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Laptop has died! What type of laptop should I get now?


Leigh Baily
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Well, my present laptop has bite the bullet and I'm in the market for a new one now.  After looking around and reading the forums I know that there is a few things to avoid (graphic cards).  The question I have is, what would be the best make and what are the best specs that I am looking for, that will run SL nice and smoothly?

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Look for a current Nvidia GPU.  Their list of laptop cards is here.  Do not get anything listed as Value or Mainstream, as these are geared towards basic 2D and video playback.  The Performance level GPUs will run SL at medium-high, but the heat will eventually kill them.  High Performance or Enthusiast GPUs will give the best performance and longevity.


For an idea of off the shelf systems capable of running SL, check this page from Newegg.  You can get something that will run SL for about $800, but I would say that, realistically, you should expect to pay at least $1000 to get something that will last.  If you want to go with a more expensive system that you can get customized, there are a few more options: the Asus G51 or G71 laptops sold through resellers (from about $1500); a Clevo/Sager based system (most resellers use these for their gaming models, prices start around $1700) or an Alienware M15x or M17x will all do very well (expect to pay $1800+).

A warning on the "Best" Buy Asus laptops: the two-year global Asus warranty DOES NOT APPLY to these models.  You get a one-year "Geek" Squad warranty in its place, and you do not get the one-year accidental damage coverage.  By the time you add tax and that extended warranty from Best Buy, you can get a better deal from Newegg.

Don't forget to invest in a good cooler for your laptop,  This works well for me on an Asus G51Vx-A1.

 

To answer your question about models and makes, I love my Asus G51, and they have a good reputation for reliability.

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Unless you need the mobility, I wouldn't get a laptop, I'd get a tower. The biggest problem with laptops is the cost to upgrade/replace components. For example, lets say you want to replace the graphics card on a laptop with something more powerful, you will spend the money for the new card, more money for the tech to do the work and spend the time for it to sit in the shop until they do the work, usually a few days to a week. Oh, and if they don't have the laptop sized graphics card in supply, you spend the time waiting for it to be shipped to the shop. With a tower, you spend the money for the graphics card, which is usually in stock on the shelf, remove the case, pull out the old card, plug in the new one and close it up, all in about 10 minutes. Don't know how to replace a graphics card? Get the neighbourhood geek to show you how.

Having now read some other posts giving prices, you can get a good quality tower for less than the cost of a laptop. My current tower cost me approx. CDN$500 (US$475), including the monitor, a year ago. Its a single core Athlon CPU running at 2.6Mhz, 1 Gb RAM, 160GB harddrive and a nVidia GeForce 6150SE with 512Mb RAM. Next month I iwll be replacing the current graphics card with the nVidia GeForce 9500 GT with 1GB DDR2 RAM for CDN$75 (US$71.25). I plan on adding to my system's RAM the month after.

Oh, and I would purchase online from a reputable dealer (my personal preference is Tiger Direct, but there are plenty of others). You'll get a much better deal.

 

Message was edited by: Henry Darkthief to include additional info

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I would go far an Asus G series, at least a 50V. Very fast for SL, rated highest in class for notebookgraphics, because of 256 bits bandwith.

Mine has 512 dedicated graphic memory, and 1792 shared. 1024 Dedicated is going to be the standard. However for the Nvidia the benefit from 512 to 1024 is minimum since both graphics ram and main pc ram are class ddr3, and because of the 256 bits line... and since the 200 series of Nvidia is not much more than a higher clocked Nvidia Geforce 8800 / 9800.

At least make sure the graphics bus is 256 instead of 128. That makes a big difference.

I would also be careful not to select an über computer, because SL is very slow in development on support of the latest graphics cards.

I bought my G50V ~3 months ago an i was just lucky that a few days later the support of the card was available whilst the card had been on the market already for almost a year. SL in general not the most rapid with updates concerning mainstream computing/gaming.

In general i also understood that ATI is better nowadays since Nvidia has just been renaming existing cards since the 8800, but in fact not much change other than clock times and a minimizing chip production process to 55 and 45 Nm.

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Most important with a laptop is to buy a class1, 256 bits wide adress bus and you'll be fine for much time to come.

To many notebooks still have only 128, and that is where the future problem mainly had started.

512 Or 1024 dd3 dedicated graphics mem with a 256 bits bus will even be able to process a Crysis2 game or other virtual wordls like Blue Mars with ease, and SL is about 1/2 the Crysis2 graph qualities.

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Except as expressly provided below under “Exceptions,” we do not allowadvertising or the promotion of specific merchants, marketplacelistings, products, services, or commercial websites, including offersto trade, “wanted” posts, charitable solicitations, and posts onaffiliate or referral programs.  “Advertising” and “commercialpromotion” include promotion of your own business as well as others’businesses.  A persistent focus on a particular merchant, listing,product, service, or commercial website is also considered“advertising” or “commercial promotion.”  A “commercial website” is awebsite where you can buy, sell, or trade any product or service.   

