Computer use

[Selene Gregoire]

12 hours ago, NayNayFaith said:

True. Well I only wanna spend like $100 to $200 on a computer and everyone is saying an hp. Works great for it I wanted just want to know everyone else’s opinion 

You aren't going to find an HP for that amount. You won't find any laptop that will run SL for that amount. What you want is something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-Gaming-15-6-Inch-Screen/dp/B071JPYP1Z

Which is what I have and use when I can't be on my desktop and need to log in.

Edited September 7, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Paul Hexem]

$100-$200

I've paid that much just for a keyboard. That's not going to get a very good computer. 

[Chassie Rowley]

I was looking for a good refurbished machine. Something with a few hooves under the hood.

One site I constantly checked was Fry's Electronics. They offer rebuilt puters both desk and lap. The prices are considerably less expensive and come with some kind of warranty. Check their website to see if a location is close to you (assuming you live in the US) and you can order online and pick up (or shipped, up to you). Long story short, I found an HP that I liked at, of all places, Walmart. They deal in refurbished as well. I ended up buying a brand new puter instead. Reason being after getting a refurbished unit, I would need a monitor. This came with everything I needed (was on special). Had a GeForce 1050 card installed and off I went.

If you go with one of my suggestions, be careful. You may find one you like but could be sold the next day. Check em out, look for some that you are looking for (or close to it) and act as quickly that your financing will allow.

Great deals go fast.

Edited September 8, 2019 by CharlieMack

[Lancewae Barrowstone]

Also, beware of your expectations.  In general, running SL "fast and with no lag" does not equate with "$200."  Realize that most players on older laptops and desktops tend to have to adjust down their ingame SL graphics settings, those settings are found in the "Preferences" tab.  A $200 lappy doesn't usually run on "Ultra" performance setting, or even "High" or even "Mid."   Often their owners run them on "Low" graphics just so the lag is at least tolerable.  

This is a choice you will surely face no matter what laptop you get in that low price range.   In fact, in that range you are likely going to face buying something that either won't run SL hardly at all, or will run SL but slow as molasses, even when you crank down all your graphics settings to the lowest.   You hope to hit somewhere in the middle of that spectrum and well hopefully be acceptable to you.  It's a gamble.  But if you are somehow lucky in what you find, you still won't be using Ultra setting, but something below it.   How far below, no one can tell until you plug it in and log it on.

I tell you so you won't be disappointed no mater how hard you work finding a good $200 machine.  You're gonna crank down your ingame graphics.  And frankly that's not a tragic thing.  We do that in all games.   We adjust the game graphics to our individual computer.   We trade between running the game fast, OR taking some loss in speed for better graphics.   So, your's is not a simple equation, but a sliding scale between those two factors.  That's how it is.  My first years in SL were spent in the lower/mid graphics settings. 

Good luck.  

[cheesecurd]

4 hours ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

I tell you so you won't be disappointed no mater how hard you work finding a good $200 machine.  You're gonna crank down your ingame graphics.

Again, ive explained the exact way to get the best out of 200$. Which would be far from unplayable and would actually net pretty decent results. 1080p on higher settings being more than possible. An optiplex 790 with an i5 2400/i7 2600 and GTX 1050 would easily push decent framerates at higher settings with ALM on for most of SL.

Go to goodwill and get a 10$ 1280x1024 monitor, of which there are millions out there, a walmart logitech keyboard/mouse combo for like 20 bucks and there you go, under 200$, decent SL performer.

[Selene Gregoire]

15 minutes ago, cheesecurd said:

Again, ive explained the exact way to get the best out of 200$. Which would be far from unplayable and would actually net pretty decent results. 1080p on higher settings being more than possible. An optiplex 790 with an i5 2400/i7 2600 and GTX 1050 would easily push decent framerates at higher settings with ALM on for most of SL.

Go to goodwill and get a 10$ 1280x1024 monitor, of which there are millions out there, a walmart logitech keyboard/mouse combo for like 20 bucks and there you go, under 200$, decent SL performer.

