Laptop recommendations 2022

[Lindal Kidd]

1 hour ago, Vivalaveronica Violet said:

Okay if I’m building a PC can someone just tell me what parts I should buy? 😬
 

And there is there really no laptop that can work?? 😭 being in bed chillin is so much better. ..🤣🤣

Here's what my Resident Geek does to choose PC parts and make himself look good.

The parts you will need are:

• Case
  • Depending on your case, you may also want to buy additional cooling fans for air flow.
• Power supply
• Motherboard. Cases and motherboards come in several sizes or "form factors". They are, in order of increasing size, Mini ITX, Micro ATX, ATX (which is what's found in your "typical" desktop computer) and E-ATX. You can build a very small computer with a Mini ITX case and motherboard, but squeezing in all the components can be a challenge.
• CPU (Central Processing Unit, the actual main computer chip). You must use an AMD Ryzen CPU with a motherboard designed for it, and and an Intel CPU with a motherboard designed for it. Right now, AMD is considered the "champ" by most gamers, but it's a close race and if you like Intel, go with it. You can make a great computer with either brand.
  • CPU cooler. This is a device that sits on top of the CPU and pulls heat from it. I recommend an "air cooler", a heatsink and fan type, rather than a liquid cooler. You'll have less problems and they cost less.
• RAM (Random Access Memory). Plan on 16 gigabytes in two sticks, or memory modules
• GPU (Graphics card). NVIDIA cards have long been considered the "gold standard" for Second Life, but these days AMD Ryzen GPUs work great too. Get one with the most performance you can afford. Or simply get one that you CAN get, GPU supply has been awful the last 2 years.
• Disk drive(s). At least one SSD (solid state drive). Two if you can afford them, one for the operating system and programs, one for data storage. These come in two basic styles. There's NVME, which look like a stick of chewing gum and go into a special socket on your motherboard. These are screamingly fast, but expensive. And there are SATA drives that are about the size and shape of three stacked credit cards. These are fairly fast, but less expensive. Shoot for 1TB (terabyte) drives in either case.
• More disk drives (optional) You may want one or more HDDs (hard disk drives) if you have a large amount of data to store...a lot of videos and photos and music, for example. 4TB drives are the sweet spot for price here.
• Even more disk drives (very optional) You may need or want an optical disk drive, for DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. Most computers these days don't come with these.
• Operating system. I recommend Windows 10, either Home or Professional. Be sure to get an official version. Don't try to cheap out by buying a pirate version on eBay.
• Peripherals. Mouse, keyboard, and monitor.

As for WHICH parts to get, go to https://pcpartpicker.com/    Click the wrench icon to start putting together your system on paper. You can start anywhere. As you add components, the site will help you avoid ones that are not compatible with what you have already chosen. They have lots of other useful information, including successful example builds people have made. They will also provide links to sources that have the lowest prices.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you really want the laptop route, I'm another who is fond of ASUS ROG. Here's one within your budget: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P6TNFDN/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B09P6T1GZZ&pd_rd_w=CBYO9&pf_rd_p=57cbdc41-b731-4e3d-aca7-49078b13a07b&pd_rd_wg=SRBrj&pf_rd_r=8DBQ51NSQVXCQQ9ET8TS&pd_rd_r=9071e0f7-c7dd-4144-b148-0448cec2814c&s=pc&smid=A2IZAS3N88B9E6&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFUQTJOT0kxRkdOVzkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA5NzU2MjdYVERZNkRGNFZUUFQmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDgxOTU3OFFJNDBMMUtIUVFLTiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

And here is an MSI laptop that got a good review: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GE76-Raider-i7-11800H-Thunderbolt/dp/B09GFQ1H29/ref=sr_1_6?ascsubtag=tomshardware-us-3145933797908145700-20&geniuslink=true&keywords=MSI%2BGE76%2BRaider%2B11UH-053&qid=1651767445&sr=8-6&th=1

As a former Macbook user, you might like: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JQKBQSB?tag=georiot-us-default-20&th=1&ascsubtag=tomshardware-us-1365047885294241800-20&geniuslink=true

Edited May 5, 2022 by Lindal Kidd

[Ayashe Ninetails]

15 minutes ago, Vivalaveronica Violet said:

If you ever have make up or skin care questions I got you! LOL😝

Is Rihanna's Fenty line decently safe for the skin? I almost never wear makeup evarrrrrrrrrrr, but I absolutely love her colors and NEED THEM IN MY LIFE (lipstick/eyeshadow). Since I typically avoid most makeup I have no idea what's good/isn't good so...just a question for the future since you brought it up! 😄

[Bree Giffen]

I can understand why the OP would need a laptop as a makeup artist if they are travelling around and want to play SL and do other computer things outside of the house.  I would probably go for a smaller portable gaming laptop and then plug it into a large monitor/keyboard/trackball at home. 

[Coffee Pancake]

37 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

I can understand why the OP would need a laptop as a makeup artist if they are travelling around and want to play SL and do other computer things outside of the house.  I would probably go for a smaller portable gaming laptop and then plug it into a large monitor/keyboard/trackball at home. 

Just keep in mind that one of the big compromises made with laptops is power delivery.

A desktop PC has an over engineered power supply the size of a house brick dedicated to delivering a very exact and clean current, at wide range of loads for extended periods with lots of high current raged cabling and connectors. Everything is built with a lot of wiggle room.

A laptop substitutes all of that engineering for a battery, a charge circuit and a tiny noisy mains adapter. Very clean power with the fewest parts possible .. which puts a huge strain on the battery when it's charging and powering the laptop at the same time. Older batteries would just fail after a few months, newer ones risk inflating when they fail which can take the whole device with it. (this was the death of my surface pro)

It's not unusual to have a laptop mains adapter (or power connector on the device) rated below the peak demand of the machine, meaning the battery has to step in and make up the difference.

[Randall Ahren]

12 hours ago, Vivalaveronica Violet said:

Hi guys! 🥰I know most ppl in second life are very tech savvy. DEFINITELY not me lol. I created an account in 2009 and back in the day it would run fine on my MacBook. Not so much now with newer technology. 

May I please get your recommendations on a laptop that could run second life efficiently? I would like to not spend more than 2,000, but I want it to run like a pc. And no a pc is not an option for me due to space. 
 

SL is a very expensive free game.

[diamond Marchant]

I purchased a new laptop on black friday of 2021. It is a Lenovo and it works fine for SL. I would say that in the $1200 to $2000 price range it would be unlikely to get a laptop that didn't work fine for SL, assuming you have a separate graphics chip (not integrated). Here are the specs of my machine and I assure you they are sufficient.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (2592 MHz)
Memory: 32676 MB
Concurrency: 12
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19044.1645)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 4096 MB

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 30.0.14.9613
OpenGL Version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 496.13

The GeForce GTX 1650 is a middle of the road graphics chip, but it is sufficient.

p.s. current laptop is extremely quiet and runs cool... prior ones could burn my thigh

Edited May 6, 2022 by diamond Marchant

[Sorciaa]

23 hours ago, Vivalaveronica Violet said:

Okay if I’m building a PC can someone just tell me what parts I should buy? 😬
 

And there is there really no laptop that can work?? 😭 being in bed chillin is so much better. ..🤣🤣

IF you live in a state with a Microcenter, you can get a list of parts and they can put it together for you.

[JeromFranzic]

21 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Just keep in mind that one of the big compromises made with laptops is power delivery.

A desktop PC has an over engineered power supply the size of a house brick dedicated to delivering a very exact and clean current, at wide range of loads for extended periods with lots of high current raged cabling and connectors. Everything is built with a lot of wiggle room.

