Laptop specs for LAG FREE teams/livestream?

[SheerMadness]

Ok so I'm pretty ******** with computers. Dumb enough that I got an intel celeron processor w/ windows vista 3 years ago for my new laptop. I've had to set pj64 priority to high and close pretty much everything else to play lag free 1v1 the past 3 years. Playing teams or ffa is hopeless. Sooooooo you smart computer guys are going to help me avoid that this time.

What minimum spec should my new laptop have if I wanna do teams, record, livestream all lag free?

I'm thinking:

- Intel core i5 processor (but would i3 be fine?)
- 4 gigs of RAM

Should I worry about graphics/video card? Is windows 7 as resource intensive as Vista? What else?

 

[malva00]

you have a good internet connection to stream and play at the same time?

what do you get at http://www.speedtest.net/

I get 21.93Mbps download and 4.20 Mbps upload and my stream is OK i guess

 

[SheerMadness]

10mbps download speed.

Ok so I'm not worried about my internet speed cause I know it can run smash lag free. If it's not fast enough to livestream w/e not too worried.

Just worried about my computer being powerful enough to play teams lag free and record.

 

[malva00]

dandan picked out my desktop for me, and it met my needs

If dandan doesn't know much about laptops, he can tell you what desktop would be good enough, and then you could find out the laptop equivalent (if that's easy to do)

or someone else here might know just as much

 

[NovaSmash]

core i3 and 4gigs of ram is plenty to play teams without lag even with an intergrated graphics card like intel. but if u want to use glide plugin you will probably need a dedicated card. i could show you some laptops on newegg.com that would be good.

 

[firo]

Smash doesn't require too many resources, heck, I was able to play teams lag free on my netbook with an atom processor. Pretty much any computer you can buy now can play smash fine, especially if it is an intel i3,i5, or whatever. As nova said if you want to use the higher-end gfx plugins you'll want a dedicated graphics card. Of course there are tons of other things to take into consideration when buying a new computer. I could go more in depth if you like with some recommendations if you wanna talk.

 

[SheerMadness]

Pretty much any computer you can buy now can play smash fine

That was exactly the attitude that got me in trouble 3 years ago. Apparently an intel celeron with 2 gigs ram + resource hog windows vista can't handle lag free ssb64 teams...

So obviously I wanted to ask to avoid that this time. Thnx gav but I'm limited to a lenovo laptop cause a family member gets a good discount.

 

[DMoogle]

That was exactly the attitude that got me in trouble 3 years ago. Apparently an intel celeron with 2 gigs ram + resource hog windows vista can't handle lag free ssb64 teams...

Hmmm, could you post the exact CPU you have? Right-click Computer -> Properties and it should show you. If your computer is good enough to run Vista, then it really shouldn't have any problem with SSB at all. I think there may be something else that is causing lag. I was able to play teams lag-free with 800x600 resolution on my old computer, which had an Athlon XP 2400+ and 512MB of RAM on Windows XP. Granted, I had a video card, but it certainly wasn't anything special.

Also, what graphics plugin do you use, and what resolution do you run the game on? I'm guessing the lag is both online and offline, correct (test teams offline to make sure)?

EDIT: Also, when you try teams, how much the CPU% is project64k using (open Task Manager by pressing ctrl+shift+esc to check)?

 

[SheerMadness]

Yah:

Rating: 3.7 Windows Experience Index

Processor: Genuine Intel (R) CPU 575 @ 2.00 GHz 2.00 GHz

System Type: 32-bit Operating System

Windows Vista Home Basic



It's always lagged. Even when it was brand new. It took me a month or two before I figured out I could even run 1v1 lag free by setting high priority. If you don't set high priority 1v1 lags too. My windowed resolution is 640x480.

Yes it lags running teams offline too. CPU usage with teams offline and pj64 at high priority averages 85-95% cpu usage.

I don't think anything else is causing lag since it's been there from day 1. Intel celeron is just a really low end processor and Vista is a huge resource hog.

 

[DMoogle]

Hmmm, yeah, CPU Benchmark shows it is pretty low-end. It's rated about 25% higher than my Athlon XP was, but I'm sure Vista more than makes up for that.

Do you have a budget? Or are you basically just looking to maximize value? I may be mistaken (I haven't been following the computer market all that closely since I bought my desktop in late 2009), but I think basically anything new should be able to meet your needs.

Oh, you do have Windows Aero off, right?

 

[SheerMadness]

I dunno. Where do I find Windows Aero and if it's on or not?

 

[DMoogle]

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-aero-on-windows-vista/

It's probably already off, but if it's not, it might speed up your computer significantly.

 

[SheerMadness]

Haha it didn't even have Windows Aero available in the options box. Definitely not on. My comp just sucks ***.

I'll probably just go with an Intel core i5 to be safe.

 

[Limaçon]

I also can do teams fine on an Atom netbook that specs well under your laptop. Do you have any preinstalled bloatware? I would always suggest a fresh install over what it ships with.

For a new Lenovo, The Register gives the T420 (an i5) a good review, highlighting the good keyboard. Unfortunately it doesn't have an HDMI port (I thought that was standard in this price range), but if you wouldn't use that anyways everything else looks like a good buy.

[EDIT]: I would also like to add that now is probably an excellent time to get an Intel because future gains are likely to be in energy consumption rather than performance. Any Intel you get won't be obsolete in 6 months.

 

[Sangoku]

You're right to be careful with "any computer nowadays can run smash laglessly", I know someone who lags in 1v1 offline with an i3... It's some ****ty one though (like a "u" or something that doesn't use much power).