Are you absolutely certain the OP lives in the US? Not every country has Good Will stores or Habitat stores. Just as not every state has them.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Lyssa Greymoon]

3 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Are you absolutely certain the OP lives in the US? Not every country has Good Will stores or Habitat stores. Just as not every state has them.

The ads for computers he's asking about are all located in the US.

[Selene Gregoire]

Just now, Lyssa Greymoon said:

The ads for computers he's asking about are all located in the US.

Read that last sentence again. 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

4 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Read that last sentence again. 

What state doesn't have thrift stores?

[Selene Gregoire]

Just now, Lyssa Greymoon said:

What state doesn't have thrift stores?

GoodWill stores were mentioned specifically. Not just thrift stores. 

Alaska, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas Massachusetts, Montana and Mississippi do not have GoodWill stores.

Not all thrift stores deal in computers either. And pawn shops aren't really going to be cheap.

[Lyssa Greymoon]

6 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

GoodWill stores were mentioned specifically. Not just thrift stores. 

Alaska, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas Massachusetts, Montana and Mississippi do not have GoodWill stores.

Not all thrift stores deal in computers either. And pawn shops aren't really going to be cheap.

Those are states that don't have Goodwill outlets. I'm sure they all have Goodwill retail stores (does it seem plausible that there are no Goodwills in Massachusetts or Mississippi?). Yeah, a lot of thrifts don't like computers for some reason, but they tend to be overflowing with monitors and peripherals.

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Those are states that don't have Goodwill outlets. I'm sure they all have Goodwill retail stores (does it seem plausible that there are no Goodwills in Massachusetts or Mississippi?). Yeah, a lot of thrifts don't like computers for some reason, but they tend to be overflowing with monitors and peripherals.

I lived in MS for 10 years. There are no Good Will stores there. Closest thing to a thrift store is Dollar General. Unless you count military surplus stores.

GoodWills around here don't have much in the way of monitors and peripherals.  It's where we look first.

[Amanda Crisp]

Checking online resellers might be a good idea.

Posted as an example; www.discountcomputerdepot.com

Horsepower may vary.....

[Resi Pfeffer]

On 9/7/2019 at 6:04 AM, NayNayFaith said:

True. Well I only wanna spend like $100 to $200 on a computer and everyone is saying an hp. Works great for it I wanted just want to know everyone else’s opinion 

Just a bit off topic. What smartphone do you use? 

[cheesecurd]

8 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Are you absolutely certain the OP lives in the US? Not every country has Good Will stores or Habitat stores. Just as not every state has them.

Why are you trying to pull an argument out of thin air? You completely ignored like everything else and immediately tried to start an argument over nothing in a thread where a person is asking for suggestions on a computer. Go back to webkinz if you're going to act like a child.

OP has posted that they're in the US, in the form of the links they share in the pictures that show what city they're in. 

And while goodwill is not a universal thing, it can be replaced with literally any resale store. Cheap monitors are a plenty, you can find them anywhere. Cheap tvs or whatever work as well, it doesn't matter, it's a generalization.

The key point remains, old optiplex + gpu and some time spent tinkering is the best you can get for 200$.

[Qie Niangao]

4 hours ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

Just a bit off topic. What smartphone do you use? 

I was thinking this, too. We're at a point where it's easier to save substantial money with a used smartphone, several generations old, than with a used computer.

This never occurred to me, frankly, until the screen cracked on an ancient Nexus 6 we keep around for non-phone duty. I discovered it's not that difficult nor expensive to DIY replace a broken screen on an older phone (and they're even available for cheap without a cracked screen to replace ). Then just root, load up Lineage OS for nightly updated security, and save hundreds of dollars -- unless the phone is to be used for gaming which may need the latest and greatest...

... just as with computers.

[Alyona Su]

11 hours ago, cheesecurd said:

Again, ive explained the exact way to get the best out of 200$. Which would be far from unplayable and would actually net pretty decent results. 1080p on higher settings being more than possible. An optiplex 790 with an i5 2400/i7 2600 and GTX 1050 would easily push decent framerates at higher settings with ALM on for most of SL.

