What Will I Buy? LG or Samsung or Acer?

I need a new computer - my Dell fried.

I'm getting so much info overload from friends in real I turn to YOU.

I must run SL on it so keep that in mind.

I want a laptop - so is it a notebook or Netbook? whatever they are called.

Should it be Samsung? LG? and someone said why not get an Acer?

I'll prolly wanna run a monitor screen through it? Can I?

I am not a techie so help please! Thanks!
Jiggy.

You don't want a netbook, they are basically email and web browsing appliances, running SL on them would not be great, although boy lane's rainbow viewer for netbooks is supposed to be good. I don't know amything about laptops, I'm not interested in them,. but Acer is highly recommended by a lot of people I believe.

If it is going to be your main machine, I would stay away from a netbook. I just bought one for my 4 year old daughter, so she can start learning some basics. None of the ones I looked at would be up for any serious work.

As Connolly says, you don't want a netbook, they're not really SL friendly.

Toshiba and Hewlett Packard make decent laptops, as do Sony, then there's the Mac option.

Thanks so far - really important information for me.

So Acer would be compatible - and I'm looking for a laptop
Keep this info coming - my Dell really gave up the ghost and I need a computer for what I do anyway - I dont just live in Zindra!

Acers are inexpensive, compared to other brands. Check out some of the sales sites and read the reviews on them. Especially the bad reviews, they will tell you a lot. But you have to weed out real problems with the product from the one guy who just happened to get the unlucky dud machine. www.newegg.com is a good one.

Might she be better off if someone told her how many gigs and what kind of video card she needs other then a brand?

You do need to choose one that has graphic capabilities that will handle SL and some don't. I do know that the graphics in one Acer machine I saw (nVidia) were identical to what is in my Compaq laptop, and the Acer was cheaper. They bath have shared graphics memory but it works fine with SL.

Might consider adding Lenovo to the list, although they won't be the least expensive.

You'll definitely be able to drive an external monitor from the laptop. Making that most convenient depends on a couple considerations:

1. Will it usually be the same monitor at the same location? If so, you might want a port replicator or docking station always wired to that monitor--and a cheap keyboard, mouse, and any USB peripherals you might want to connect.

2. Will any other machines use the same monitor? If so, you might want a KVM switch (for Keyboard + Video + Mouse) so you can swap between the machines quickly. (This gets a little tricky right now because we're going through a transition in monitor cabling, from analog to digital, and good digital-video KVMs are still a bit pricey.)

If you could answer a few questions:
1. What is you budget?
2. How big in terms of screen size and weight are you looking for?
3. How long do you expect to use this laptop before you replace it?
4. What are your expectations for SL performance (low/medium/high/ultra)?
5. Aside from SL, are there any other resource-heavy tasks that you will use your laptop for such as CAD, video rendering, or gaming?

In general, there is no excuse fro getting less than 4GB RAM in a laptop, but more than 4GB is not cost effective.

Of the CPUs on the market, the new i7 processors are clearly the best, as they can adapt themselves to run at faster speeds on two cores, or run their native speed on four cores. At the moment, SL is able to use not more than two cores. If SL is your main application and is the only thing running, than a faster Core 2 Dual CPU would be a good option. If you run SL with several other applications running at the same time, a Core 2 Quad will keep the system from bogging down, even if it is a slower clock speed than a C2D.

Graphics chips are the most important consideration in a laptop for Second Life. Most people will tell you that Nvidia is clearly better for SL than ATI. If SL is your most intensive application and you are not technically inclined, buying a laptop with Nvidia graphics is your best option. Avoid any Intel graphics or Nvidia integrated graphics. These will run SL, but they are prone to overheating and they take memory from the system.

Nvidia has several numbering systems for their graphics cards. The ones you will find most commonly are the 9000 series and the newer 100/200 series. The second number is the one that tells you how powerful the GPU is. In the 9000 series, avoid anything under a 9500. In the newer series, look for 130/230 or better.

I would also avoid anything smaller than a 15 inch screen for Second Life. It's not just a matter of how detailed the screen is or how big the picture is: it's about heat. The more powerful graphics cards get hot, and require a larger cooling system to keep your laptop from overheating. Heat kills laptops. A good cooling system and a cooling pad for your desk (one of the good dual-fan systems) will keep your laptop running longer.

get a desktop

Hmm. You seem to be talking pretty cheap brands, Jig, and you move around a lot. So here's a light notebook (< 5 lbs) from MSI that I tried out, and it ran SL (over wireless!) surprisingly well for $US 419. Really nice set of options for the price. Nvidia graphics, Windows 7, dual Celeron, 6-cell battery.

http://www.frys.com/product/6045418?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Relevant specs:

MSI A4000-068US Notebook PC featuring an Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor T3000 with Windows W7 Premium

PROCESSOR:

* BRAND: Intel
* PROCESSOR TYPE: Celeron Dual Core
* PROCESSOR NUMBER: T3000
* PROCESSOR SPEED: 1.8Ghz

DISPLAY:

