using a laptop for PJ64

[xamenus]

Excellent thread! Very useful and informative. Thanks Clements and others.

Since we're on this subject (and hopefully I'm not getting too off-topic), what is the general opinion about Dell, or more specifically, Dell notebooks? From what I understand, many people think that Dell computers are cheap or of poor quality. However, review sites (PCWorld and PC Magazine at least) gave the Inspiron 6000 and the XPS models top ratings. I'm just curious for some more general opinions about these if anyone knows anything about them (opinions from reviewers aren't quite enough, which is why I'm asking for some more opinions here). Hoping to purchase my own laptop in a few months, the Inspiron 6000 actually looks pretty good to me at this moment.

Link to PCWorld reviews on some Dell notebooks.

 

[Doomulation]

1GB is certainly a benefit over 512MB when using certain memory hugging programs, but is not a requirement to run the OS. There are almost always less memory hungry alternatives. You can use utorrent which has a tiny memory footprint. 1GB is your reccommendation, but is in no way necessary. Many people on this forum can attest to that, very few people I know say 1GB is neccessary.

Well, it is pointless to discuss it further, but let me add that bitcomet is not a memory hungry program UNLESS you start downloading a lot of stuff. Not to mention microsoft office. That suite is also known to be hungry, so 1 gb I should state is a very good thing.

 

[Trotterwatch]

I agree with Clements. Of course 1gb is a good thing, you can also say 5gb is better. 512mb is sufficient for most people though - more so if you have a clue how to minimise OS overhead.

 

[Stu L Tissimus]

I can play most games - including Perfect Dark and Conker's BFD - perfectly on my laptop. Specs:

Pentium-M 1.5GHz
1024MB PC3200 RAM
Mobility Radeon 9700 (128MB)

The biggest thing to consider when emulating N64 games is, in fact, not the video card but rather the processor. Penitum-M supports a mechanism that lets you change the clock speed to conserve battery life, and you'll notice a huge difference between when you're on 600MHz and when you're on 800MHz. I can usually play games at 60FPS at 800MHz or 1GHz.

 

[Ryukai]

I play P64 on a laptop, its pretty cool cause you can sit anywhere in the house and bring the laptop with you and play some roms.

 

[Blacklord]

I agree. A laptop is better than a desktop. Heck the performance is the same too. I used the HP nx9100 with 3.2 Ghz dual proccesor and ATI mobility Radeon 9100IGP(One heck of a machine i tell u) but i found that the Gateway 3522GZ is even better for emulating. Couse battery life is much longer.

 

[Doomulation]

IF you find a good laptop, that is. Since laptops can't be built like regular desktop computers, you will have to make sure the manufacturer hasn't screwed it up. I know it happens a lot on desktop computers and from at least one laptop I know of too.
They never really learn to put the high quality parts in there.

 

[Blacklord]

Thats true my nx9100 had a AC jack prob(common thing for the nx). Had to be fixed on money(warranty expired after my cat broke the keyboard).

 

[C&C Freak 2K]

While you should avoid Intel graphics whenever you can, my laptop can emulate a lot of N64 games quite nicely. In fact, I just played Conker's Bad Fur Day with nary a blip in sound for 90% of the game. Unfortunately, I couldn't take advantage of Jabo's D3D8 plugin until near the end of the game, because the camera kept spinning. My Specs:

Dell Inspiron 6000: 1.5GHz Intel Celeron-M, 512MB DDR2 RAM, Intel 915GM, Windows 2000 Professional.

 

[Blacklord]

U do know ur not supposed to bump up old threads right?

 

[Hunk_4TH]

Hey this thread is really great i'm gonna be doing something simliar i'm gonna be buying me a notebook within the next month or so i have my eye on this one but may change my mind i don't want anything to do with intergrated graphics/video that shares ram i have my eye on this one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1741339&CatId=0

but am still looking the highest i'm going is 800 *doesn't include shipping* i need something with atleast 512 mb ram *will upgrade later* and 64 mb video perbebly a 128 like the one on tiger direct i stay away from compaq but this one is an hp so would it have those same probs i hear bout compaqs? ie like the power adpater port bringing off/coming unsoildered etc...? i know hp bought compaq a number of years ago thx :bouncy: