Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

I am thinking of pulling the trigger on a Sony Vaio Z series for reasons other than gaming. But I stumbled across some videos of Xenoblade running on Dolphin in HD (720p or 1080p) and I was floored. Curious if the laptop will run Xenoblade in playable speeds at 720p resolution with the integrated GPU (Intel HD 4000) or the optional external GPU (AMD 6650M). For those who may not be aware Sony has an optional external "media dock" that adds an AMD 6650M GPU to the laptop. Most of the posts I've searched basically indicate integrated GPU will take you nowhere so what about the AMD?

Not the most cost effective solution but if you know of a better performing and still light in weight ultra portable let me know. I only know of the MacBook Pro 15" and its twice the weight.


Specs of the laptop are below:

Processor Type : Intel® Core™ i7-3612QM
Processor Technology : Quad Core
Processor Speed : 2.10GHz1 with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.10GHz2
Processor Cache : 6MB

Memory

Installed Memory : 8GB (4GB x 2 Fixed Onboard)
Memory Type/Speed : DDR3/1600MHz
Max. Memory : 8GB

The one could handle 2x IR (720p) or 2.5x IR (1600x1320) is the AMD 6650M
Integrated GPU such as Intel HD 3000 , 4000 barely handle 1x IR (480p) , you will get huge slowdown on some demanding games
MacBook Pro is not recommended for emulation ...

Quote:if you know of a better performing and still light in weight ultra portable let me know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0hA5Rk2GqU

I started playing Xenoblade on my E8500@4GHz and got quite some audio issues and slowdowns from time to time, after upgrading to a i5-2500k@4.3GHz the game now play flawless.

According to this thread I'm thinking that your i7 will be a bit on the low end too:
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread...8&page=120

Quote:your i7 will be a bit on the low end too

Not true unless he use LLE backend
i7 3610QM @ 3.1GHz outperforms your E8500 @ 4.0GHz in dolphin . Reason :
_Dolphin uses 2 cores + 1 (LLE on threads) , dolphin also perform 10-20% better on a quadcore
_Clock for clock : 3rd gen Ivy Bridge > 2nd gen Sandy Bridge > 1st gen Nehalem > Core 2 duo / Core 2 Quad