Purchasing A New Laptop!

[Teddie Button]

 Hello everyone, I am pleased to inform you as well as myself that I am purchasing a new laptop, in the dearest of hopes that my Second Life experience will at least be playable. With my current laptop it seems as if that would only be a dream considering the current specs are :

 

4GB Ram

AMD - Turion Dual Core -  M520 (2.3GHz)

ATI - Mobility Radeon - 4200

 

 I am looking to make the leap to :

 

6GB Ram

Intel Dual Core i5 Processor (2.66 GHz with overclocking at 3.33GHz) OR an i7 640M (2.80Ghz with overclocking at 3.46GHz)

ATI - HD Mobility Radeon - 5650

 

 All of this is achievable, but my questions are 

 

Will it be enough to run at least MEDIUM settings on Second Life without a problem? As in as fast as some of the videos are promoting the game?

Should I go with the i5 dual core processor of the i7? Is there that much of a difference other than extra money?

 

 If you are also wondering, this laptop is a Sony Vaio that I am purchasing. 

My current is an HP Pavilion.

 

 Thank you!

 

[Wilhiam Hydraconis]

Not sure wether you posted this in the correct section, but answering nonetheless.

You seem to want to improve foremost towards processor capabilities, but I'd advise you at first to look for equally priced configurations containing NVidia - graphics. Not to bash ATi on forehand, but SL does have it's quirks with ATi's.

Purchasing an i7 instead of i5 should be of lesser impact, eventhough the difference can be noticable.

Running SL on Medium settings is not so much of a problem. The problem remains that 'smooth' means high FPS rates which relies on more than just a good machine ( network configuration, lag in general, the crowdyness of a sim, etc.. )

[Niav Ansome]

I have a Sony Vaio with an ATI - HD Mobility Radeon - 5650 and SL works perfectly at even high graphic settings, the Mobility Radeons work quite well with SL.

Also if you do have the money just get the i7 for sure as will make it much better.

 

If you can get a newer Sandy Bridge Processor even better then as they have better performance acording to many reviews.

[Prokofy Neva]

Customer service will often explain to you that SL was not meant to run on a laptop.

Even the most blazing Alienware computer my son had purchased will pop up a message that SL is not known to play with this graph card etc.

I think you risk having an SL that will not play at all by buying a laptop to play it. I've found that myself.

I wish the Lindens would build a customized laptop of any make or model that was optimized to play SL and sell that as a package with SL already loaded and tweaked, maybe with some content in it as well. I would buy it for sure.

[DQ Darwin]

I'm throwing this out there because I remember reading in the old forums something about running SL of a USB stick. I can see that for cache and software but haven't tried it myself. If this turns out to be true, I would be inclined to visit a store selling the laptop you are interested in with your SL on a usb stick. Change your password for SL before you try this and take a test run  in SL with that computer. The only main governing factor there would be the internet connection vise what you have at home.

I will try the usb stick running of SL before the weekend is out and return to tell you.

Considering the investment of a new laptop I would want to try prior purchase and possibly off a usb stick would be ideal. Remember because you test at a store doesn't mean you have to buy it there.

I will advise.

That I agree with Prok, it's a good thread to start in Community Feedback.

---

Prokofy Neva wrote:

I wish the Lindens would build a customized laptop of any make or model that was optimized to play SL and sell that as a package with SL already loaded and tweaked, maybe with some content in it as well. I would buy it for sure.

 

---

[Rufus Darkfold]

There should be a forum for this.  We tend to go for the latest-and-greatest hardware for Second Life because it is a very demanding application.  It is hard for Linden Labs to keep up,  but we can help by sharing information if we have a good place to do it.

This would also aid Linden Labs in determining which new hardware we are trying to use.

[Willow Danube]

I moved around a lot.. home is never a home for me and although I long for a nicely built and customized desktop with huge touch sensitive screen that allows me to draw on it, it is just not feasible for my current lifestyle. So I am a laptop user. I have 2 laptops for now and one of them is HP Pavilion which is pretty excellent for photographic works and sound system. I think that's what HP Pavilion is for, still graphic art and media player.

