windows 7 or 8

[blonde Avon]

I am buying a new laptop as I am on windows Vista its slow an old should I buy windows 7 laptop or windows 8 laptop for second life which works better an what is the best graphics card for sl is it nividia many thanks 

[Rolig Loon]

Either Win 7 or Win 8 will work.  You have to think of other programs you will be using the machine for too.  I bought a new laptop in January and chose Win 7 because I have no programs that need a touch screen ability and because I figured it was smart to give Microsoft some time to get the early bugs out of Win 8 before I jump into it.  Plenty of SL residents have chosen Win 8 and are happy with it, though, so it's your choice.

Generally speaking, NVidia cards work better for SL than AMD cards, but some people have been able to find problems with both.  The one thing you want to be sure of is that you actually have a card, so that you aren't just running with a switchable Intel graphics chip, like the HD 4000 series.  To have a halfway decent experience with SL (and toi avoid overheating and destroying the machine early), you need to invest in a laptop designed for gaming.  Watch your budget, but go for the machine with the highest rated graphics card you can afford.  Then spend another $25 and get a ventilated stand to put under the laptop when you're using it.  SL makes any laptop run hot.