Notebook for SL

I am about to buy a laptop and will want to use it for SL. My local store has laptops with the following:
gforce 8200
9300
9400

Intel Gma 4500

ATI 3470

Which of these are/ are not compatable with SL?

Stay clear of the Intel GMA anything as if it was a swarm of bees. It might be technically compatible, but... just don't.

Traditionally Second Life has been better supported on nVidia than ATI, and I believe the new shadow code requires an nVidia GF 8xxx or 9xxx.

All other things being equal, if you can afford the 9300/9400 you should be happier than with the 8200.

I would suggest broadening your search beyond just your local store. Typically, there are much better deals to be had, and a lot more variety available, with online retailers than with local brick & mortar stores. I'm all for supporting local business whenever possible, and I don't even mind paying a few bucks more if it means benefiting the local economy, but when it comes to computers, going local hasn't been a viable option in many years. For whatever reason, stores almost never stock any computers worth buying these days.

In any case, as Argent said, Intel GMA should be avoided like the plague, and ATI does not have a good track record with SL. nVidia is the way to go, but unfortunately, both of the nVidia cards you listed are low end. With the way nVidia numbers most of their cards, you'll almost always want the highest second digit you can get. Anything x3xx or x4xx is going to be under-performing end of the scale. If you're going with the GeForce 8 series, I wouldn't recommend going below an 8600 for SL. If it's the GeForce 9 series, then I wouldn't go below a 9500. The newer GT/GTX series is numbered a little differently, but still, the second digit is what's most important.

What's your budget? I'm sure we could make some good recommendations within just about any price range.

My favorite laptop manufacturers are ASUS and Malibal, just so you know. ASUS, as the only laptop maker in the world who designs and manufactures their own motherboards and graphics cards, is typically able to offer far more bang for the buck than any other brand. The only drawback to ASUS is they're prefab only, no custom orders. If you want to customize, that's where I'd turn to Malibal. They're the only custom laptop maker I know of who doesn't mark up the cost of parts, so they save the customer a ton of money, and their workmanship is top notch.

One of the best outlets for ASUS is Newegg.com. Malibal machines can be purchased directly from malibal.com. ASUS laptops with decent graphics cards for SL start around $800. Malibal laptops start around $1500, and are not offered without good SL-suitable hardware.




ETA: If you do go with ASUS, make sure not to get it from Best Buy. Best Buy offers low prices, which it a first glance seems great, but a little investigation will always reveal that the only reason they're able to do that is because they're gutting the machines a little, and gutting the warranties a lot. Even if the machines were the same, which they're not, the ASUS standard accidental damage warranty and zero dead pixel guarantee, which are not offered with the Best Buy versions of the machines, are well worth the difference in price between getting the one from Best Buy and getting it from literally anywhere else.

Thank you for the info. I can now focus on my search. I will check around local stores and online.
I live in spain so I am a little limited with retailers. Anything from outside the country costs a packet to ship, and from outside Europe is taxed heavely.

Thanks again.

Perhaps there are some computer game magazines or clubs where you are in Spain. computers good for 3D games will be excellent for SL.