PC versus Laptop

My pc recently failed leaving me secondlifeless until it's repaired...

Im contemplating getting a laptop but as I know nothing about them would be interested to know if secondlife can be run as well on a laptop and which sort of make and model I might be best looking at ...

Also if you own a pc and a lap top which gives better results sl wise ?

And for fellow UK secondlifers which model and seller of lap tops can you recommend should you regard the laptop to be a viable alternative to the pc ?

Thanks for your help

Mael


(Other general advice on lap tops - is it difficult connecting peripherals, prints external hard drives etc - gratefully welcomed )

Laptop shouldn't be a problem, as long as the HW data are OK. The main benefit is that you'll have a much smaller footprint on our desk.

Most importantly, watch out for a good graphics card. The normal built-in graphics cards (e.g. Intel) are overloaded with running SL. I'm suffering from that quite a lot.

Connecting peripherials is no problem at all. Go for USB and plug them into a hub. If everything is connected to the hub, you just have one cable leading to the computer. Works like a charm. Printers also may be accessed through the LAN. Thus it does not matter how many computers are attached and it's easy to switch, too.

I find that the PC handles SL much better. BUT... the new Dell XPS 1530 runs SL a tad better Graphic wise.. seems a bit faster as well, but its brand new and not cloged with file after file

if you go the laptop rout, make sure it has a good GPU card not a intell 965 or something (they run it but it will be very low and slow! (have one of those to) I would recomend one with a min 8600M GT Nvidia card (that's what the Dell has and It really works fantastic!) .. If I had had the money I would have went 9800M nvidia just make sure the GPU memory is stand alone and not shared.
And be prepared tp buy a fan operated cooling pad to run under it as well, SL cooks laptops. Something else to consider is the size of the keyboard, they are a ton smaller and if you are not used to them may find them a tad off when typing I tend to hit ctrl for sft and cap lock more than sft as well LOL

but with a decent amount to spend you can really get a great laptop tat will keep up with even some of the higher line gaming rigs, or better yet a laptop set up as a portable gaming rig

not sure on the UK stuff and I know Dell really hits you all over across the pond

Thanks Ricky its the graphic card thats bothering me too I know I can look for an ati or an nvdia for my pc but is it possible to find a laptop which has either of these makes of graphics card built in ?

and what sort of size screens do lap tops have , never having even looked closely at one Im wondering if the entire inside of the 'lid is utilised as a monitor and whether Im going to find myself yearning for my widesscreen monitor....

yes you can get Nvidia and ati (I recommend the Nvidia but its more a personal choice.)

mine is a 15" wide screen maybe its 17" ??? .. when I use it I surely miss my 22" lcd but it works and is nice for laying around with. You can get them up I think even into the 20" (I know theres 17 or 18" lap tops.. but its normally the size of the lid minus about 1/2-1 cm all around (more like 4-5cms on top and bottom)

I did mine on line USD was 967.00

if you goto dell.com you can build and check out with out buying it and get ideas on cost.
it took a lot of fudging different specs to get it to that price, but I sure do love it. like the tower better though I can add and play inside of it

I have both and run SL on ultra on my desktop, and min settings on my laptop to help keep it cooler.

I use http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/gateway-p-6831fx/4505-3121_7-32822855.html?tag=mncol;lst and love it, granted it's massive and heavy. I can do a ton with it while playing SL.

For gaming, I prefer my PC. I've tried SL on a laptop before.. but I guess I'm spoiled by my 24" monitor. I can't really see stuff on my laptop, it took just a bit longer to do just about everything!

Expect to pay more for a laptop vs. a comparable desktop.

-Laptops are limited as far as upgrades

-Laptops leave you at the mercy of the manufacturer for video driver updates which unfortunatly do not happen often if at all for most models, so you will have to resort to finding hacked drivers.

-LL still doesn't do a good job at targeting the development of SL for use on laptops. It is really hit and miss as far as performance is concerned. So I would do a lot of research on the laptop first should you decide to go that route.

Here's a few choices: http://computershopper.com/laptops/gaming-laptops/top-5-gaming-laptops

I rather go for PC anytime then a laptop unless I'm at school or on the road.


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"And be prepared tp buy a fan operated cooling pad to run under it as well, SL cooks laptops. "

I have to agree with Distilled on that point - very important! When I used to run SL on a laptop, it fried my cooling system.

Thanks for the info.... I love the idea of a bigger monitor (drool)

at the moment I simply cant get into sl...my emergenecy pc isnt good enough

I've been running a laptop in SL for almost 4 years now. That means it is possible to do, and possible to do successfully. But I'm now about to buy a new computer and it won't be a laptop. Here's why...

