05-01-2007 17:36
I (among many others judging by JIRA) have older PCs/laptops that used to work fine with SL but now, with 1.15, repeatedly crash within 1 minute of login. If I make it past 1 minute things are fairly stable. On re-examining the system requirements, I find I have an unsupported graphics card/chipset - one made by Intel. I assume this is the problem, and thus have not reported a bug. Does SL intend to ever again tolerate (or add support for) less capable hardware, or will residents always be required to upgrade to a reasonably recent "gaming" platform?

I find that 1.15 has improved my frames/second, but vastly reduced stability, even with all preferences sliders all the way to the left, antivirus disabled, all automatic updates on the PC disabled, etc.. (which I never used to have to do). I would love a less graphically demanding version (or preference) where I have a lower frames/second but do not crash.

SL has had the good ... or bad ... fortune to attract many residents who are not otherwise gamers, and our wallets are appalled by the need to buy new hardware simply for SL. My current laptop is only 2 years old, and would otherwise last me for quite a while. :( Less hooked residents will no doubt simply leave rather than upgrade.