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Thank you, most of you have given me quite a bit of very good information to assist me in this and I look forward to eventually having a brand new laptop.  The reason I'm looking for a laptop and not a tower, is because I need and require the mobility that a laptop affords me.  Thank you also Veritable for the recommendation for the cooling pad..I've been looking all over for a really great one that actually will do the job of cooling, instead of just blowing air around without really helping cool off the laptop (my previous attempts with a cooling pad, obviously did not go well)

For Alienware, I do have a question..with those, are able to use other manufacturers products, ie. printers..or their name brand items only?  Does anyone have one of these?  No, I'm not getting one of those but, I did see it in my search and did wonder at that.

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I've had an Alienware, and my wife's current laptop is also an Alienware.  They are now fully under Dell, but that seems to have improved their access to designers and materials.  The new models feature excellent cooling (one of the most important features in a gaming machine).  They sell Alienware periherals, but the laptops can connect to anything with a Windows driver (most of the peripherals are customized parts from gaming suppliers with AW logos and lights to match the AW cases).

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Irene.Muni wrote:

 

No Advertising or Commercial Promotion

Except as expressly provided below under “Exceptions,” we do not allowadvertising or the promotion of specific merchants, marketplacelistings, products, services, or commercial websites, including offersto trade, “wanted” posts, charitable solicitations, and posts onaffiliate or referral programs.  “Advertising” and “commercialpromotion” include promotion of your own business as well as others’businesses.  A persistent focus on a particular merchant, listing,product, service, or commercial website is also considered“advertising” or “commercial promotion.”  A “commercial website” is awebsite where you can buy, sell, or trade any product or service.   

... ... ... 

Exceptions:

Exceptions for Designated Commerce Forums: ... ... ... ...

(Guidelines)

If we apply that to mean no discussion of the merits of different hardware and computer sellers in terms of accessing Second Life, than this entire discussion area should be closed.  It is impossible to discuss hardware without mentioning brands.  Links to Newegg, Toshiba, and Nvidia are provided here in order to help a resident with a legitimate question about hardware.  This thread does not in any way encourage competition with Linden Labs of Second Life: just the opposite, these responses from the community are intended to enhance a user's experience in Second Life and ensure that they are able to get the most from their time here.

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if u need something thats portable then buy a nice cheap net book ...then buy a good desk top for ur main computer...do that if ur just looking to go cheap....now if money isn't an object and u rlly rlly want a laptop then i would buy a mac book or a mac book pro so u can get the best looking graphics ...don't get less that 4 gigs of ram.and make sure to get one with an intel cpu or anything thats not the apple special...unless u know without a doubt u will never change the OS then the apple one is ok i guess..i have a mac book as my main computer i haven't had any problems with it yet and its almost 2 years old..and it gets heavy use... lap tops aren't going to burn out any faster than a desk top if u treat them well...but u have to be very anal about it...i thinkng i might have ocd when it come to my mac ...keep it dust free and don't let it get over heated...have some way to cool it down if it gets too hot NEVER just turn it off let it cool down slowly while its still running...don't let ur long haired cat sleep on the keyboard...don't drop it...one of things that can destroy a good lap top is the pounding on the keyboard...so if ur at home u should never touch its keyboard...use a usb cheapy  that u can unplug and leave at home or if u take it with u if its lost no big deal... don't smoke around ur laptop...if u actually take ur computer outside...which is a big no no...but i do it all the time...make sure u have a well padded case and bag for it (mine doubles as my pillow when i'm camping)...when u come back inside take some extra time to clean it...if u keep it looking like its brand new u can get a lot of life out of it...15- 20 hours in SL usually before i start thinking of doing a reboot...the only bad thing about  using a mac i can think of is u can't only log onto one SL viewer at a time so u wouldn't be able to run an alt at the same time as ur main and the ridiculous price u will have to pay for one....good luck its always fun shopping for a new computer and all the cool accessories u will have to get too =)

PS if u can u should get a laptop without any kind of disc drive and buy an external dvd drive...all laptop disc drives suck

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Saikiki.Moriguchi wrote:

 

....now if money isn't an object and u rlly rlly want a laptop then i would buy a mac book or a mac book pro so u can get the best looking graphics ...

I'm afraid I'd have to disagree here.  I have nothing against Macs, and have owned and used many of them, but the best you can do on a MacBook Pro right now is an Nvidia 9600m GT (32 cores/128 bit memory bus) on models starting at $1999.  For under $1500, there are several WinTel machines running an Nvidia GTX 260m (112 cores/256 bit memory bus).  I will say that OS X (like other Unix derivatives) has better OpenGL support, as that is the native graphics system.  ATI's biggest problem for SL users is that they have been really pushing Windows graphics...the 5000 series is the only graphics cards supporting DirectX 11.

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what veritable said...now for the ION its basically the same as a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M so u shouldn'tt have any trouble at all running SL in any viewer...u just the small screen factor to worry about...most of the viewers i have used have the bottom of the screen cutoff...with emerald u get a full screen but i can't get music or media to play...so u should try out several different viewers to see what works best for u

ION video

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I just recently got a geforce nvidia gt 240 and am IMPRESSED. I have not as yet* (oh gosh now I said that) had any issues whatsoever with it and I can use the "ultra" setting for the first time since using SL. (2 years) haha.... anyway, I have a dell laptop that chugs a long on SL and I hardly ever use it. Also, I lost my backspace key and need a replacement... (cheap cheap cheap) dude, dont get a dell.

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