Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hi guys,

I'm new here so just a short introduction:
Gahu, 23 yo, Belgian, Soon getting a master degree in Chemistry

So here is the idea:

I'm planning on buying a new laptop (Dual boot Elementary OS luna / Windows 8).
I need something easy to transport (meaning: no gamer laptops and no 17" laptops)
BUT, I'd also like to be able to play my favourite GC/Wii games on the go such as:

-Wind Waker
-Twilight Princess (Game cube Version is fine)
-Mario Kart Double Dash
-Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
-Okami

And so the basic of my problem is:

-Dedicated (15" laptop) Vs Integrated card (13" Ultrabook)
-4th gen i5 Vs i7 (Price Vs efficiency)


To be clear, let me present you the different model I'm primarily thinking about:

----------------------------
XPS 13 Low-end version
----------------------------
Link:
http://www.dell.com/be/fr/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=cnx9301&model_id=xps-13-9333
Specs:
4th gen core i5-4200U (3 Mo cache memory, up to 2,6 GHz)
Integrated Intel HD 4400
8 Go Ram (2x4 DDR3-RS)
128 Go SSD


----------------------------
XPS 13 High-end version
----------------------------
Link:
http://www.dell.com/be/fr/p/xps-13-9333/pd?oc=cnx9302&model_id=xps-13-9333
Specs:
4th gen core i7-4500U (4 Mo cache memory, up to 3 GHz)
Integrated Intel HD 4400
8 Go Ram (2x4 DDR3-RS)
256 Go SSD


------------------------------------
Inspirion (15) Low-end version
------------------------------------
Link:
http://www.dell.com/be/fr/p/inspiron-15-7537/pd?oc=cn75314&model_id=inspiron-15-7537
Specs:
4th gen core i5-4200U (3 Mo cache memory, up to 2,6 GHz)
Dedicated NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M (2 Go memory DDR5)
6 Go Ram (2+4)
500 Go HDD


------------------------------------
Inspirion (15) High-end version
------------------------------------
Link:
http://www.dell.com/be/fr/p/inspiron-15-7537/pd?oc=cn75316&model_id=inspiron-15-7537
Specs:
4th gen core i7-4500U (4 Mo cache memory, up to 3 GHz)
Dedicated NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M (2 Go memory DDR5)
16 Go Ram (2x8)
1 To HDD


I would rather go for the XPS 13 for portability reason but I wasn't quite sure if the integrated HD 4400 would do the trick
Then again, I'd rather buy an i5 for financial reason but once again, I'm not sure this CPU could handle the different games cited here.

So could you give me some advice or maybe other model that would work fine with Dolphin?

Thank you
Gahu

if you wanna play Twilight Princess, you need to get an i7 4700MQ; I wouldn't worry about integrated graphics too much (the 4400 seems to handle at least 1x IR okay, but a 750m would probably let you play at higher resolutions no problem.)

Any Intel U is going to be low power consumption, and thus not as good for Dolphin. I think Wind Waker should be fine on a 4500U at 3.0 GHz; but Twilight Princess is an absolute beast to run. If you're willing to give in on Twilight Princess, I think the 4500U will run the other games full speed? Maybe? I don't have a direct comparison, but I do know the 4700MQ will get full speed on Twilight Princess, especially if you use 4.0; which has the Twilight Princess hack. (MAYBE the 4500U could handle it on 4.0? I don't have enough CPU's benchmarked)

So if I understand properly,

According to you, the integrated card is not a problem BUT if I really want to play TP, I should look for another CPU (not a u one?)
The problem is that most of the laptop I looked at had i7-4500U at best (all the model I saw had undervolt CPU)
Then again, TP is not a must have (If it cause me too much problem, I would certainly not play it on my laptop to be honest, I could do with my Wii) so if we forget about it, I could go for the XPS 13 with the i7 then?

