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Best Laptop to use SL properly?


moongal721
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Hey SL!

I am currently using a used HP with Windows 10 but it only has 4GB of RAM. 

I am going to be buying a better laptop soon. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for what sort of laptop and what sort of specs I should get to have a better SL experience?

I am going to be buying my own SIM once I get a better laptop. 

Edited by moongal721
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38 minutes ago, moongal721 said:

Hey SL!

I am currently using a used HP with Windows 10 but it only has 4GB of RAM. 

I am going to be buying a better laptop soon. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for what sort of laptop and what sort of specs I should get to have a better SL experience?

I am going to be buying my own SIM once I get a better laptop. 

Best? Hard to say. But you will probably want a gaming laptop. I love my Acer Aspire V 15 Nitro. Look for a minimum of 8GB of ram. You should go 16, more if you can spring for it. Minimum i5 processor, spring for an i7 if you can.

Your best bet is to look for a gaming laptop.

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Alienware Area-51m Gaming Laptop

  • 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.0Ghz w/Turbo Boost)
  • Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
  • 64GB, 4x16GB, DDR4 2400MHz
  • 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB NVMe M.2 SSDs) + 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive
 
$4,849.99

 

 
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I have an Acer Nitro-5 and it works great.

Quote
  • 8th Generation Intel Core i5-8300H Processor (Up to 4.0GHz), 8GB DDR4 Memory and 256GB SSD
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti with 4GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM

And it's about 1/5th the price of Rhonda's 😁

Edited by Lewis Luminos
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I use my son's alienware- new last November,  & I have the fastest net from Cox, and sometimes tether myself in with the Ethernet and still can be slowed to a crawl while in SL, and that isn't even with my graphics up.  So spending tons of money won't ensure a flawless experience.  Get what you can afford from the minimum requirements & go from there.   I don't know what the device or product id does but i blacked them out anyways cause you know- paranoia.  😑

Capture.PNG

Edited by Pixie Kobichenko
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The best laptop for SL is...a desktop!

You get more performance per dollar, but the biggest advantage is that you can use a huuuuuge monitor.  Consider how often you REALLY have to take your computer to a different location before deciding that it's got to be a laptop.

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13 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

The best laptop for SL is...a desktop!

You get more performance per dollar, but the biggest advantage is that you can use a huuuuuge monitor.  Consider how often you REALLY have to take your computer to a different location before deciding that it's got to be a laptop.

I would love a desktop but I gotta keep my tootsies elevated as much as possible :(

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6 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

Alienware Area-51m Gaming Laptop

  • 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.0Ghz w/Turbo Boost)
  • Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
  • 64GB, 4x16GB, DDR4 2400MHz
  • 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB NVMe M.2 SSDs) + 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive
 
$4,849.99

 

 

That is so seriously unrealistically priced to the average SL user. If a person has to plunk down 5g on a pc just to run SL no wonder no one is on SL anymore.

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I don't know. I have a cheap HP laptop (about €399 when it was new, 4 years ago) which I use when traveling to my family's, also with 4GB RAM and with integrated graphics only, but SL runs just fine on it (when using the Cool CL Viewer, on medium graphic settings, although with 128m draw distance). :)

However, I don't run Windows 10 on this laptop (because it is pretty resource hungry), but a Linux distribution (Kubuntu 19.10) instead - and I don't use Firestorm on it, because that would give me very low FPS.

 

That said, I agree that you'd likely want a designated Gaming Laptop with more RAM and a much better graphics card. And that would cost a grand at least. That's why I'd go with Lindal, because with a desktop computer, you'd get way better performance for less money invested.

 

ETA: Here's one of the best Gaming Laptops (as far as I know of):

MSI GT75 9SG-268 Titan (43,9 cm/17,3 Zoll/4K UHD) Gaming-Notebook (Intel Core i9-9980HK, 64GB RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD, Nvidia GeForce RTX2080 8GB, Windows 10 Pro)

Price: €5.099,00

Edited by ThorinII
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3 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

The best laptop for SL is...a desktop!

You get more performance per dollar, but the biggest advantage is that you can use a huuuuuge monitor.  Consider how often you REALLY have to take your computer to a different location before deciding that it's got to be a laptop.

