Maybe a useful idea for laptop seekers...

[Yakov Obolensky]

Hello SL folks. I may have figured out something of use to people trying to find a less-expensive way to buy a laptop that will run SL acceptably.  Please keep in mind that I am just barely competent with computers, and I'm sure my post will be full of holes, but anyway... I found a refurbished T480  thinkpad on amazon for $280,  original price in 2018 as configured (I think) at about $1800. Came with a year's warranty, and with the following specs:

-  Core i7 8650U @1.90 Ghz\par
-  24GB dual channel ram ddr4\par
-  intel uhd graphics \par
-  2047MB Nvidia Geforce MX 150\par
-  512GB NVME storage\par
-  Touch screen\par
-  Windows 11 -> updated all the recommended things, bios, drivers and so on. 

This is my first experience with a business-class laptop, I'm amazed at how solidly it's built, and how quickly it runs. 
The other part of the idea was to try running a "lighter" SL client, so far I've tried Catznip, and I'm just amazed at the frame rates I get. Granted it's graphically just a fancy potato, but it's acceptable. 
Depending on location and all the usual setting tweaks, my frame rate goes from the high teens to (not sure I believed this) to the 100's, looking very smooth. 

-  Running Speccy to check chip temps showed the i7 cpu temp at about 63. Gpu I have to look again. I sorted out "intelligent cooling" from Lenovo, which seems to be helping with heat mgmt.

-  Next moves will probably involve looking at undervolting and so on, apparently this has been done lots with these machines with successful results.

-  Anyway - it very  much feels like $280 very well spent on a battle tank of a laptop, and with Catznip I was amazed. Firestorm yet to be tested. Maybe Genesis, don't know.

I hope this helps!

 

[Bree Giffen]

I think I had one of those for work before I had to turn it in for a newer model. Maybe you have my laptop! I really like the black Lenovo Thinkpads. It harkens back to the time when IBM and Apple had these competing laptop designs with IBM all black and Apple all white.

As far as SL performance goes, it sounds like it's running on the Intel graphics which has some 3d ability.  Not the best performance but if it runs SL then you have that going for you AND a nice laptop for everyday use.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

26 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

I really like the black Lenovo Thinkpads.

I just got a new one of these from work. I thought it would be crap (because generally my work-supplied computers are), but It's really surprisingly powerful and fast. And the graphics are very good. Only thing I need to do is work out how to reduce texture thrashing.

[JeromFranzic]

Mine is from 2018.

Acer Aspire 7. It is powered with a 8750H CPU and GTX 1050 GPU.

The MX150 on yours isn't too bad, but that'll likely run best with mid settings given the amount of VRAM yours has. The U series of Intel CPUs from that period is oriented towards power saving and steadier performance for everyday tasks. H CPUs like mine are geared towards performance, but also has power saving features. Mine does look a bit like a business laptop; Acer advertised it as a PC that can also play games when it was first released. I bought an active 5 fan cooling pad, and a separate keyboard/mouse combo when I realized how well I could game with it, about a week after I bought it (thanks, hot keyboard under heavy GPU/CPU loads). Took out the SATA HDD and replaced that with SSD... and a few months later, maxed out the memory to 32 GB and added a M.2 SSD... turned that into the primary drive.

Not sure I'd want to run the PBR viewers with that GPU, maybe with reduced settings. I tend to run medium to high settings with PBR most of the time. High settings with non PBR viewers... Ultra for Photos. Shadows off in busy shopping and pixel moshing places, roller coasters, blah blah. Prefer to run Linux when I'm in SL, but Win10/11 isn't too bad with the latest Nvidia game ready drivers. 

Overall, yours is still a good machine for SL for now. 

I'm really only on here because I will say that among some hardcore Linux devotees, ThinkPads have a steady fanbase. Especially any model that doesn't contain a Nvidia GPU lol, that's because of the proprietary drivers that the older GPUs still run on. IDGAF, Dr Richard Stallman! Runs great for me. Sorry, hippie punks! XD (JK, I wish I could be a full-on hippie lol)

Carry on! 

[AmeliaJ08]

Keep us updated on how the 8650U undervolts. My 10750H runs at -100mV once I unlocked the voltage control (post plundervolt, you have to do a little BIOS editing) and I think you might find it does well. U series chips already very efficient though, I found an undervolt helps my 10750H/1650Ti laptop a lot though especially with the combined/CPU heavy load of SL but this is a 50W chip.

 

 

 

 

 

[Yakov Obolensky]

Yeah... no. Undervolting is just way over my tiny pin head, it was like going from changing tires on rims to brain surgery. Interesting to see all the pretty numbers though...

[AmeliaJ08]

3 hours ago, Yakov Obolensky said:

Yeah... no. Undervolting is just way over my tiny pin head, it was like going from changing tires on rims to brain surgery. Interesting to see all the pretty numbers though...

What's the issue? using Throttlestop? I can give you some help if you need it, it's not difficult.