A laptop substitutes all of that engineering for a battery, a charge circuit and a tiny noisy mains adapter. Very clean power with the fewest parts possible .. which puts a huge strain on the battery when it's charging and powering the laptop at the same time. Older batteries would just fail after a few months, newer ones risk inflating when they fail which can take the whole device with it. (this was the death of my surface pro)

It's not unusual to have a laptop mains adapter (or power connector on the device) rated below the peak demand of the machine, meaning the battery has to step in and make up the difference.

Learned all of this before I got my current daily driver laptop. That is why I invested in a five fan cooling pad shortly after I got mine. Not a bad idea to score a spare battery or two if you can afford it.

There are some laptops that can go without the extra fans, but I highly recommend it if you're using the dedicated GPU often.

[JeromFranzic]

On 5/5/2022 at 10:54 AM, LykanXEclipse said:

I never had problems with acer gaming laptops, but in the other hand dell is just...and they systems are bloated af, I remember a friend bought a Alienware m16 the thing just worked one month before it died dell support was like apple support "just buy a new one warrantly don't cover it"

Yeah, my current one is an Acer from 2018. Doesn't even look like your typical gaming laptop, looks like a slightly overweight ultrabook.

[Kalegthepsionicist]

On 5/5/2022 at 9:00 PM, Vivalaveronica Violet said:

Hi guys! 🥰I know most ppl in second life are very tech savvy. DEFINITELY not me lol. I created an account in 2009 and back in the day it would run fine on my MacBook. Not so much now with newer technology. 

May I please get your recommendations on a laptop that could run second life efficiently? I would like to not spend more than 2,000, but I want it to run like a pc. And no a pc is not an option for me due to space. 
 

I would REALLY appreciate your insight! Thanks!!

ASUS. gaming laptop

https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/For-Gaming/All-series/

Im in online gaming world  before SL was born.

asus is the best

Edited May 9, 2022 by Kalegthepsionicist

[Anaiya Ahren]

I don't know what people have got against Acer,.

 

My old Acer was fine for SL for over 7 years of use and is still functional for most tasks internally (externally, a rodent pulled many of the keys off the keyboard but I probably can't blame Acer for that).  I bought it in early 2009, so it's still functional after 13 years and several chinchilla attacks...plus I've dropped and knocked it to the ground countless times and have been a rough and neglectful owner.  I can't complain, it's been a great computer and taken a lot of abuse.  I commonly let it run a week without even shutting it down, it hasn't been cleaned in like 8 years, it's probably got more fur inside than my cats have on their bodies.  I used to have a cooling pad for it, but that stopped working years ago, so now I just use a block of cheese on the keyboard to cool it down if it runs too hot.

 

I got a new one a couple of weeks ago (it's a Predator Helios 300) and haven't visited anywhere taxing in Secondlife yet so I can't say how well it really handles Secondlife under strain.  I toured around a chunk of Zindra the other day though and was happy with  everything.  Everything rezzed nicely,  I had smooth movement and a nice frame rate, and wow, people have done a great job making the place look tidy along the road ways.

I think the graphics card should have been 8g+ ram rather than 6 ideally, but with the price of computers around here, the cheapest laptop with 8 was the next model up of this one and it was a $600 price leap which was just more than I could afford.  Hopefully there's more options in your market.  I think GPUs are coming down in price too so don't be scared to hold off if there's no urgency to switching.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Anaiya Ahren

[Bagnu]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:55 AM, LittleMe Jewell said:

After using a laptop with a 17" screen for years, there is no way in hell I'd ever go back to anything smaller.  It is bad enough being on 17" instead of my 26" desktop monitor.  And nothing short of 32gb of memory -- at least if you want to do other stuff while running SL.

I use an Acer Nitro 5. with 32 Gigs Ram, 2 Tb Nvme SSD Drive C, and 2 Tb SSD Drive D. When Privacy is not an Issue,  I output to a 55" 4K TV.  I can run 3DSMAX simultaneously with firestorm,  or Photoshop.

[Lindal Kidd]

4 hours ago, Anaiya Ahren said:

I don't know what people have got against Acer,.

