Laptop Selection HELP!!

This thread is probably a bit of a repeat, but it's difficult to sit through some of the longer threads that may or may not answer the questions I have about what laptop to purchase that will allow me to run SL (some of the graphics tech jargon is beyond me). Was stressing out trying to go through all the threads here and elsewhere trying to figure out what WILL run SL, etc...

I'm wondering if any of the ones below are likely to run SL properly or if I need to aim for something higher-end?

- Gateway Laptop with 3GB DDR2 of RAM, 320GB HD, 2.1GHz Intel Pentium T4200 Processor, Intel GMA 4500HD Graphics Card running Windows 7 64-Bit

- Acer Aspire with 3GB of RAM, 250GB HD, 1.6 GHz AMD Athlon 64 Single-Core TF-20 Processor, ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics Card running Windows 7 64-Bit

- MSI Laptop with 3GB of RAM, 320GB HD, 2.0GHz AMD Turion X2 Dual Core RM70 Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS Graphics Card running Windows Vista Premium

- Compaq Presario with 2GB of RAM, 250GB HD, 2.0GHz AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M300 Processor, ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics Card running Windows 7 32-Bit

- Acer Aspire with 4GB of RAM, 250GB HD, 2.1GHz Intel Pentium T4300 Processor, Intel GMA 4500M Graphics Card running Windows 7 Premium 64-Bit

- HP Pavilion with 3GB DDR2 of RAM, 250GB HD, 2.1GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-64 Dual-Core Processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8200M Graphics Card running Windows vista Premium SP1

Any and all help/opinions would be greatly appreciated.


"Hawkeye"

Never get anything with Intel Graphics. And Nvidia generally works better with SL than ATI's for technical reasons.

All of the laptops you are looking at use some form of integrated graphics. They will all "run" SL, but not very well. I would avoid the Intel graphics for any 3D work. The ATI is not much better in that price range, and ATI drivers are not good for SL. The Nvidia 9300 is the best of the lot, but it is still a low-end graphics chip.

You will get low performance now, and heat will kill these laptops if they run SL frequently. They just are not made for running 3D graphics.

If you want decent performance, look for an Nvidia graphics adapter that is listed at http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_m_series.html in at least the "Performance" list (Nvidia's name for mid-range cards). That's anything above an 8600, 9500, 130, 230, or 325. That will get you medium-high settings and hopefully a decent cooling system. If you are serious about running SL on a laptop, consider an enthusiast card, but don't expect to get out for under $1000. A more realistic price would be $1500 or higher to get a good video card and adequate cooling.

If I have not scared you, I can give some recommendations if you will answer the following questions:

1. What is you budget range?
2. What country are you buying in?
3. What are your preferred screen size and weight ranges?
4. What are your performance expectations for SL? Do you want to run Blue Mars or any newer video games? Are there any other specialized apps (NLE, CAD, Photoshop, VMs) that you run on a regular basis?

SL fried 2 of my laptops; my Hp laptop it fried twice, thankfully HP replaced it.

Take what Veritable said to heart. DO NOT get a machine with integrated graphics. SL requires a real graphic card.

Tell us what your budget is, and we can make some good recommendations for you.

1: Budget Range, I don't think I'm able to comfortably spend more than $600 right now, which means I might have to look at getting a PC instead, sadly...

2: Canada, Toronto area.

3: Weight isn't a factor and I'm comfortable with 15-16".

4. I've not heard of Blue Mars, I think SL would be the most graphics/system resource intensive program I'd wish to run on it. Everything else would be simple and commonplace, internet browsing, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, etc.

Thanks in advance for your time...had a bad feeling that those options wouldn't be good enough when I started looking at the graphics cards and reading SOME of the opinions and issues on the various boards...

That $600 budget will not get you much in the way of a laptop capable or running SL. I'm afraid you'll be very disappointed in the performance and wish you had waited and saved your pennies to get one in the $1000 plus range..........or opted for a desktop (that $600 will get you a desktop that will run SL quite well with a little shopping).

