Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

K so today is laptop-buying day, have been looking around, and currently I'm considering HP 17-2100EO Envy.

CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM (2,0 - 2,9 GHz, quad core, 6 MB cache)
RAM: 6 GB DDR3 RAM
Hard drive: 750 GB, 7200 rpm
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6850M
Chipset: Intel HM67 Express
Screen: 17,3", 1920 x 1080, reflective, high contrast, optical unit
Blu-ray reader, DVD/CD burner
802.11 a/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth
Battery: 6 cells, 62 Wh
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

Now since I don't live in the US, the price will be hard to judge, I can get it for 9995 NOK ($1750), however stuff is expensive here, with taxes etc, so probably this is equivalent to $800-$1000 in the US. The reason I think maybe it's a good deal, is the other sides offering it has prices of 17818 NOK and 18984 NOK (then again, maybe these are just rip offs.)

So, obviously I value Dolphin performance, but I am asking more if this is generally a good computer for it's price. The GPU should be able to run most modern PC games, like SCII. But I don't need high settings in BF3. (But would be nice.).

Note: I searched a hardware site, limited search to laptop with screen res 1920x1080, of relevant PCs (by price) there was only this and another one with pretty much the same specs: MSI GT683R)

MSI is much better at cooling solution , beware that dolphin produce alot of heat on the CPU . However HP is lighter ...
I was you , i would wait for Ivy Bridge (lower TDP , CPU 10% faster , GPU 60% faster , USB 3.0 built in) and Nvidia Kepler 28nm
I found this one from newegg with much better price , CPU , GPU , Cooling Solution
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834230142

Nvidia GTX 560M >> Nvidia GT 555M > AMD 6850M > Nvidia GT 550M

The problem is, newegg only ships in the US (If I were to order it anyway, there would be +25% for taxes or something)

Now Ivy would be good, but I read it won't come untill June, and will be expensive, so the wait is too long (Will need a laptop this spring). So my next laptop after this will probably be a gen or two after Ivy.

Anyway, I think I found a better one than the HP, XPS 15z:
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2640M (this one much better? 3.5GhZ instead of 2.9 at turbo... but only dual core)
RAM: 8GB DDR
GPU: 2048MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M
Screen: 40 cm(15,6") WLED TFT-screen, full-HD (1920 x 1080), TrueLife™ , 1.3 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
Hard drive: 750 GB2 SATA ( rpm) (7200 o/min)
Weight: 2.51 (other was 3+)
Battery: Can't be worse than the other's? (1.5h)

I can get it for 9766 NOK

Look good . XPS 15z use 8 cell battery , it should last 4-6 h on web browsing and less than 1 h with dolphin for sure
Btw , my laptop use 6 cell battery , weight 2.2kg , it last 3h on web browsing and 30-40min with dolphin lol

I just got this magazine called What Laptop Tablet & Smartphone, march 2012 edition, i'm just 10 pages in and i gotta say it's a must read before getting a new laptop, contents say they will talk about the Envy inside, i'll let you know how their review goes

Here's the envy review

I got the XPS today, some questions... the CPU, Intel® Core™ i7-2640M, is said to be dual core, I have dual core activated but it will only use up to 50% CPU. Dolphin says it has 8 cores/2 logical threads pr. core... so will I have to change some bios stuff for this to work?

Also, Dolphin can't detect my Nvidia card, only the Intel HD graphics... also Nvidia can't detect my card, scanning my specs crashes firefox, and when I downloaded the drivers for it, it said I don't have it... in fact I can't find any info on my Nvidia card anywhere...

Yes, it's normal . Same on my laptop , always 50% and old dolphin version (r5xxx) says 16 cores lol...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js3KMyI6cqU
Using Realtemp to check the turbo boost work properly or not
According to Notebookcheck.net this CPU can turbo to 3.3Ghz on 2 core mode and 3.5Ghz on single core mode

About Nvidia Optimus , some dell ,asus , acer laptop can't install driver on Nvidia site . Your laptop must come with the CD driver , try install from that CD or go to dell site then download latest driver
Or get the latest (beta) driver on Nvidia site

Also , check this thread

Well the Nvidia drivers got updated now at least, I didn't have the correct driver. (500 series instead of 500 M).
Has been a lot of crashing in firefox, I hope it gets better once I stop doing 2-3 installs/downloads/transfers at a time

Try Google Chrome
Don't know about firefox since i not use it
The first thing i have to do when i receive Acer Laptop with a bunch of bloatware : Reinstall Windows and backup CD driver to my HDD