Please help buying new laptop

Hello everyone,

I just joined SL a week ago and I'm really amazed with it. However, my current laptop is not able of running it decently:

Samsung x06
Pentium M 1.73Ghz
1MB RAM Memory
Intel 915 Graphics Card
60GB HD


I want to buy a new one mainly in order to run SL the best possible, and also to improve general system performance when working in other apps (I work as multimedia developer, dealing with video, large images, real time music production, coding [C#, PHP, Flash, etc...])

After looking in various shops these are the best options I've found:

HP Pavillon DV5266EA
Intel Code Duo T2300e (1,66 Ghz, 667 Mhz)
2MB RAM Memory
100Gb, 5400rpm HD
15,4 screen (1280*800)
nVidia GeForce Go 7400 (256MB shared)
Weight 2,98kg
Price - 1300€

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VAIO FE28H
Intel Code Duo T2300 (1,66 Ghz, 667 Mhz)
1MB RAM Memory
160GB HD
15,4 screen
nVidia GeForce Go 7400 (256MB shared)
Price -1400€

-------------------------------------------------

Toshiba P100-210
Intel Code Duo T2500e (2 Ghz, 667 Mhz)
1MB RAM Memory
160GB
17 screen
nVidia GeForce Go 7600 (256MB dedicada)
Weight - 3,4kg
Proce - 1900€


All of them are on my budget range, although certainly I don't want to spend more than needed if it's not worth it. Also, I wonder if any of those video cards is going to provide a REAL good experience on SL in absolute terms, not just better than my current computer.

Please could you help me decide?

Thank you very much!

Any of the three systems you found should do the job. If price is a consideration, take the HP.

Please post your findings, once you make up your mind, we are always interested to hear of the experiences and evaluations of people with unusual systems (and these laptops are somewhat, in that they have been selected specifically for their configuration vis-a-vis SL)

As an aside, I tested a 7600GS/256MB PCIe card this weekend in a desktop system and found it to be excellent value ($110) in terms of SL performance.

thanks for the reply!

yes, i finally got the HP and it runs, of course, much better than my previous laptop. I'm averaging beetween 10-20fps, from crowded places (like studio54) to sandboxes. Not sure if that's rally good, however, as I've seen videos with very cool graphics, which I'm not seeing on my new system.

I, too just upgraded here in the States to a DV8333cl. It’s a widescreen “entertainment” laptop, but it has a fast dual-core thing, 1G of memory and two 100 G Hard drives…

Contrary to what the HP site says, this machine comes with an NVIDIA 7600 graphics system...

Now, I had two machines to compare the new one to. The first is an ancient (5 years?) but classy Toshiba with a whopping 32K of NVIDIA graphics, 512 K of memory and a 1.7 GHz processor. The second, an 18 month old Dell D610 with Intel integrated graphics.

Both machines ran SL, and each had its comparative strengths.

The Toshiba had (still has) a fantastic screen and oddly enough, was much better at working with inventory windows. With its graphics limitations, I oftentimes could only see grey objects for many minutes and sometimes it was like being in a Kaleidoscope, with wild color planes shifting all around....

The Dell has a piece of crap screen, but I could see and walk most of the time, albeit slowly and crudely...

Both machines gave me 4-12 FPS.

The new HP is fantastic! It's a 17" screen, very pretty with a duo-core T2400 (so the box says...) and NVIDIA 7600 graphics. Movement is fantastic, color is great and now, I can see ripples in the water! I can see more than 64 meters! Sailing is a glorious experience at night now, with the moon reflecting off the water.

Best of all, the machine (with a TV tuner) was $1495 at Costco. If I don't like it, I take it back, no questions, for 6 months!

On the downside, HP documentation sucks big time. It's fragmented, non-cohesive and very confusing. I'm glad I had a knowledgeable friend help me set it up. There are a dozen manuals, inserts and little pieces of paper to read and keep track of, none of which try to relate to relate to each other. Apparently, no-one at HP has read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"! The machine is also big and heavy, but that's not a real problem for me.

So, I am happy for the moment. I have not tried looking at Video in game, or messing with the dual core thingy, but I can take pictures, have several windows open and use the web and SL at the same time, so life is good.

Nice report, Jennifer. In a few months I will be getting a laptop for much the same reasons, so please, both of you, keep us apprised concerning your experiences with your SL laptops!

Well, I had the chance of testing my new HP Pavillon some more time. I adjusted SL settings to TOP (best quality possible). Amazingly, I got up to 50 fps (out of range) in some areas and very good performance overall. Only one CPU was used, although at 100%.

However, two days ago I got a BSOD (blue screen of death) after 15 minutes in-world. The machine didn't feel too hot, however i switched it off for 30 minutes and started up again. Guess what, BSOD again after 20 minutes.

Not sure if it's a laptop or SL client problem, however i didn't experience BSOD's for *many* years in any of my other computers, even running high-consuming apps for many hours.

Luckily, sunday morning i catched an ad in the sunday newspaper announcing the following laptop for 1000€:


ASUS Z92 JC - Q 221H (A6JC)
Intel Core Duo T2250 (1.73Ghz, 533Mhz FSB & 2MB L2 'cau' memory)
2048Mb DDR2
100Gb HD 5400rpm SATA
nVidia GeForce Go 7300 512Mb TurboCache
15.4 TFT screen


So i brought the HP back and got the Asus home.
SL is the first app I've installed on it, and have tested just by 30 minutes (too much work to do today... ) but first impression is it runs pretty well. It peaked to 100% cpu a few minutes, but is averaging 50-70% most of the time.

I'm experiencing weird results, though. sometimes i get about 6-8 fps. if i exit the game and run again, i sometimes get 30-35fps, in the same place and just some seconds afterwards! also, changing settings to run in lower quality doesn't seem to affect framerate at all.

hope it helps

I picked up an HP dv8380us a couple weeks ago, and I am in love with the thing. Specs over here.

All of my SL preferences are cranked up, and this computer just does not care, even with my other apps running, including Skype (which is a pig), and a movie being recorded off cable tv in the background. I've contacted support 3 times, once because some setting changed (I have no idea how I did it) and twice because of some weirdness with the second (data) drive -- took two contacts to sort it out. That's because online support is . . . well, about what you expect. Phone support was shockingly good -- I mean, once they got done fixing me up, the support tech started helping me to optimize the system, gave me pointers, asked if I had any other questions at all. Then she handed me off to the manager, who offered further assistance. The next day, HP called me on the phone to make sure everything was still cool, and if there was anything else they could do for me. Then, over the course of a couple of days, I received about four or five helpful emails from HP -- I don't know how they knew which of their helpful hint-type brochures would be of interest to me, but they were spot on. I don't know if they were having a special campaign to improve support and I called during it, or if it's always like that, but . . . wow, I'm impressed.

The only thing I have found very disappointing is that the adapter that connects your cable tv coax to the tv tuner card is fragile -- I dunno what they were thinking. Other than that, I'm very happy so far.