I think it's us old-timers who have a hard time discarding bad first impressions. When Acer first appeared on the scene, they were the low-price leader, with quality to match. Over the years, they've gotten much better.

[Akane Nacht]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:24 PM, Ayashe Ninetails said:

I'm probably the only person in the entire world who absolutely hates the idea of building a PC from scratch (even though I mostly know how).

nope there are at least 2 of us 😁

I did it the old fashioned way of making friends with a computer servicing guy who was agreeable to a side job of fixing up my old ASUS.

Another problem is, thanks to cryptomining craze, it's hard to even get hold of a graphics card unless you buy a prebuilt machine. That seems to be easing up now though.

[Coffee Pancake]

19 minutes ago, Akane Nacht said:

nope there are at least 2 of us 😁

The only reason myself and others push the "build your own" line is we know what we're looking at when we open a PC. It's very easy to spend a lot of money on not a lot of actual computer and have little to show for it beyond a nice big name brand name on the box.

As I've said, I've yet to open an Alienware/Dell box and not feel it's owner got robbed blind, even though they feel they've picked "the best option".

DIY is a daunting task, but you do know what you're actually getting.

26 minutes ago, Akane Nacht said:

Another problem is, thanks to cryptomining craze, it's hard to even get hold of a graphics card unless you buy a prebuilt machine.

OEM cards are often not the same as retail. .. They both might have the same core chip, but past that, all bets are off.

Retail cards will be independently reviewed, torn down, benchmarked and checked.

OEM cards aren't and they just have to have the big important number (3070 etc) and cost the OEM as little as possible.

 

Alienware/Dell are the worst for this that I have encountered. Big numbers on the box, shocking garbage in the box.

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

The only reason myself and others push the "build your own" line is we know what we're looking at when we open a PC.

Building your own laptop sounds difficult.

[Love Zhaoying]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:36 PM, Lindal Kidd said:

Peripherals. Mouse, keyboard,

I guess this requires getting a motherboard or other card with peripheral ports, or with Bluetooth support. 

[Akane Nacht]

3 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

The only reason myself and others push the "build your own" line is we know what we're looking at when we open a PC. It's very easy to spend a lot of money on not a lot of actual computer and have little to show for it beyond a nice big name brand name on the box.

I know, and I agree with you. I just don't want to do it personally - I outsource to someone who actually likes taking machines apart and putting them back together!

 

3 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

OEM cards are often not the same as retail. .. They both might have the same core chip, but past that, all bets are off.

Yes, I've heard that too. The problem for a while was there simply weren't any cards to be had (not entirely due to crypto, supply chain disruption didnt help).

[Ayashe Ninetails]

7 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

The only reason myself and others push the "build your own" line is we know what we're looking at when we open a PC. It's very easy to spend a lot of money on not a lot of actual computer and have little to show for it beyond a nice big name brand name on the box.

As I've said, I've yet to open an Alienware/Dell box and not feel it's owner got robbed blind, even though they feel they've picked "the best option".

Oh I totally agree with you on Alienware/Dell. I'm even going to be so bold as to toss HP into that mix, though HP is *slightly* better on PSUs. The absolute worst thing for me IMO was to buy a prebuilt from a company that uses proprietary parts. HP refused to update my older motherboard's BIOS past a certain date (natural, but infuriating), which meant I was stuck with Legacy and it essentially cut off my replacement GPU options to anything pre-UEFI (or something that had a BIOS switch, which was a pain in the #@#$! to figure out). That was my most recent PC before buying this new bad boy in 2020. Never HP again. Dell is even worse (crappy PSU power - at least HP lets you pick from a list, though they're still not great options).

But luckily, prebuilts have come a long way. I went with a tiny brand because of the Black Friday sale, but the parts are real! If parts fail, I can go in and replace with standard parts I can buy on Newegg. Things have names! And brands! So I should be able to keep this thing upgraded as time goes. And this is only one brand of several that build and offer custom PCs with standard parts. I looked at about 5-6 different companies that do fully customizable prebuilts before buying this. Yes, the prices were higher, but it was also at a time when GPUs were still insanely expensive. So I can't really fault them on that. 