1) Graphics. I was careful and made sure my laptop had (for the time) a monster graphics card, a good set of built in speakers, a 17 inch screen....really was top-notch. Make sure if you do buy a laptop that it does have its own dedicated graphics card and doesn't use shared memory since this will borrow from your overall RAM and slow your system down on a graphics-hungry program like SL

2) Heat issues. The price I had to pay for the above was heat. Heat is a problem for laptops since the volume of air inside is a lot less than a tower and the vents smaller & fans smaller. Things getting cooked are also more terminal since it's harder to replace things in a laptop. You're also so much more vulnerable to cooling failure issues in a laptop. Mine started to inexplicably shut down about 20 minutes after starting up and playing SL, which was really annoying since it was obviously due to heat (I had to wait for things to cool down before starting again, and then it would recur!!). My first response was to assume something was wrong with the fan, which I couldn't get to. So I bought an under-laptop platform with a fan inbuilt, which worked for a while then also failed to make a difference. At one point I ended up with an upended table fan upon which I balanced the laptop which worked a treat if...a little cold for me! I say this because actually there was a simply solution in the end which I had overlooked. Once day I got so annoyed, I opened up the laptop to see if I could get to the fan and I discovered that the main vent (which was difficult to see from the outside) was blocked by a plug of dust. I removed this, and it all worked again well. My advice would be to always get an under-laptop cooling fan and to perhaps even prop the laptop up off this slightly so air can get underneath. I do this by using a wireless keyboard so that it's not important that I'm touching the laptop itself. Learn where the air vents are and inspect regularly for blockage.

3) Limited updating. It is possible to upgrade components like graphics cards and RAM on a laptop, but it's fiendishly difficult for non-experts compared to towers.

4) Ergonomics. SL is addictive this means you will be spending hours and hours at it over the year. So for the sake of your body you need to make sure everything is ergonomic to prevent eye strain, repetitive strain injury, bad posture/back problems. This is of course possible with a laptop also, but easier to do with a tower and a full sized screen.

5) Updating mobile graphics drivers can be a bit trickier than updating standard graphics drivers (at least I found this with ATi mobility drivers) though not impossible.

Of course, everyone has to make their own decision based on their circumstances. It is possible to run a laptop successfully on SL - I've done it and benefitted also from its portability (e.g. taken it elsewhere and used SL there whereas the old PC there wouldn't have coped). Just be aware of the issues if you do and make an informed decision.

The two major downsides to laptops:

1) Many types of upgrade are impossible, so they become obsolete faster than desktop PCs.

2) They are more costly to repair because laptop components are typically more expensive than their desktop PC counterparts.

Sure, it's possible to get a state of the art, perfect-for-gaming, laptop right now, but if you will have the same requirements of your computer in two years time, you need to ask yourself whether it's the best option. If the laptop becomes too sluggish to cope with the games of 2010/2011, you will probably have to buy a new one. If that happens with a desktop, you'll need to shell out no more than $150 for a new graphics card.

thanks for all the advice I think on reflection its going to be a matter of upgrading my old pc..but I like the idea of a laptop though

I even run SL on my Acer Aspire One with linux on it. Yes, it actually runs! Not nearly as fast as on my PC or my "real" laptop but it runs.

As mentioned, SL is greedy with CPU and GPU cycles, so laptops tend to heat up, causing the fans to go full blast, making them rather loud and hot. The price premium and the performance hit (unless you spend stupid money) are the only other issues, really.

Some feel that running laptops that hot on and off will shorten lifespan.

Conversely, don't expect to buy a blazing desktop and be blown away by SL performance either. The SL client has a way of crushing anything in it's path...

I use a fairly fast laptop and it takes me about twenty minutes to rez any room in SL. My FPS hardly ever gets above 3. In the new client I can't even rez sculpties in it. I blame the video card though. I'm sure if you got a laptop with a good card,you would be fine.

Dollar for Dollar a PC will always beat a laptop on performance.

Meaning a well put together $1000 PC will blow away any $1000 laptop

My recommendation for good deals in the UK are Novatech and Overcloackers. Both very affordable prices, but Novatech sweetens the deal by offering next day deliver for 5 quid per delivery, not per item.

My last laptop could play all the latest and graphic intensive games, but in SL, if I was around more than 20 avatars, it quickly became a slideshow.

My laptop was superfast at high settings, and I normally could move with little trouble in overfilled sims with near max settings. Of course then there would be moments when I could barely move and I was in an empty sim and the next four sims around me were also empty.

SL melted my laptop, though.

I use a desktop at work, and I just plain like the portability of the laptop, plus the fact I can stretch out in bed and play on line. I can't really imagine sitting for 8+ hours at work and then spending any amount of time sitting at home in front of a computer.

I'm trying to imagine how I'd set a desktop up so I could rest on a bed. I did it before when I was using my last desk top, but it is a strain.

Probably should just go ahead and get a desktop and try figure out how to place it in the room. Just so it doesn't overheat. If I did that I'd probably get one that caught on fire moments after I got it out of the box, though.

Looking at specs online. Here (as in SL min, recommended specs), and over at Dell. I have no idea what I'm looking at. The laptop I got was great, though it finally melted. I built it so it could handle Civilisation II (or whatever number it was up to), and that seemed to work quite well for SL.

I am staying for my work often in hotels for my work, the laptop my company supplies is hardly capable of running SL (or any other 3d content).

So I bought privately a laptop. It is a HP Pavilon DV7 (duo core, nVidia 9600M gt, 4gb memory and so).
It runs SL very well, even at the highest settings. Normally things rez rather fast. When I run into problems it is mostly the hotels internet connection that is over used by all the guests.

Morwen.