At $600, you can either get a desktop that will run SL well, or you can get a laptop that will barely manage and burn out from the stress. It's just a demanding application, and you pay a premium for mobility in laptops.

The above two posts are spot on. Do NOT waste your money on a $600 laptop. Either buy a semi-OK desktop, or else just put that money aside, and save for a laptop that will actually work. Realistically, expect to invest at least $1000 for minimally acceptable performance, at least $1500-2000 for decent performance, and at least $3000 for really good performance.

Consumers are losing big-time from all the recent aggressive marketing of cheapo laptops. People are unfairly led to believe that they'll be able to do anything and everything for just a few hundred bucks. But in truth, that's simply not the case. It never has been, and it likely never will be. Marketers tend to use such inventive phrases as "powerful graphics" or "high end graphics" or "extreme performance", when what they're actually selling is the exact opposite. Bottom of the barrel is bottom of the barrel, no matter how colorful the stickers applied to the outside.

If you're just running basic business applications, surfing the Web, and writing E-mails, then by all means, get something cheap. But if you want to do anything more than that, you need to invest in a machine that can handle it. SL happens to be one of the most resource intensive programs in common use today. Running it on underpowered hardware is not a viable option.

Means I just need to create the space for another desktop in the house, ah well...I've suffered this long lol.

Thank you all for your guidance, time and assistance...saved me money, stress and wasted energy as well I suppose.

One quick note: If you do buy a desktop, make sure it's got a real graphics card in it. If you go with integrated graphics, you'll have all the same problems we mentioned for the cheap laptops. IGP's should be avoided like the plague, always.

May I take you up on the offer?
1. <$1500
2. U.S.
3. Weight is not an issue. Maybe 15' screen.
4. Only used for SL (And light applications like web browsing.)

Also: Good customer service.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220639

That's an Asus G51vx with a 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo and a GTX 260m graphics card for $1099. It's only a bit more than the Best Buy version, but Newegg does not charge sales tax to most states and you get the full 2-year Asus warranty instead of a 1-year "Geek" Squad service plan. It also has better screen resolution and includes Bluetooth. You can always add a solid state drive to the second hard drive bay for more speed.

http://tinyurl.com/yb6t9mo

List of systems at Newegg with a GTX 260m or a GTS 360m. The GTX 260m is the better card (more cores, wider memory bus), but the GTS360m will run cooler.

Of the systems listed on the Newegg page, the difference between the G51vx model and the Gateway below it is screen size. I would go with the Asus between those two, because I have a G51 and love it, and because Asus is rated higher for reliability and customer service.

The next step up is the Asus G72. It is right at your budget limt, but it has a Core 2 Quad and the GTX 260m. I have the same setup in my G51, and it is very good at handling Second Life. I have simultaneously run two instances of Emerald, iTunes, and multiple Firefox tabs without slowing down.

At the moment, I would not recommend the G51j (currently out of stock for $1499). I have seen many reports on the Asus forums and at Nortebookreview about BSOD errors on this model, and the performance difference between the low end i7 and the Q9000 quad is very minor.

Whichever laptop you get, be sure to get a good cooling pad as well.

Thank you. Very helpful.

Do you, or anyone, have a suggestion for a cooling pad?

As for the "Geek Squad", I would have nothing to do with them. I took in an ASUS netbook for repair. They charged me $75 and told me it was "all messed up" (technical term?), and it would cost another $130 to fix. I took it to a local repair shop, who charged me $50 to tell me it "definitely" was a hardware problem and I should send it to ASUS. Looking on the company web page, I discovered "if you have tried the restore disk...." (The local repairman said that disk was useless.) I got an external dvd drive and popped in the restore disk. Ten minutes later the computer was as good as new. (Yes, I should have read the ****ing instructions before wasting $120. Duh)

I use this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997419

It's inexpensive, but works well. It is aluminum plate with two 80mm case fans attached. It uses standard connectors if you want to replace the fans, and the metal coolers are less likely to bend due to heat and stress.