Emulation on a laptop - any issues?

[dr_no]

I'd like to hear from any members who are into emulation on laptops.
Basically, I'd like to know are there any hardware issues with running WinUAE, AmiKit etc for prolonged period of time e.g. 3+ hours in a session?
My concern is that CPU is working in overtime and the fan is on all the time. I still got a lot of warranty left on my Dell :-) but we don't want to catch fire ;-)
Also, what do you do about battery life? Are there some settings you can make in WinUAE to make it less CPU-intensive?

Ok, background to this. Over this month I'll do a kind of experiment to see if I can do all the task I normally do in Windoze, in AmigaOS. Ah, the exception is when I'm at work 'cause there's no option. If I tell my IT staff I'll be working with AmigaOS I might end-up in a stright-jacket, ya now :-)
I may pester you more over the comming weeks asking various how-to questions, if I don't find answers elsewhere.
I hope to summarise my experiences in an article at some stage - keep you posted.

Cheers

[Waccoon]

WinUAE does have different priority settings if it is minimized.  It also does not yet take advantage of dual cores, so it won't overload a dual-core/hyperthreaded CPU.

Like all emulators, though, the system clock will eventually get all screwed up if the emulation timings are changed.

[gertsy]

I've not tried it on a laptop. But a Pentium M at 2Ghz should have no probs.  I wouldn't worry about the processor fan. It's meant to do that.  But why does it need to be on battery.?  Whats wrong with using the pwr supply ?
 :-?

[dr_no]

Hi Gertsy,
Yeah, no problems on that laptop - I'm using it as I type this - for the past 4 hours on AmiKit without a hitch.
If I don't hear the fan I would be worried :-)  I just want to ask is something like a laptop is designed to handle CPU at full blast for many hours?
I'm running on power supply but there maybe cases when I want to go mobile.
Thanks!

[gertsy]

Hi dr_no, Ive got a Pent4 3.4(std HT). which I think is close to a Pent M 2.0 in raw CPU performance..  Intel CPU tolerances are usually always on the conservative side anyway so I wouldn't worry.  
Just be careful of firing up Deluxe Galaga thought, that might push it over the edge..LOL
Good luck with your experiment.
 

[mpiva]

 I have Amithlon running on my Toshiba laptop.  It's only a 500Mhz Celeron with 192Megs of ram but it runs Amithlon great.    I've had no problems with overheating but it does kill the battery faster than Windows (probably twice as fast) but I usually have my laptop plugged in when I use it so that's not an issue.  The only problem I have with my laptop is that I can't get the sound to work in Amithlon.  

The one really nice thing about this laptop is that it has a nice mix of new stuff and legacy stuff.  For example it has a DVD drive and a floppy drive (and I'm not talking about being able to pull out the DVD drive to plug in a floppy drive, I have access to both at the same time).  It has USB, PS/2, parallel, serial, and modem ports (I just wish it had an ethernet port but that's easily added via PCMCIA).  The presence of the floppy drive and legacy ports comes in very handy with Amithlon whereas the DVD and USB allow me to use some more modern technology as well.

I also have WinXP installed with WinUAE but I rarely use that as it's horribly slow (to boot into Windows and then into AmigaOS via WinUAE takes FOREVER).

[AmiKit]

@dr_no

My concern is that CPU is working in overtime and the fan is on all the time.

Check the "CPU Idle" slider in WinUAE/CPU settings. When it's on the left side, 100% of CPU power is used by WinUAE. Move the slider to the right to reduce the CPU load of your computer. It means that WinUAE will consume less CPU power to emulate the Amiga (which makes the emulation slower of course).

Using the CPU Idle feature saves you money, allows for lower operating temperatures and (if your fans are temperature controlled) less noise.