Laptop For MAME?

[Pinball Wizard]

I'm about to sound backwards here, but I'm looking for a laptop that is on the cheaper side, but powerful enough to run the majority of emulators, got any suggestions?

[spystyle]

I think you can match up practically any computer to an appropriate emulator.

I've run MAME 36 set (somewhat tweaked) on a Pentium 3. Running "Metal Slug" and all

I have a 486 kicking around that I was thinking of trying Vantage on.

These are desktops but I think you get it.

Just buy any laptop you can afford. I happen to like Gateway models that have quick access to the CPU from the bottom. Once you have the laptop, try a few different versions of MAME on it, like MAME 36, 56, 86, etc. See what version runs well.

Also see "Black Vipers" guide to disabling services if running Windows. You can free up a lot of resources. Windows is pretty bloated out of the box.

Various versions of MAME have been running on computers for over 15 years, so whatever you get can probably be made to run an appropriate version of MAME well

Cheers,
Craig

[Howard_Casto]

but powerful enough to run the majority of emulators

That's a loaded statment if I've ever heard one. 

You are going to have to elaborate on "the majority of emulators" because you can run mame on a 386, but for most games you'll want something significantly faster.  90% of your "other emulators" are just emulators that run mame game but on less resources.  That is unless you are referring to console emulators and those are yet another bag of worms.

Long story short, if you want any real help other than generalizations, we are going to need a list.... both of emulators you really wan tto run as well as arcade games you want to run. 

[spystyle]

I bet buying one with a few specific features is a good bet.

For example, a nVidia video card, 2 GB RAM+, 7200 rpm hard drive, etc.

I'd Google up reviews for your potential buys and see the benchmarks, see if the reviewers liked the chassis, the keyboard, the LCD, etc.

The reason I mentioned bottom access to the CPU, you need to occasionally replace the thermal grease. Especially the thermal grease from the factory can turn like clay. I replace that gray stuff with ceramic thermal paste.

Good luck
Craig

[spystyle]

OK, a simple question warrants a simple answer

Buy a laptop from the "Asus Republic of Gamers" line

Here is the cheapest one I could find :

(link removed)

I am not familiar with that vendor but the price looks good

[tony.silveira]

OK, a simple question warrants a simple answer

Buy a laptop from the "Asus Republic of Gamers" line

Here is the cheapest one I could find :

http://xgm.audiogoshop.com/asus-republic-of-gamers-g51jxa1-156inch-gaming-laptop-blue_p9961.html?offer_id=B0034NGZWM

I am not familiar with that vendor but the price looks good

GOOD LORD what a great price!  i might pick one of these up just for the hell of it

[Howard_Casto]

OK, a simple question warrants a simple answer

Buy a laptop from the "Asus Republic of Gamers" line

Here is the cheapest one I could find :

http://xgm.audiogoshop.com/asus-republic-of-gamers-g51jxa1-156inch-gaming-laptop-blue_p9961.html?offer_id=B0034NGZWM

I am not familiar with that vendor but the price looks good

GOOD LORD what a great price!  i might pick one of these up just for the hell of it

DEAR GOD!  WTF is wrong with it?  I thought those things normally went for 2k???

[Howard_Casto]

Anybody actually ever ordered anything from this site, because the prices seem a bit too low.  Every single laptop they have has similar specs for a similar price.  They also have some monster desktop rigs for about the same price. 

It just seems too good to be true.

[spystyle]

Sorry, some web searches make me think that site is a scam.

Feel free to buy from trusted sellers like NewEgg :

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=223&name=Laptops-Notebooks

Good luck!
Craig