GCN Would this laptop be able to run dolphin at a reasonable rate?

[crazyj3ss]

To Staff: If this is in the wrong forum or not allowed, please move/delete it if you must. Didn't know where else to post it.

Hey, I was wondering if someone could tell me if this laptop would be able to run dolphin(gc emu) at a reasonable rate for most games. I heard overclocking for i3's helps but I'm not sure myself as I am a little newer to these types of things. I'm trying to find one that is as cheap as I can get it. By that I mean games like Wind Waker and Pokemon Colosseum/XD, etc, SSBM, L's M, so don't need high end games I think (not sure how they rank in terms of needing more power), as I would love to have a way to use my laptop on the go for normal uses and be able to play some of these great games on the go.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+15.6%22+Inspiron+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Obsidian+Black/4693773.p?id=1218509070679&skuId=4693773

If you don't think this one would do well, can you point out one that you think would be a cheap alternative that works decently?

Thanks in advance.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Nope. Intel i3 and Intel HD graphics means you'll get about half the desired framerate, if you're lucky.

'Cheap alternative that works decently' is something of an oxymoron in this case - you're not going to find anything cheap that runs Dolphin well.

 

[crazyj3ss]

i heard overclocking works though. would it run any of the games i listed at all ordid you mean dolphin would suck period?twould an i5 work? what laptop on the site would you consider as the cheapest that would run it well.

 

[Rydian]

Overclocking is not magic. The lack of a dedicated GPU is a main issue, and overclocking the CPU won't magically make a dedicated GPU appear inside your laptop. Overclocking is a small benefit (you'll see 5-15% improvement on average for parts like that), and you'll be more limited than normal due to the fact that it's a laptop so it's not physically meant to deal with the increased heat and yuou don't have options like you would on a desktop to do that (assuming you still want the laptop to be portable), so overclocking is not in the picture here.

An i5 would work better than an i3 (the processor model still matters for the cheap ones though), but you'd still want a laptop with a dedicated graphics card (NOT any "intel" graphics), and to get something with both a non-crap card and a processor good enough for emulating recent systems, you're going to want to raise your budget to like $600 minimum (and the only ones I'd suggest that I see for sale right now are in the $700 range).

More money, time, and effort goes into making laptops with decent specs for emulation/gaming compared to regular laptops, for various reasons. They use MORE parts than normal, (and a GPU's not a simple/cheap part) the battery needs to be bigger to account for the extra power drain so that costs more, the motherboard is a more complex design, it's harder to fit the card in so more engineering work has to be done, a better cooling flow/system needs to be set up, they have to deal with the added support of another part, blah blah blah...

 

[crazyj3ss]

So it would be better to just go with an i5 or i7 then I guess. Well thanks anyways. By cheaper, I just meant that I would rather try to find a deal on a regular laptop that could handle the emulator as well, rather than having to buy something like a gaming laptop.

 

[Rydian]

When dealing with the i5 versus i7, you'll rarely need an i7. If it's a choice of i7 and integrated graphics versus i5 and actual GPU, the i5 and GPU will be way better.

You'll want something with an acceptable video card in it, so in most cases that means a laptop meant for gaming. It doesn't have to be one of the $1000 models or anything like that, but unless you find a great sale $500 isn't going to cut it.