bricklin

[Bricklin Blinker]

I'm thinking of buying a mac mini it has an intel iris graphics card  can i run sl with that?

[Callum Meriman]

I'd guess it will be a very poor experience with very low FPS.

If it's your only choice to be in world, then you can certainly turn off advanced lighting, turn on jelly dolls and and keep your draw distance to 60 meters.

But if you can afford a PC with something like a NVidia 1050 card you would be happier.

[Lindal Kidd]

Yikes.  I wouldn't.

[Bricklin Blinker]

do you know macs? what do you sujest? i have 08 intel quad core 3 gig    but i can't upgrade software.

Edited February 11, 2018 by Bricklin Blinker

[Lindal Kidd]

2 hours ago, Bricklin Blinker said:

do you know macs? what do you sujest? i have 08 intel quad core 3 gig    but i can't upgrade software.

Sorry, I'm not a Mac person.  If I were choosing a computer that will be used to run SL as one of its main jobs, I wouldn't look at Macs anyway...I'd stick to Intel or AMD PCs.  Here's what I would look for:

• an i5 or i7 processor, or an AMD Ryzen processor.  Lots of cores and multithreading are nice to have, but not required for SL...it doesn't really take advantage of them.
• 16 GB of RAM
• A good NVIDIA GeForce graphics card...GeForce 960 or better.  A 1050 if you can find one at a decent price.  Unfortunately, this is a bad time to be buying a graphics card; the cryptocurrency miners have driven up prices almost across the board.
• A big monitor.  At least 24", and 27" or more if you can swing it.
• Other considerations are less important...but I'd like to have a solid state drive for the operating system and software applications, and a big hard drive, 2TB or more, for data storage.
• SL will run fine on any version of Windows...Win 7, 8.1, or 10.  Win 10 Home 64 bit would be my choice.

[Alyona Su]

Current iMacs run SL just as well as Windows. The Mini does NOT. The mini is targeted at low-budget price-shoppers (the same way most MS windows systems are) and so it's designed for things like word-processing.

9 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Sorry, I'm not a Mac person.  If I were choosing a computer that will be used to run SL as one of its main jobs, I wouldn't look at Macs anyway...I'd stick to Intel or AMD PCs.  Here's what I would look for:

• an i5 or i7 processor, or an AMD Ryzen processor.  Lots of cores and multithreading are nice to have, but not required for SL...it doesn't really take advantage of them.
• 16 GB of RAM
• A good NVIDIA GeForce graphics card...GeForce 960 or better.  A 1050 if you can find one at a decent price.  Unfortunately, this is a bad time to be buying a graphics card; the cryptocurrency miners have driven up prices almost across the board.
• A big monitor.  At least 24", and 27" or more if you can swing it.
• Other considerations are less important...but I'd like to have a solid state drive for the operating system and software applications, and a big hard drive, 2TB or more, for data storage.
• SL will run fine on any version of Windows...Win 7, 8.1, or 10.  Win 10 Home 64 bit would be my choice.

You've pretty much just described most current models of Mac and PowerBooks along with PCs and Windows Laptops. And any comparable windows system costs nearly the same as a comperable Apple system (build-quality wise). Here's the thing for anyone considering a new system with the ability to run SL well: Do not be a price-shopper. Your SL experience quality will have a tendency to directly match the price you pay for your system.

Edited February 11, 2018 by Alyona Su

[Lindal Kidd]

3 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

Current iMacs run SL just as well as Windows. The Mini does NOT. The mini is targeted at low-budget price-shoppers (the same way most MS windows systems are) and so it's designed for things like word-processing.

You've pretty much just described most current models of Mac and PowerBooks along with PCs and Windows Laptops. And any comparable windows system costs nearly the same as a comperable Apple system (build-quality wise). Here's the thing for anyone considering a new system with the ability to run SL well: Do not be a price-shopper. Your SL experience quality will have a tendency to directly match the price you pay for your system.

Higher end Macs HAVE those components, it's true. Macs also have the Apple OS and a premium price tag for that Apple logo.  I disagree that Macs are comparable in cost to Windows machines, given comparable components.  But...having said that...I'm not here to engage in a Mac-vs-PC debate.  My MAJOR reason for preferring a Windows machine over a Mac ***for Second Life*** is that the SL and third party viewers tend to have fewer bugs and glitches in their Windows versions, compared to the Apple and Linux versions.  And that's due to an obvious economy of scale:  Most SL users are running Windows, so the developers put most of their efforts into the Windows versions of the viewers.

It's nice to see that we both agree that a Mac Mini (or a $300 entry level PC, or a Chromebook for that matter) aren't suitable for SL.  Also, please note that I do NOT recommend a laptop, either PowerBook or Windows, for SL.  They can do it, especially a "gaming laptop".  But they get hot in the process, which can shorten their life.  And the screens, even a 17" one, are too small for comfort.

[Bricklin Blinker]

Thank you for the help  i have done video for years and prefer Mac  just because i don't want to learn a new system (PC) I just can't afford the new desk top mac right now was looking to cheep out   LOL  would it be wise to use windows on a mac that will run both  to run sl   i usually use firestorm viewer ?

[Lindal Kidd]

No...if you use a Mac, just use the Apple version of the viewer.

[ChinRey]

7 hours ago, Bricklin Blinker said:

Thank you for the help  i have done video for years and prefer Mac  just because i don't want to learn a new system (PC)

If you have been using Macs for years, switching to Windows 8 or 10 might take you down memory lane. If you can ignore the flat design and find your way out of that tacky Android clone defaultyl interface, the latest Windows versions are amazingly simialr to how the Mac OS was a few years ago.