New Intel Macbook incompatible?

I've just joined Second Life and am experiencing crashes every few minutes, which I guess are down to the Intel GMA 950 graphics card in my Macbook.

Why is it that Intel graphics are incompatible, and are they likely to become supported in the future, or am I just unable to ever use Second Life?

What can I do? Short of getting a different computer (not possible!).

Thanks!

Reduce the draw distance (down to 64).
Make your screen resolution 800x640
Run full screen mode.

The Intel Graphics are simply not good at this...you're gonna have to make it easy for them.

Are you using the First Look viewer? It's much, much more stable and capable on my Macbook than the regular client.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a go.

Interesting, the regular client works fine on my MacBook. However, if the FirstLook is better I should use it heh.

I think it may be system dependent...particularily based on the vid card. My Macbook with an x1600 in it runs the FL great, where as my other 'unofficial' mac with a 7800gt in it runs the normal client far better.

Either way, the 950 is just barely capable of running solid 3d graphics. But this much i'm sure of, the Mac drivers for the 950 are far smoother and efficient than the XP drivers are.

ive a 1gb macbook and it runs sl fine. ( slightly slower than my pc but hey im sat on my sofa its allowed! )

I also have a 1Gb black Macbook with the same video card and SL runs pretty well. Perhaps the crashes are more grid-related? I noticed lately that SL is running much slower for me with more frequent crashes. Good luck!

Hey just wanted some general input beyond what has already been said. I intend on purchasing the black macbook currently available on the apple site with 2GB ram. How decently am I going to see SL or is it going to have an issue either way due to the Intel card.

I will be moving away from my old pentium 2.2 GHz with 640mb ram and only a intel 64mb card.

I use SL on a Linux box with an Nvidia card, and also on a Macbook C2D. The Macbook is definitely underpowered compared to the real 3D hardware but I find it totally usable for general building, chatting and exploring. It's not so hot for fast moving vehicles, big crowds or really texture heavy areas.

I have a Mac mini with similar performance...and SL will run fine--no technical problems.
But The Intel Graphics chips are, uh, only 'adequate' for SL, they use the main RAM.
You'll be glad you maxed out on the RAM.

Not sure which PC you're moving over from, but if you can afford a higher end Mac, spend the money.

Yeah, if it HAS to be a black macbook, wait a month or two and the new Macbook Pros will likely come out with Black supposedly in the mix, and faster front side buses...heard rumors of possible LED powering replacing the LCDs on them now...which would rock....better battery length with brighter screens.

Well my problem is my budget is around 2k. I went with the highest speed mackbook for the lower cost since the minimal Mac book pros dont seem very good on the cheaper end. I wanted to have a t least a 2.0GHz Dual Core and 2 GB of ram. Not too sure how easy it is to add components to it after purchasing and whatnot. I wanted to get a mac to 'simplify' my life and moreso for my movie editing and picture organization too. Yeah I do animation design / post production film editing but im not looking for high end power just yet or at least not for a couple of years as again, the macbook will primarly be for personal simplification.

Well my problem is my budget is around 2k. I went with the highest speed mackbook for the lower cost since the minimal Mac book pros dont seem very good on the cheaper end. I wanted to have a t least a 2.0GHz Dual Core and 2 GB of ram. Not too sure how easy it is to add components to it after purchasing and whatnot. I wanted to get a mac to 'simplify' my life and moreso for my movie editing and picture organization too. Yeah I do animation design / post production film editing but im not looking for high end power just yet or at least not for a couple of years as again, the macbook will primarly be for personal simplification.