

(03-08-2013, 10:46 PM)IlovetheGamecube Wrote: Should I wait to get the i5 Dell?

You should

[Shonumi]

It'll run Desmume just fine. My old crappy E2200 @ 2.2GHz runs it at fullspeed, even with most scaling filters. The latest SVN revisions have JIT recompilers IIRC, so it should run in just about any hardware you find in stores these days.

[NaturalViolence]

IlovetheGamecube Wrote:It is .1GHz slower than i3 3120m and the same speed as i3 3110m. And how would PC games run? Should I wait to get the i5 Dell? How long would that take?

It also has a garbage IGP. Either get the toshiba or wait for the i5 dell. I would go with the toshiba since the dell specs page doesn't list the cpu or IGP model. Unless I'm blind.

[noah]

@NaturalViolence the Dell has i5 3210m and Intel 4000. The link is mobile, and I couldn't get the desktop one so that's probably why you couldn't see the stats.

[NaturalViolence]

Indeed.

The cpus are the same except the i5 3210M on the dell has turboboost enabled up to 3.1 GHz while the 3120M used in the toshiba (the one that admin recommended) doesn't and is therefore stuck at 2.5GHz even when running off of AC power. So you should expect a 20% boost in performance on the dell as long as turboboost is enabled (it's enabled by default when running off of AC power and can be enabled on battery power as well if you know what you're doing). If you can afford it it's probably worth it. Definitely don't bother with the first laptop if you can get the toshiba (the one that admin recommended).

I really need a proper link to the dell specs to compare it with the toshiba that admin recommended.

[noah]

I'll probably just go with the one Admin recommended. It was not on Best Buy's site for some time but it's back. I guess I'm back where I started but that's a good thing

[Tallix]

(03-05-2013, 04:07 PM)quinneypoo Wrote: That's are all terrible laptops, really the only decent laptops with great specs and the Retina Macbook Pros. They range between $2200-$3500. I got one and its beast at dolphin, runs everything buttery smooth.

...fanboy.

[Shonumi]

@ Tallix - Yo, if you're not going to contribute anything meaningful to the topic at hand (e.g. a logical rebuttal as to why Macbooks might not have the best price/value for the OP) then please refrain from posting one-word replies like that.