I bought an MSI Centrino2 with nVidia GTS 160M last year and I found the performance is so much better for SL than my HP Pavilion. The graphic card does play an important role in enhancing my virtual world experiences. I could run on Ultra early in the morning when my network connection is at its best and at most time I set it to High unless I walked into a laggy sim. It doesn't get heated as fast as my HP, texture loading is a few second faster and I could run at least 5 instances of mulitple viewers (Imprudence, Spoton3D, etc) before my laptop starts grunting of protest.

Don't dismiss the option of using laptops. In most places I've been, well at least the users in the country where I am in at the moment, they are replacing desktops for high end gaming laptops. It seems like the newer trend savvy generation prefers not to be confined into a chair in the corner of their rooms. There are huge users out there that sees the need for mobile friendly access to online games and this is not limited to Second Life.

Having said all this, desktop is still the best option for hardcore Second Lifers.. but with my need to be able to sit outside early in the morning with cool air and warm sun while checking my work mails and saying Hi to my friends in Second Life beats the desktop anytime.

[Opensource Obscure]

I'd suggests Nvidia instead of ATI. Or at least, if you're going to buy a non-Nvidia video card, do some research and be sure that specific model is OK with Second Life.

[Teddie Button]

Thank you so much everyone for your speedy replies and feedback!

 The other option I was considering was a 425M Nvidia Graphics Card, but upon comparing it to the Radeon, it doesn't do as well when it comes to gaming as the ATI.

 Your opinions helped me greatly, and all in all I think that now this is a good choice of laptop for me to buy! Thanks again!

[Rufus Darkfold]

Some of the Toshiba Qosmio laptops have an Nvidia 460M.  That is supported by Second Life and is likely a match for any ATI that could be put in a laptop.   No problems on high or ultra graphics.

I have a Toshiba X505-Q898

• Intel® Core™ i7-740QM Processor
• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
• 6GB DDR3 memory
• 500GB hard drive (7200rpm)
• 64GB solid state drive
• 1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® 460M
• Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD SuperMulti with Labelflash®
• LED backlit keyboard
• 1920x1080 native resolution (1080p)
• Bluetooth®
• 802.11n wireless
• Integrated webcam

I see Toshiba has a sale on that model now. http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=488791

 

[DQ Darwin]

SL will run completely off a USB stick so if you wish to check a systems capability go in the store and use the stick to see

Edit to add: When you load SL on the stick make sure to chage the cache file and chat location to the stick. Done in preference area of viewer. 

[Teddie Button]

 I've decided I'm settling on the Nvidia GT 425 M Graphics card on an i7 Quad Core processor. It only has 4GB RAM but I'm pretty sure I can just upgrade that! Thanks everyone!

[Maryanne Solo]

A good laptop will run SL no problems. They can and do in fact have equivalent hardware as in schmicko hotrod desktops. It is quite common for the latest graphic cards to flag a message regarding the running of SL until the labs update the software to include the very latest release graphics cards and features. This is well known by the majority who actually take the time to use the virtual world rather than speculate in areas where their knowledge is sparse. 

[Ormand Lionheart]

On a desktop I got great performance with an old AMD DuoCore 4200+. 4 hard drives, 9800GT and 2 gb of Ram on Win Xp. I don't recommend ATI for various reasons which seem to be  performance and graphic related. Nvidia is used by LL to develop the game. So if your laptop can benchmark similar to this system you may be ok. SL generates a LOT of heat so a laptop has serious issues in that regard. I know people doing wonderfully creative things on SL with laptops albeit at drastically reduced framerates. Here's a vid recorded with my older system http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KXuUdPIQ3U Be aware that the SL viewer installs slower by default in most cases so you will have to tweak the settings for higher fps generally doubling fps.

 

cheers

Ormand Lionheart

[Midice Holfe]

Hi  Teddie,

I am curious   about  how  you are  finding   the Laptop performance  with Second Life,    did you end up getting the  i5  with the ATI Modility 5450..   How are you finding it's  performance.