Which Macs will work?

Hey all,

I'm planning on buying a new computer and would like to be able to play Second Life on it.

My question is, do any of you know for sure if there are any Apple laptops that Second Life will NOT work on? I'm torn between an iBook or a PowerBook so... it may seem silly but the ability to play SL *will* influence my decision.

Also, should I give any consideration to SL growing beyond my laptop's capabilities? I don't want to be stuck in 6 months or a year if SL's hardware requirements get bumped up too far... so should I worry about the low-end of the iBooks/PowerBooks?

Thanks!

Jessica

I'm not too familiar with macs, but, I'm fairly sure that the powerbooks are more powerful, so, I recommend going with one of those. SL is laggy on the mac as it is (Still a beta), so, getting a better computer for it isn't a bad idea. I hope someone who's a bigger Mac geek than I can reply and help

I have a comparison between a P4 1700mhz, nVidia Quadro 2 Pro, and a G4 800mhz Mac, GeForce 2MX. On the PC I get aprox. twice the frame rate (not very exact...I'll try it tonight and post more exact numbers). The new iBooks have about the same processor, but probably better graphics card than the old G4. I don't think the PowerBooks are a good deal at the moment, as the iBook has just about caught up with it and costs less. There will probably be coming a new line of PowerBooks before too long.

Currently I find the Mac uncomfortably slow to play SL on, though it might improve when it's out of beta and has been optimized. (and when I get a better Mac )

Little

Actually,

This is a good spot to open a question. I read yours and am not sure whether a faster processor is the ultimate solution (it may be).

I too have a Mac and get 8-12 fps after tweaking the display options down a bit (e.g., distance rendering to 64).

I run a G4 867Mhz with 768 RAM on a 768 Kbs DSL connection with a 32MB Video Card that came with the machine.

I also want to upgrade to improve performance and graphics. My question:

Is there a clear upgrade option that will improve performance (i.e., quicker fps, faster streaming/processing of 3D graphics)?

1. Bump up the DSL to 1.5 Mbs?

2. Get a video card with more VRAM and more sophisticated 3D rendering options?

3. Get a faster processor?

I know all 3 would help, but is there one that will give more immediate bang for the buck?

Thanks,

D.

The minimum requirements for SL on the Mac are 1GHz G4, 512mb RAM, and an ATI 8500 or GF2 or better video card with at least 32mb of RAM.

The top 14" iBook meets these requirements, with a 1GHz G4, ATI 9200 3mb, and 256mb RAM. Okay, almost meets, but you can upgrade to 640mb, so it meets.

The decision then is what else do you want to do? I'll direct you to this article, which will explain better than I can.

http://www.techstuff.ca/archives/455.html

Okay actually that's not the URL I wanted, but it's similar to the article I was thinking of. Good luck.

So, has anyone run the SL client on a Mac which met the minimum requirements and actually had it run decent? I use 'decent' in the same meaning that it runs 'decent' on a PC. IE: In a small crowd of 10 people or so you can still hold around 10fps, and still get high 20s in a fairly efficient area?

Yes, Si. My iMac meets the specs in every catagory, and it runs at about 15fps most of the time. In a large crowd, it may go down to 5-10fps. It rarely crashes and runs alright, but, it's still got a way to go.

For comparison, what are the FPS rates for those playing on a PC?

I just did a quick test, standing on the teleport hub in Ahern.

Apox. 26-28fps on the P4 1700mhz, nVidia Quadro 2 Pro, 1gig RAM.
Aprox 6-7fps on the G4 733mhz Mac, GeForce 2MX, 256mb RAM.

That was with hardly any avatars visible, besides mine. With a crowd the Mac goes down to 2-3fps, while the PC can still keep around 10fps.

I'm guessing G5 is the way to go.

Little

Unfortunately, I have my heart set on a laptop... so G5's are out of the question. Unless one of you has some idea when they'll start doing G5 PowerBooks?

The 'rumors' were for the 2nd half of '04, but one of the execs at Apple engineering said that getting the G5 into a laptop in it's present configuration would be 'impossible'.

He qualified that by saying that people used to think putting a G4 in a laptop would also be 'impossible' though, and said it's a matter of engineering, but he couldn't say when/if it would be possible.

System specs?

I have played SL on a 1GHz G4 Titanium PowerBook, a new 1.33GHz Aluminum PowerBook and a 1.6GHz G5 Tower. The Titanium has the lowest framerates, but you would be hard pressed to find a new one anyway. The G5 has the highest approaching 25 fps with everything set to highest for graphics. The new PB is in the middle.

CPU processor speed does help in performance, but it is the balance between the CPU and the graphics card that is important.

The game is very playable on all three machines with the Titanium meeting the minimum requirements. As the game improves there should be some noticable improvements in performance on all machines.

I would go for a new PB, given the choice. Both the 17" and 15" share the graphics processor, an ATi M10 - a very nice card. Coupled with a strong G4 processor, either of these machines will work well.

Running SL on my iBook, I get around 3-5 FPS just about all of the time. 5 fps in a not-laggy area and 3-4 fps in Federal. I have an iBook G4 1GHz with 640MB of RAM.. You really can't ask much of a notebook anyway - especially with a 32mb video card.

I've got a g5 1.8 and it still looks horrible... I can't stop my face from protruding from my pelvis... can anyone help?

Try turning 'avatar vertex program' off in the display preferences.

Thanks.. works now..

I have a G5 1.8 (single) and notice two things: my head came out of my butt, and the framerate wasn't great (didn't clock it.)

Fortunately, the first is easily solved: go to Edit->Preferences->Options, and deselect "Avatar Vertex Program". This is apparently a Known Issue, and they're working on it.

The solution for the second I don't know--hopefully we'll get better speed when this comes out of beta. But this is a pretty high-end Mac (1.8Ghz G5, 2G RAM, nVidia AGP card w/64M VRAM) so the fact that it's having issues now is not encouraging.

By now Sil you probably know the face issue is a bug in the Mac Beta.

At the NVIDIA Perfs uncheck "Avatar Verex" and that should fix it.

Best Wishes,

MM