 

[blaze3927]

windows xp:
1.2GHZ
1GB ram
128MB dedicated video
well configured os
Stable internet connection, 1megabit should be fine,

windows vista/7:
1000GB ram
2TB video memory
1billion hertz cpu
will still lag

 

[Sangoku]

I have an i7 2630QM, with 8 GB ram and an nvidia GT550 and it doesn't lag, even if I'm using 7 =).

Melee or Brawl (lol) don't lag either on dolphin.

 

[SheerMadness]

Haha I think he's being facetious. But he shouldn't be, it's making me nervous. I don't wanna go another 3 years with no teams.

 

[B Link]

Totally facetious, and he even made an error if he was trying to be sarcastic because 1 billion hertz is not alot lol. That's just 1 ghz.

My laptop uses windows 7, has 3gb ram, and gets no lag in teams even with AIM and MSN open (although I close them anyway, just to help).

 

[Sangoku]

Maybe he used the long scale, like any decent language would use.

 

[firo]

I find it really hard to believe that a current gen laptop can't run smash, especially with a low end gfx like jabo 7.

 

[dandan]

core i3 should be more than enough, though it depends what model if you plan on more intensive streaming capabilities.
i can find you a laptop that will fill all of your needs, just give me a price range and i will give you the best 3-4 in that range i can find (maybe 2 of the bottom of the range and two of the top).
so just pm if you want help.

 

[KnitePhox]

wheres all of the other AMD fanboys?

amialone.jpg

 

[NovaSmash]

wheres all of the other AMD fanboys?

amialone.jpg

amd laptops aren't that good, a $500 laptop with a core i3 intel processor is better than any amd laptop of the same price.

 

[B Link]

My laptop cost $600, bought it 2 years ago, uses amd athlon i think. It's worse than i3 but I can watch 1080p youtube videos with/wo hardware acceleration so I'm happy lol

Oh yeah and I don't set priority to high either for my programs.

I like windows 7 lol. In terms of smash all I needed to do was the switch the jabo plugin and everything else was the same as xp (for ssb).

 

[Limaçon]

wheres all of the other AMD fanboys?

amialone.jpg

Even as an AMD fanboy I would still suggest an Intel right now. I really hope that AMD puts something out as revolutionary as the Athlon64, but Intel has been on top since the Core2Duo and it doesn't look like they are stepping down from that position any time soon.

 

[felipe_9595]

Smash doesn't require too many resources, heck, I was able to play teams lag free on my netbook with an atom processor. Pretty much any computer you can buy now can play smash fine, especially if it is an intel i3,i5, or whatever. As nova said if you want to use the higher-end gfx plugins you'll want a dedicated graphics card. Of course there are tons of other things to take into consideration when buying a new computer. I could go more in depth if you like with some recommendations if you wanna talk.

HOW o-o I have a Samsung net book with 2 gigs of ram, and an atom processor of 1.6 ghz, and i cannot play with 60 even with Jabo plugin 1.6 and no sounds, is impossible.

 

[DMoogle]

Even as an AMD fanboy I would still suggest an Intel right now. I really hope that AMD puts something out as revolutionary as the Athlon64, but Intel has been on top since the Core2Duo and it doesn't look like they are stepping down from that position any time soon.

Yeah, I used to be an AMD fanboy too, but Intel has just dominated the processor world for a good few years in value.

AMD (ATI) videos cards > NVidia now though, from what I've heard.

BTW I would take up dandan's offer, he seems to definitely know his stuff.

 

[dandan]

actually recently nvidia's gpu's work way better than amd's, and the driver support for nvidia has always been completely superior to that of ati's.

in the cpu market, from the start of the i series, intel processors have a slight lead (though they cost more) but the sandibridge one's really took the top (as they are affordable and still stronger than any of the competitors [except the really top end cards which are pricy]). the new bulldozer cpus that should come out soon might change things, but it seems that they will have 8 cores, but will only be slightly stronger than the 4 cores of intel's cpus, which is not very good, as they will consume more energy for not that much of a performance gain.

 

[SheerMadness]

What about Intel HD Graphics 3000?

That's good enough for lag free ssb right?

 

[NovaSmash]

What about Intel HD Graphics 3000?

That's good enough for lag free ssb right?

yea, i have that on my laptop and i can run jabo8 with 4 players and no lag and no graphics errors. You can even run glide on it but with only 2 players.

 

[dandan]

i don't know why you insist on the think pad, as the lenovo model i have shown you has ati's 5730 dedicated gpu.
anyhow, i would recommend going with hdg 4500, as the 3000 is already outdated (i have the 4500 on my laptop).

 

[NovaSmash]

i don't know why you insist on the think pad, as the lenovo model i have shown you has ati's 5730 dedicated gpu.
anyhow, i would recommend going with hdg 4500, as the 3000 is already outdated (i have the 4500 on my laptop).

i hope u dont mean the GMA 4500M HD, because Intel HD 3000 is better http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-HD.23065.0.html

 

[dandan]

oh i might be mistaken about it, i was meaning that, forget what i am saying. i would still go with the 5730 though :D

 

[SheerMadness]

i don't know why you insist on the think pad

1. Quality. My dad works for IBM (lenovo bought the rights to IBM's computers) so all we've ever had are thinkpads. They last forever.

2. They have two different pointing devices built in. I'm used to the one no other laptops use. Not the digital finger moving crap, that annoys me.

I think I'll settle for the Intel HD Graphics 3000, definitely sounds powerful enough to run lag free teams.