Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hello, I'm in the military and move often and lugging around all of my consoles is no longer a viable option. I recently learned about emulators, which would make my situation a lot more convenient. However after doing some research I see that most laptops do not have the cpu power to run the more resource intensive and games, and I was wondering what I'd realistically be able to play without worrying about my laptop overheating. I'm mainly interested in playing The Legend of Zelda series as well as Metroid, on both the Wii and Gamecube, but would like to get a general of idea of what type of games I can expect to be able to play.

I have a Samsung Ativ Book 9 NP940X5J-K02US
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 4500U @ 1.8 GHz (Turbo Boost 3.0 GHz)
Intel® HD Graphics 4400
8GB RAM

I'm not super computer savvy so if I'm forgetting any relevant info please let me know.

Thanks.

Only light-weight games (Wind Waker, SSBM, SSBB, Mario Parties, etc). Why only lightweight games and not others? Because you´ve got an ultra-low voltage CPU (note the -U ending on the model), which is not designed to work with intensive CPU apps like Dolphin.

Due to throttling, you probably won't be able to consistently use Turbo Boost to get past 1.8GHz, so plan on playing many games at the clock. You really should use the very latest Dolphin development revisions, they're very fast now, so you might get more mileage. Now you can run a number of more demanding games, the point is they won't be fullspeed, which is often unejoyable for many.

If you have some games in mind (i.e. games you own/plan to buy) then we can tell you if they'll be worthwhile to play. Off the top of my head, Time Splitters 2, Animal Crossing, and possibly Sonic Adventure 2 would make decent lightweight candidates.