The main reason I prefer a desktop over a laptop isn't so much the size of the monitor, as the position.  If the laptop is in a position where it's comfortable for me to type, the screen is too low and after a while it makes my neck and head ache. With the desktop, I can raise the screen so I'm looking forward at it, and not down. I can sit on a laptop for maybe an hour or two before I have to put it away, but I can stay on a desktop all day.

Sure it's nice having a 20" widescreen, but if the screens were the same size I would still prefer the desktop.

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11 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

Alienware Area-51m Gaming Laptop

  • 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.0Ghz w/Turbo Boost)
  • Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
  • 64GB, 4x16GB, DDR4 2400MHz
  • 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB NVMe M.2 SSDs) + 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive
 
$4,849.99

 

 

Does it include an alien?

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Is the bit about "buying your own sim" any kind of hint related to the qualities of the laptop? Or what's the point of it?

Now seriously, such kind of threads are like walking into a mall and saying, "I got money, I want clothes" and seriously expecting help.

What is your budget? What demands do you have in regards of your new machine?

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13 minutes ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

What is your budget? What demands do you have in regards of your new machine?

This. ^

It's nonsensical to keep suggesting the most expensive notebooks/laptops (of prices $4,800 and up) if the budget is not high enough.

Just 8GB of RAM, and a decent processor (AMD Ryzen 5, or Intel i7) should be more than enough. Also, if your internet connection allows it, you already can run SL on "Ultra" with decent graphic cards, like the NVidia GTX1060/1070/1080 for example (I don't know the Radeon alternatives), which are much less expensive anyway than the High-End graphics card NVidia RTX2080, for example. You don't necessarily *need* a High-End Laptop/Notebook.

 

Edited by ThorinII
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1 hour ago, ThorinII said:

GTX1060/1070/1080 for example (I don't know the Radeon alternatives), which are much less expensive anyway than the High-End graphics card NVidia RTX2080, for example

Unrelated to OPs question, as I tend to avoid these topics now and just suggest people go to the Linustechtips forum, tomshardware, Reddit or 4chans /g/ technology board if desired for the sub thread /pcbg/. BUT

Just for your reference and others.

GT 1030 = RX 550

GTX 1050 = RX 460

GTX 1050ti = RX 560

GTX 1650 or Super or GTX 1060 3gb = RX 570

GTX 1060 6gb or 1660ti or Super = RX 580 or 590

RTX 2060 or Super = Radeon 5700

RTX 2070 or Super = Radeon 5700xt

RTX 2080 and 2080ti are still kinda uncontested but the upcoming Radeon 5800/5900/XT are supposedly going to fill that gap.

The current midrange gpu market is absolutely retarded with the 1650, 1650 super, 1660, 1660ti, 1660 super and a billion variants of each. The optimal budget gpu is generally considered to be an RX 570 since they’re like 120-130$ new or 80-90$ used. High end gpu prices are at an all time historical high and aren’t worth buying if you have any sense of “value in your build plan.

Example, The Nvidia GTX 295 was a top end dual gpu card from 2009  with a 500$ price tag. Accounting for inflation that’s almost exactly 600$ in 2019. 
In comparison the current top end RTX Titan is 2500$. The 600$ card is a 2070 super which is just the 3rd step on the high end product lineup.

Do not buy brand new gpus. 

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What are your expectations? What do you consider running SL properly to be? 

You don't need a desktop to use a big monitor. If you really need the portability, you can always get a big monitor and a good keyboard and mouse to use at home. Or why not both? 

Edited by Lyssa Greymoon
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And.....  all of this sort of thing has been well thrashed out on the (far more appropriate?) Technology Forum that @Erwin Solo pointed to in post #2. A glance through the first few pages of that forum will reveal several very useful threads of similar queries.

Summarising some significant points:

* Forget laptops, get a desktop.  That's fine unless you need a laptop, as I do. I'm running a purpose built laptop with an i7 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo), GeForce® GTX 1070 Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR5, 32MB of RAM, SSD Drive 256GB (With only Windows, programs and SL's caches on it) and a 2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 2.5" SSHD for all the other junk that we need storage for. You can fry eggs on it if the fans and vents don't stay squeaky clean, and a cooler tray is a must! Maybe not as portable as I'd have liked, and its set me back around £2k in total. With a cable connection to my modem/router, I can max out graphics and sometimes stay over 20fps. Over WiFi, shadows have to go. That's a pretty damned good specification, and it will still struggle with some scenes in Ultra graphics.

