Tablet help

[Nav27]

Hi guys!
I am thinking of buying a tablet but i have no idea if the specs are good enough to run DraStic.
Could you help me out?
Thanks in advance.

Acer Iconia Tab 8:
OS:Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
Chipset:Intel Atom Z3745
CPU:Quad-core 1.86 GHz
GPU:Intel Gen 7 (Ivy Bridge)
Ram: 2GB
Screen:1200 x 1920 pixels

OR

Asus Memo Pad 8
CPU: Intel® Atom™ Z3745 Quad Core 1,33GHz ( can go up to 1,8GHz)
GPU:Intel Gen 7 (Ivy Bridge)
OS:4.4.2 (KitKat)
Ram: 1GB
Screen:800 x 1280 pixels

[acid]

Does it have to be an intel soc? Drastic is better optimized for ARM socs. None of those will be ideal if playing games on drastic is what you want it for. Maybe something with a snapdragon 800/801, tegra 4 or tegra k1 would be better in that case. Also, avoid socs with arm cortex a7 cores and anything above 1080p resolution.

[Nav27]

The other ones are to expensive.
Cant i run phoenix wright, professor layton or kirby in the asus?

[TkSilver]

Also, avoid socs with arm cortex a7 cores and anything above 1080p resolution.

As someone with a resolution above 1080p (2560x1600), DraStic really does not care about your resolution as much as say epsxe or mupen64 AE+ or most of the other emulators since it does not really use the gpu that much and renders a specific internal resolution and just scales it up.

The other ones are to expensive.
Cant i run phoenix wright, professor layton or kirby in the asus?

Phoenix -- yes
Layton -- yes
Kirby -- maybe but probably (you may need frameskip to run it comfortably)

Will it run drastic -- yes, but you will need to use the beta fpr now since atom chips have issues that are only fixed in the beta if your tablets can upgrade to lollipop.

Would you probably be better off getting a mediatek or allwinner based chipset tablet (also in the $80-$190 ranges of price --- yes, if you plan on wanting to use a lot of android programs since atom chips, well x86 chips in general, are not the most compatible chips to use with android which means that if the program works it will have to usually pass through a translation layer in your tablet ti take the arm optimized code and make it x86 compatible. That will add overhead, some lag (though it is far better then it used to be on older atom devices), and sometimes (aprox 10% or so) won't work anyways.

If that is all ok then yes either tablet will run Drastic the Acer will run things a little better due to the higher amount of ram, but you will not get the neon based speed enhancements so you will need more frameskip then an equal or sometimes slower clock speed arm based chip.

[xperia64]

Yeah avoid Intel if you want good performance with DraStic. Does it have to be an 8 inch tablet? Even the 2013 Nexus 7 would be a lot better than either of them and is around the same price.

[acid]

The problem with chinese tablets for gaming and emulators (usually the ones with mediatek, rockchip and all winner socs) is the screen framerate. Sometimes it's 45, sometimes 50, other times something completely random like 53. On snapdragon socs its always 60. At least the ones I tried. Anything other than 60 will simply be no good for emulation.

[Nav27]

Thanks for the help!
I am now considering getting either the nexus 7 (2013) or the Galaxy Tab 4 8.0. Which one do you think is best for emulators?
I am kind of considering the samsung because the bigger screen might be better for movies.

[acid]

If it was for me I'd pick the nexus 7. The soc is much better. Just make sure its the 2013 model (important). The samsung isn't worth it since it's using cortex a7 cores. Also, take a look at the xiaomi mipad. It's an inexpensive tegra k1 tablet. I know it has a 2k resolution but believe me, it can handle it. Check some videos on YouTube.

[TkSilver]

Arm cortex a7 is fuly compatible with the cortex a15 which is why it can be used in big.little with those cores. Thst means it has simd neon support wichis is useful in programs that optimize for it like DraStic. Arm cortex a6 is the one you want to avoid like a plague.

Between the nexus 7 (2013) and the galaxy tab 4 (8.0) you have to choose between a slightly faster processor, slightly more ram and hopefully more internal storage (32gb model or don't buy it) vs a microsd card slot for upto 64gb of storage for roms (and maybe saves if you are using both an emulator that can store on sd and a rooted device to allow sd card storage).

The MiPad has a much much much faster processor then either one of them, an actual graphics solution that really works, microsd card support, and it is slightly cheeper then the tab made by Nvidia. The only downside is that it is still a little pricey unless you find a deal and getting google play (which you must have to get DraStic) requires extra work since google play + Chinese devices do not like each other.

[Nav27]

So yeah... the xiaomi brand doesnt exist in Portugal so i might just get the nexus 7.