My main issue with building from scratch is I do not like the idea that I could get all the parts right and still wind up troubleshooting. Fix this, fix that, take this out, take that out. Listen for that, plug that in, hop into the BIOS, mess with that, change this setting, oh no my drive's faulty, do a return, wait for replacement, ugh. I can handle that piecemeal (replace a drive, few months later add some RAM, etc.) but not all at once. No patience for it. And I can't really go without a PC for an extended time so...someone else can tinker with all that and ship me something finished and ready to go out of the box.

[Love Zhaoying]

20 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

My main issue with building from scratch is I do not like the idea that I could get all the parts right and still wind up troubleshooting. Fix this, fix that, take this out, take that out. Listen for that, plug that in, hop into the BIOS, mess with that, change this setting, oh no my drive's faulty, do a return, wait for replacement, ugh. I can handle that piecemeal (replace a drive, few months later add some RAM, etc.) but not all at once. No patience for it. And I can't really go without a PC for an extended time so...someone else can tinker with all that and ship me something finished and ready to go out of the box.

This is how I felt, so I paid someone to build me a PC. This made it their problem to get it working. That worked out great so far (for a few years now).

[diamond Marchant]

The NY Times Wirecutter has an opinion about the Best Cheap Gaming Laptop and it appears to be in the OP's price range.

Edited May 10, 2022 by diamond Marchant

[Myntz Mysterious]

6 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Building your own laptop sounds difficult.

You can say this is kinda build your own, and its goal is to be owner serviceable for a laptop.

https://frame.work/

 

[Bree Giffen]

10 minutes ago, Myntz Mysterious said:

You can say this is kinda build your own, and its goal is to be owner serviceable for a laptop.

https://frame.work/

That looks pretty interesting but it has no dedicated graphics card. Maybe in the future. I wish all laptops would be designed this way.

I can't recommend an Acer having owned a gaming version once. It ran great but it just couldn't handle the heat. It could run games in the winter when temperatures were around 60°F/15°C but when spring rolled around and temperatures went about 75°F/24°C the fans started going into overdrive and the whole thing would shut down. I gave it to my parents who aren't gamers. I suppose it would be okay for games if you lived in a place with lower temperatures.

[Bagnu]

3 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

That looks pretty interesting but it has no dedicated graphics card. Maybe in the future. I wish all laptops would be designed this way.

I can't recommend an Acer having owned a gaming version once. It ran great but it just couldn't handle the heat. It could run games in the winter when temperatures were around 60°F/15°C but when spring rolled around and temperatures went about 75°F/24°C the fans started going into overdrive and the whole thing would shut down. I gave it to my parents who aren't gamers. I suppose it would be okay for games if you lived in a place with lower temperatures.

My Acer Nitro 5  runs fine when the temps is 28 degrees C at the cottage. I have multiple homebuilt towers. I use the laptop for SL, so I can bring it with me to the cottage, and have access to my chat records.

[Lindal Kidd]

15 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I guess this requires getting a motherboard or other card with peripheral ports, or with Bluetooth support. 

The monitor plugs into the graphics card. These days, the preferred type of connection is DisplayPort, although HDMI will work too.
The mouse and keyboard may be wired or wireless. If they're wired, they'll use USB connections, and all motherboards have plenty of them. If you do run out, you can add an inexpensive USB hub that can funnel many devices into one USB port on the PC. If they are wireless, they'll either use a little USB dongle that, again, plugs into a USB port on the PC, or Bluetooth. If you use Bluetooth, the motherboard has to support it, or you can add an inexpensive external module that, again, connects via USB.

There used to be all sorts of different peripheral connection types, but USB has pretty much come to dominate the whole scene of connecting-things-to-computers.