*The quality of your internet connection is critical. Ok, not part of your computer's specifications, but don't expect good results over a bad connection.

*Forget the lure of a "Gaming Machine". Buy on specifications, not on flashy sales-talk! A lot of "gaming machines" are expecting to be running fully optimised graphics from the off-the-shelf games. Second Life can throw a graphics demand that will totally overwhelm all but the highest specs ones.

In particular, do have a look at this, which refers to the total shambles that the LL System Requirements specification has become.

 

Edited by Odaks
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So, as others have said, it would help a lot to know what your budget is, and what you consider acceptable (properly lies in the eyes of the beholder), but I went through a similar exercise a few months ago (maybe even a year now...), so I thought I would share.

First, along the lines of previous suggestions, I personally started by googling 'best gaming laptops' and 'best budget gaming laptops' and so forth. I was hoping to spend ~$1200 (US), so I knew I was not going to get a killer machine, but I hoped to find something acceptable. I am fortunate to have a decent gaming desktop, so I didn't need something that would do everything I needed, just decent performance at Ultra or a step down in Firestorm.

There are a lot of options out there for $1000 and up that looked like they wouid meet my needs (decent i5 processor, decent graphics card, 16GB of memory). I also had other criteria, such as relative light weight (I have this thing sitting on my lap!), not looking like some geeky teenage gamer boy's wet dream, and reliability (for better or worse, I worry about some of the really cheap brands). I read a ton of reviews on the models that looked promising. I was fortunate that the model that rose to the top, a Lenovo Legion, was carried by the local Best Buy, so I could check it out in person; reviews had dinged the lower-end Legions as having dim screens, so it was great to see it in person (it was fine, lol). Unfortunately, Best Buy did not offer the model I wanted, so I had to order from Lenovo, and even more unfortunately, they bizarrely did not offer the model I wanted in a combo with the highest-end GPU of that level (GTX1060/6GB RAM) and 16GB of RAM, so I ordered RAM separately and immediately upgraded that, adding ~$100.

In the end, I think I paid ~$1400, and the system has performed very well (plus, lighted keys, woohoo!). Honestly, my desktop is older, and though it has a high-end i7, it also has a GTX1060/6GB (though the desktop version, of course), and is not that far ahead of my laptop. So unlike what some of the threads referenced say, I do feel you can find something that would serve you well for not a massive outlay, of course depending on your expectations. :)

Sure, I prefer using my desktop, with the bigger screen and a mouse, and better cooling, but with my laptop I can sit on the couch with my family rather than going downstairs in my room. Also, I got a model that I consider portable enough to take other places and use as a general laptop, so it has use beyond SL (I am assuming this is why you want a laptop, too?).

One other thing, in some of the threads referenced earlier in the thread, they mention cooling issues. This can affect performance and also comfort, if you put the laptop in your lap. Also, having it in your lap can exacerbate the heating issues, especially if you use a pillow or blanket under it. I also researched a laptop cooler, and use that all the time. It drops the CPU and GPU temps quite a lot when I use SL, preventing throttling and keeping my laptop from becoming uncomfortable in my lap. I also am very careful to support my laptop in a way that does not block the fans on the bottom.

Hope this helps! Good luck! :)

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16 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

Alienware Area-51m Gaming Laptop

  • 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.0Ghz w/Turbo Boost)
  • Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
  • 64GB, 4x16GB, DDR4 2400MHz
  • 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB NVMe M.2 SSDs) + 1TB (+8GB SSHD) Hybrid Drive
 
$4,849.99

 

 

I "built" a Desktop computer to these same high-end specs on PCpartPicker dot com and the price added up to $1916.62, leaving out the speakers, keyboard, mouse and display--thinking those could be carried over from the last build.

Adding-in a name-brand keyboard, name-brand  gaming mouse, and a nice name-brand 27inch UHD/4K/3840x2160 monitor, I get $2220.54.

It pays to use a Desktop if you can, and pays to build your own, and building a computer is not that hard, and there are great tutorials available; for example: 

 

Edited by Erwin Solo
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All that being said, I would dial back some of the specs if building a Desktop.  For the laptop, you have very limited upgrade capability, and have to get everything all at once.  For example, I think the storage and memory in the specs are about twice what they need to be, even for a high-end build.  If you have a Desktop, its easy to double the memory and storage later if you come to need such specs in the future, and those components get considerably cheaper over time. 

Edited by Erwin Solo
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