Is a laptop a good choice for Second Life?

[ElizaAnnaBeth]

I've asked before but still looking I came across this laptop on amazon 

I saw another one also but the reviews weren't so good...

 

Someone said that it runs second life smoothly but I'm not sure if he/she was just saying that.

 

 https://www.amazon.com/15-6-inch-Celeron-2-16GHz-Processor-Windows/dp/B00L49X8E6/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468523491&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=cheap+gamging+laptops

 

Anyways thanks for reading...

[Alwin Alcott]

don't ... thats no laptop for SL

[Kelli May]

In general, laptops are not great for SL. That one in particular, however... would be terrible.

[Chic Aeon]

Here are some general tips while you shop (from my point of view anyway).

 

* Stay away from integrated graphics cards

* Get Win10 already installed, NOT an upgrade certificate

* Buy directly from Amazon (or the company rather than a secondary company)

* FIND THE RETURN POLICY so that if it DOESN'T work for you,  you can send it back.

**Keep in mind that any older review about SL will have very little to do with the needs of SL today (lots of mesh, mesh bodies etc).

 

Get your personal criteria straight and then start looking at the options. Read reviews on the big tech websites and don't rely too much on the "personal" ones as many of those are paid fakes these days .

 

Good luck. I think getting a new computer is harder than picking out a new car - LOL. 

[Codex Alpha]

Is a laptop a good choice for Second Life?

It's not so much about  whether  you use a laptop or a PC, but rather the specifications of the system (desktop or otherwise), and what you would like to do WHILE in Second Life.

I ran Second Life nicely on a $850 HP DV7, which had one integrated card, and a dedicated card kicked in as soon as I went to any application using 3D. This kind of system is the LEAST that you can get away with. It had an INtel quadcore CPU, 8GB Ram and a AMD 4850 Mobile 3D card. As a production PC, thats where it failed. You couldnt run too many 3D applications on it simultaneously - for the same price or less my PC desktop did all that nicely.

I could go into more detail about what I would recommend, then it might be an argument about what cpu, ram, hard drive, video card, overall system is the best - and that would be tedious.

Find out the system requirements LL recommends needed to run Second Life, use a "Can I Run Second Life?" website tool and find a system that matches.

One can do other fancy things to turn a laptop into a gaming machine, including the use of SSDs and a second SSD to handle the cache, etc -- all sorts of tricks. Find a knowledgeable friend to help you out.

Other than that, your budget is the only limitation. Your dollar will go farther towards a desktop system (especially if someone custom builds you one) - that will allow you to not only run Second Life gracefully - but give you the power to do other things like 3D Modelling, graphics and texture design, audio recording, video editing etc.

A laptop can do that as well, but you cannot get a decent, powerful productive one for cheap. It's up to you what your end goal is and budget.

Good luck!

[Amethyst Jetaime]

My desktop broke down beyond repair after using it SL for five years with good results.  Some friends very generously offered to get me a new computer.  They gave me a brand new high end gaming laptop.  It worked at the time for me because I was having health issues and it was good to be able to take it to the hospital with me.  I still have it and use it when I need portability. 

HOWEVER, I was never so glad when I was able to get a really good desktop that runs the latest SL tech with ease and will for several years before I'll need to upgrade parts as tech improves, which I can do myself.

I recommend that unless you have specific issues where portability is of prime importance, get the best desktop you can afford that exceeds the SL minimum requirements.  In the long run it will be cheaper for you and last longer than a lappy will.

[ouranoslives]

---

Chic Aeon wrote:

**Keep in mind that any older review about SL will have very little to do with the needs of SL today (lots of mesh, mesh bodies etc).

---

I hope nobody minds me jumping in but I have a (maybe) dumb question.

When I joined SL in 2009, it was on a Macbook Pro (laptop). I never had any issues with SL for 3-4 years; never lagged too badly and it always ran smoothly.

Around 2014, I noticed that I was lagging a lot more using the laptop. These days, I find it almost impossible to log on via laptop unless I'm in a fairly quiet area. Going to a sim full of people lags me out totally until I have to force a crash.

My question is - has the introduction of Mesh made SL more of a drain on hardware? It always seemed strange I could play SL fine on a laptop before. That would explain things for me though.

[Rhys Goode]

some laptops work great. Not lowend, though.

Mine handles ultra graphics in most of the places I go, got to dial it back in busy sims.

CPU: Intel® Core i7-4710HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz (2494.22 MHz)
Memory: 24526 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 10586)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 980M/PCIe/SSE2

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 10.18.0013.6472
OpenGL Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 364.72

[Parhelion Palou]

---

ouranoslives wrote:

---

Chic Aeon wrote:

**Keep in mind that any older review about SL will have very little to do with the needs of SL today (lots of mesh, mesh bodies etc).

---

I hope nobody minds me jumping in but I have a (maybe) dumb question.

When I joined SL in 2009, it was on a Macbook Pro (laptop). I never had any issues with SL for 3-4 years; never lagged too badly and it always ran smoothly.

Around 2014, I noticed that I was lagging a lot more using the laptop. These days, I find it almost impossible to log on via laptop unless I'm in a fairly quiet area. Going to a sim full of people lags me out totally until I have to force a crash.

My question is - has the introduction of Mesh made SL more of a drain on hardware? It always seemed strange I could play SL fine on a laptop before. That would explain things for me though.

---

Mesh hasn't been much of a drain by itself, at least when the mesh items are made properly. Some avatars (mesh & otherwise) are extremely complex to draw, causing systems to work far harder than ever happened a few years ago. I've noticed that large textures (1024x1024) are very common now, even in cases where they don't make sense. That would also decrease performance, at least while the textures are loading.

If you haven't cleaned the airways inside the laptop, it's likely that there's a lot of dust inside that's keeping the components from getting enough cool air to run properly. The computer will protect itself by throttling down and SL won't work well.

 

[Bree Giffen]

For $300, I'd look at ebay or craigslist for something used but good for gaming. I doubt you'll find any brand new laptop thats good at that price. If budget is the priority, a dektop is always the best value. 

[Quinn Lysette]

i recomend this laptop   and you can trust me since i spend alot of time playin secondlife

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-20CG000SUS-11-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00PHX8T30

 

or get this  more better then the laptop

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883102078

[Chris Corvinus]

No. No laptop, unless its a gaming laptop is good for SL. "Normal" laptops, like the one youre looking at are terrible for Second Life.

I have a ASUS G752 Gaming laptop with cooling system and it runs SL very smoothly on ultra graphics with virtually little to no lag (not counting the usual lag spikes in highly populates areas).

Get this instead:

http://store.asus.com/us/item/201510AM090006012

[JayWaters]

Intel HD Graphics 5300-um no..I mean unless you want to run your graphics at low to medium setting and get 12fps, then it would be ok I guess..if like seeing stuff and waiting 20 minutes for the person in front of you's clothes to rezz..then yeah, using the chipset on a laptop would be just fine. smh