* SIZE: 14
* RESOLUTION: 1366*768 (16:9)
* VIDEO CHIP: GeForce 8200M G

MEMORY:

* SIZE: 2GB
* MAX. MEMORY: 4GB
* TYPE & SPEED: DDR2 PC-5300 SO-Dimm

HARD DRIVE:

* SIZE: 250 GB
* TYPE: SATA

OPTICAL DRIVE:

* TYPE: Super Multi DVDRW

CARD READER:

* SUPPORTED TYPES: 4-in-1 (XD/SD/MMC/MS)

WEBCAM:

* RESOLUTION: 1.3 MP

AUDIO:

* SPEAKERS: 2
* CHANNELS: 2
* INPUT/OUTPUT: Headphones
* MICROPHONE: yes

COMMUNICATIONS:

* ETHERNET: Yes
* WIFI: b/g/n

BATTERY:
* TYPE: Li-Ion
* CELLS: 6
* ESTIMATED RUN TIME: 3hrs


* OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7 Home Premium

SL + Notebook = dead notebook

For REAL performance get a desktop.

This is coming from a guy who repairs laptops fora living. They cant handle it.


Meanwhile, my desktop with the quad-core 3Ghz CPU, GTX280, 8 GB RAM..... LAUGHS at SL. And all I spent was a whopping $650. Cheaper than a laptop!!

An LG if you REALLY want a kmart brand lol

Acer would be the one that best there I think
..Only by the stepmother a LG.. any thing lol

quoated for truth!!!!


*ehm.. build it*

It's not impossible...it's just not cheap. I am running Second Life very well on a laptop...but I spent $1600 to do it (and that's with some good sales). The Asus G series starts at $1000, and is the lowest cost to get a GTX 260m-equipped system.

I would look at Asus, Sager, or Dell's Alienware if you are really after a laptop for SL.

Under $800, no. You will get far better performance from a desktop at any price range, but I have not seen a laptop under that capable of more than medium settings, while desktops in that range can run ultra settings.

The best value at the moment would probably be an Asus G51J, which runs $1500 on Newegg. It has 4GB memory, dual 320GB drives, a Core i7 CPU, and a GTX 260m feeding a 1920x1080 LED screen.

I have an Acer notebook that runs SL just fine. Come on. SL is not a cutting edge game here. It doesn't need a powerhouse computer to run it.

This is great information and I am reading it carefully. A laptop is prolly a good choic for me since I am always running and a desktop would have half of the year unused. So I would have to get another desktop for my other place and although money isnt that much of an issue, I hate wasting it on computers that need replacing regularly.

It IS an issue to decide what I want. I'm inclned to an acer now and Veritable Quandary's information.

Desk Tops get peered at by people and I get house guests. You know, the little logo on the screen that turns on and its open for all to see that I am on sl. I just dont want to have to defend myself to friends. Unless someone can tell me how to hide the logos on teh screen that you click on? Now I would love that anyway.

I hate have to say this, but I fried 2 HP laptops and the Toshiba one wasn't really up to it graphics wise.

A top range Sony looks ok - a friend has one of these and it runs SL well with NVIDIA graphics and a laptop cooler/riser.

The only laptop that has survived SL for me is a specialist gaming one from Rock. The fan is rather noisy on it, but a robust fan is necessary for a laptop running SL.

(I do admit to very heavy usage - but I do use a laptop cooler. If you get HP, a laptop cooler is essential as they are prone to overheating.)

Desktops - I'd look at Novitech to buy one online and pick the features I wanted.

Right click on them and select "delete" - then confirm in the pop-up window by pressing "delete shortcut".

Better still - set up user accounts with their own logins and set up a Guest account for visitors. Then you let them have access to the programs you want them to see.

There's got to be a way of removing the desktop shortcut without deleting the program, but I don't know how. You would then need to navigate through program files to start SL. As a quick emergency measure you can right-click your desktop and click view> desktop icons. This will hide them all (to get them back just do it again). You can change the icon by right-clicking the shortcut and choosing properties. It would still say Second Life underneath, but would be a lot less noticeable.

I have a Toshiba Qosmio which runs SL like a dream. I particularly like the bright orange shiny flames all over the lid. I think it's aimed at somebody a little younger than me, but it makes me smile to sit here designing doylies on it It weighs a ton though - you wouldn't want to be carting it round all day.

I've had bad experiences with Celeron processors but that was a few years back. They may have improved since then.

Go for the best graphics card you can afford and whatever laptop you get, DO get a decent fan cooler.

Curious ... when I try that it looks as if it will delete the actual file. It doesn't give me a "delete shortcut" option.

Might I suggest you right click the desktop shortcut and rename it to something like "Archive of discussions with Henry Kissinger to take over forum moderation" or "Nocturnal assignations with J Depp scheduled but cancelled because he is not a high enough priority" or maybe even "The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Mis-spellings".

Pep (Your friends will be impressed then I presume.)

Which OS are you using?

I should have said that this works on XP.

for the people saying netbooks won't do SL... it really depends on the netbook, if it's using nvidia's ION chipset, it'll do SL just fine... tho not on ultra settings.