Go to goodwill and get a 10$ 1280x1024 monitor, of which there are millions out there, a walmart logitech keyboard/mouse combo for like 20 bucks and there you go, under 200$, decent SL performer.

So, based on your expert technical prowess and firm recommendation means that when the average user follows your advice they can contact you for the major assistance they will undoubtedly need? Just asking for a friend.

[Selene Gregoire]

3 hours ago, cheesecurd said:

Why are you trying to pull an argument out of thin air? You completely ignored like everything else and immediately tried to start an argument over nothing in a thread where a person is asking for suggestions on a computer. Go back to webkinz if you're going to act like a child.

OP has posted that they're in the US, in the form of the links they share in the pictures that show what city they're in. 

And while goodwill is not a universal thing, it can be replaced with literally any resale store. Cheap monitors are a plenty, you can find them anywhere. Cheap tvs or whatever work as well, it doesn't matter, it's a generalization.

The key point remains, old optiplex + gpu and some time spent tinkering is the best you can get for 200$.

Way to completely miss the point. Cheap shots are for children. There was no argument. Nor did I try to start one. Unless you call giving information that others may not be aware of starting an argument.

Too bad a hurricane came along and wiped out my computer shop. I could have given the kid a good laptop. 

Just goes to show what happens when you make the wrong assumptions about people you don't know.

 

[cheesecurd]

8 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

So, based on your expert technical prowess and firm recommendation means that when the average user follows your advice they can contact you for the major assistance they will undoubtedly need? Just asking for a friend.

100%, if they need a complete step by step I will provide. I'll make images as demonstration. Hell, I will record video of what they need to do and post it to YouTube if they want.

Im here to help, and If OP needs that help I can provide. It comes with the extra complexity of putting a gpu into an old optiplex. Though really it would take them about a minute tops and the only requirement is a screwdriver. Installing windows 10 from a USB has about two bajillion wikihow articles though. 

 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

On 9/8/2019 at 7:49 PM, Lyssa Greymoon said:

What state doesn't have thrift stores?

I live in one,  well let me put it this way, they have these that are run by a certain church and dont like non church members in them.

[Hunny Bunny]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:11 PM, NayNayFaith said:

True. So would this laptop work best? It’s an ho and it has that sticker on it and that intel sticker

It's a ho, sounds prefect for SL.

[cheesecurd]

On 9/6/2019 at 8:42 PM, NayNayFaith said:

I am in need of a new computer, but I don’t know what to get people say HP computers are good to use for pc but I don’t know so what computer can I use that have a lot of space and don’t lag and works fast so I don’t look glitchy and laggy??? 

If you want some further help outside of the SL forums, I suggest the LTT forums, specifically the laptops section:

https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/88-laptops-and-pre-built-systems/

Theres a whole bunch of people there who can help you deal hunt and direct you towards what it is you need to buy. Just mention the use case and the budget and make sure to mention that the formal system requirements are out of date.

[Sorciaa]

SL is just a big, fat pig of a game. Its very hard to say what will or wont run it well. I know people who have very high end desktop systems that still get bogged down in some sims.

[Alyona Su]

2 hours ago, Sorciaa said:

SL is just a big, fat pig of a game. Its very hard to say what will or wont run it well. I know people who have very high end desktop systems that still get bogged down in some sims.

Which version, Firestorm? Catznip? Black Dragon? Kokua? Official Viewer? Which fat pig of a game are you playing? Because... I'm not seeing what you are seeing. Do not bring tinker toy to where Constructor Dumpers are the preferred vehicle.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Sorciaa]

3 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

Which version, Firestorm? Catznip? Black Dragon? Kokua? Official Viewer? Which fat pig of a game are you playing? Because... I'm not seeing what you are seeing. Do not bring tinker toy to where Constructor Dumpers are the preferred vehicle.

Firestorm and I believe i mentioned SL in my post. and as far as a tinker toy I am talking about a pretty high end desktop, not a 5 year old potato. Its pretty well documented this " game " is not optimized at all and it will drag a high end PC down So I will have to assume whatever you are running it on was crafted at Hogwarts.