Quite expensive but except for dolphin, the computer will be used for my work (LaTeX processing, ChemDraw and maybe some chemistry calculation programs for some simple tasks) hence, the portability is of great importance to me (no more issue due to carrying a 17" laptop everyday)

Very few games will run acceptably on a low-voltage processor, even a haswell. Most professional and productive consumer programs will have trouble, as well. And, the "U" means ultra low-voltage, which is even worse.

You need to find a laptop that has a non-U processor in it. The processor should be an M or MQ, if anything.

The USA ebay has much better deals, and many sellers are willing to ship internationally. Look for a laptop with an i7 4700mq. Dedicated graphics are a must, you can easily get a laptop with them in your price range. Look for the lenovo y510p. They are reasonably priced, you can get one on ebay around $800-900 with an i7-4700mq and nvidia 750m. If you don't mind losing the disc drive, they even have a version with 2 nvidia 750m cards for about 1000-1100.

If you need a laptop in the $600-700 range, I would look for a last year model laptop with an i7 3610qm or 3630qm and an nvidia 650m.

If you want something super cheap, I recently bought a lenovo g510 for my father with a core i5 4200M (notice the M at the end) and intel HD4600 graphics for $480. To my surprise, it runs Sonic Adventure 2 Battle at 1x full speed, and pcsx2 Final Fantasy X full speed at 1024x1024 with no speedhacks.

All of the above will be much, much faster than the laptops you posted with the U ultra low voltage processors. Laptops with U processors also tend to have inadequate cooling to make the laptop design thinner and will overheat/throttle when using demanding applications like dolphin.

Okay =)

Thanks for the advice =)
I thought that maybe the haswell U CPU could maybe handle it but apparently no
I guess I'm going back to my research for new laptop model then

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the Double Post but I was wondering if this model would do the trick
(quite expensive though but the build quality semms to be good so can maybe last for 5-6 years)

---------
XPS 15
---------
Link:
http://www.dell.com/fr/p/xps-15-9530/pd?oc=cnx9504&model_id=xps-15-9530
Specs:
4th gen core i7-4702HQ (6 Mo cache memory, up to 3,6 GHz)
Dedicated NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M (2 Go memory)
16 Go Ram (2x8 DDR3L)
1 To HDD


It kinda looks like a pretty portable beast actually =)

Quote:but the build quality seems to be good so can maybe last for 5-6 years

Not even close . I say less than 2 years if you're into gaming
Why ? That laptop contains high performance CPU and GPU of a mid range gaming laptop -> High power consumption -> High temp (heat output) while its cooling unit is very pathetic (what would you expect from that small/thin form factor anyway ? It doesn't even have dual cooler)
Stock thermal compound is not made for gaming , it will die fast due to the heat output of CPU and GPU
If you're into gaming then stop looking at non-gaming laptop . Remember ! the heat output is your enemy
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-laptop-performance-guide
The best laptop for you in this case is the one that has Intel i7 4750HQ CPU + Intel HD 5200
Intel HD 5200 is the fastest integrated GPU atm . While it's as powerful as GT 650M , its power consumption is ultra low -> maintain small form factor of a laptop , super duper low heat output
For Example :
http://www.amazon.com/Sager-NP2740-Built-Clevo-W740SU/dp/B00J333DYU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1397919879&sr=8-5&keywords=i7+4750HQ

To be honest, I'm not gaming that much on my computer but I would really enjoy to be able to do that from time to time
And by build quality, I was talking about the materials used for the computer (Gorilla Glass screen, Aluminum top cover and Carbon fiber base) but it is true that I didn't think about the heat dispersion (Never had a gamer laptop so I didn't thought about that much)

Thanks for the advice, I will take a look at the laptop you proposed

I don't know why dell would add that "gaming laptop components" into a somewhat tablet look like laptop
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7838/dell-xps-15-haswell-edition-qhd-with-a-refined-design/4
It's useless after all ( Replacing thermal interface material = disassemble/destroy a laptop )