I'm in the process of saving up to buy a new laptop and because I've just discovered game emulators for the PC, what are the top necessary hardware components like cpu, ram, graphics card, storage etc. to play game emulators for available consoles (NES, SNES, PS1, PS2 etc.) so that I can purchase the right laptop for this.
For ex. the Dolphin emulator requires an Intel Core i5-4670K cpu to play Wii games.
Or should I get a desktop?
I mean, depending on the generations you are looking at you might consider looking into a Wii -- it'll be FAR cheaper than any computer and homebrew is super easy to run on it, likely requiring 0 hardware modification, and the system handles at least up to the PS1 fairly well, though it gets rather spotty around that era. It also runs Wii and GC stuff pretty perfectly for . . . obvious reasons.
Well, the Wii was just an example. I'm more interested in emulators for games that were Japanese exclusive, given a faithful fan translation compared to the retail version, or is from the pre-fifth generation of game consoles that require purchasing the console itself etc. and many other reasons like this.
Everything 7th generation an an emulator is redundant.
But like Iike I was saying, what laptop parts would I need for a console emulator got Pre-Seventh generation games?
Most emulators that are tough under the hood for things like PS2 and Saturn are usually designed for Nvidia cards. But even that is spotty. I have a 1060 ti which is nowhere near top of the line but is also fairly far from being garbage or outdated and even that has trouble with a lot of PS2 games. Probably because i also have a really old 4core processor from like 2012. But on that subject i emulate dolphin just fine so I highly doubt it needs any decent i5 if it even really needs an i5 at all