Is a macbook air using intel hd 5000 chipset compatible?

[brittmacminnar]

I'm using a macbook air with a 1.4ghz(2.7 turboboost) processor   4GB of 1600 DDR 3 ram and the intel hd 5000 1536 MB chipset. Is this compatible with Second lIfe?  Thanks

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Britt,

While a Macbook Air can run SL, it'll whirr the fans and burn up the battery doing so. You won't be able to run "ultra" graphics for anything other than the occasional snapshot, but you should be able to get around well on "low" to "mid". SL is a graphics hog and really wants a dedicated graphics adapter. But you're not going to find such a thing in something as svelte as a Macbook Air.

The best way to find out how well it's going to work is to log-in.

Good luck!

[Stevie Davros]

Several years late in my reply but the answer as Madelaine says is YES with some reservations.  I have been using my MacBook Air with the Intel HD Graphics 5000 GPU for six months or so with Firestorm viewer.  It can run with all graphics setting maxed out and even with shadows set to 4, but the frame rate will plunge in a graphics heavy sim.  OK for high res photos.  For normal getting about in a sim, I dial down to custom graphics settings that gives me between 15-20 fps in most sims, and still provides an enjoyable visual experience.  The cooling fan is working overtime all the time however, and it will no doubt lessen the life of the machine if you are on it all the time in SL.  I always use mains power with SL as well.