Thanks!
Responding on several points:
- I do use wi-fi, and can't realistically route a wire from the router (which is new) to the laptop. The other laptop, where the issue does not happen, was also on wi-fi. However there IS a known issue with wi-fi on this particular machine being slow (I tried to watch movies over Windows file sharing from a server on the very same WiFi router). As soon as I can, which may be a few days, I will do a test run on a LAN wire (that location is not private enough for normal SL use).
- Speeds on speedtest.net are usually approx 3.5 MB/s down, 0.3 MB/s up. This speed can not be improved (without moving house).
- I do know that the hardware is on the lower end, and am used to around 12-14 fps on lowest graphic settings, falling under 10 in busy places. But low fps is one thing, crashes are another. Frequent crashes do make the experience "significantly worse than usual" (usual meaning before SSA).
- I do know Linux on a reasonable level, but I am really not looking forward to tweakng proprietary drivers on it. My stationary media PC runs Linux (Debian), and I now need to upgrade it - I chose an Intel CPU (with built-in GPU) mainly because all drivers for it are open source and built into the distro. But for SL, I have what I have. So Linux on this machine would be a last resort.