Will this Thinkpad handle SL well as configured? Specs inside.

I ordered a new laptop but it won't ship for a while so I can't test for myself yet. How much of an improvement do you think it will make for me in SL? Old and new specs below.

My current SL experience stinks. FPS almost always in the low single digits, bandwidth anemic, also often in the single digits though not always, never terribly fast, often lagging when people around me are not lagging, poseballs just make me squat half the time instead of sit or dance or whatever, or I'm behind or out of synch, textures in a region can take 20 minutes to finally rez, or never, av textures either never quite rez, or blur in and out if they do, mostly out (So all you ladies with your makeup - your lips look like a little kid who has been messily eating a grape jam sandwich, your eyebrows are nearly imperceptible shadows, and your mascara is undead/Tammy Faye crybaby smear quality). Love SL, but am prohibitively frustrated by my experience of it. I realize there are system-side problems and I've also tried lots of different recommended settings, but I'm pretty sure my computer and connection are more to blame than anything.

Current rig:
IBM ThinkPad T42
Processor: Pentium M 1.70GHz
RAM: 512mb
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 AGP, 32MB
HDD: ~32.7GB usable, ???rpm
OS: XP Pro
Connection: temperamental DSL, usually about 1200kbps down / ~210kbps up.

So it was time for a new home computer anyway and I'm hoping I got one that will make SL better among other things. I've been on laptops so long at work that I don't think I can ever go back to desktops. So that's a bit of a performance limiter, but one I figure I can live with easily enough. So that's what I got, after researching specs here and elsewhere.

I probably should have asked this question here before pulling the trigger, but had to do it while the sale was still on, and this rig made sense for a lot of other non-SL reasons. But I will be reeeeeally put out if it doesn't improve my SL experience. How do you think this one will fare?

New rig:
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Express
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB)
RAM: 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 128MB
HDD: 60GB, 7200rpm
OS: XP Home
Connection: going to upgrade to 6mbps cable service sometime soon

I read here in a couple posts by Lindens that the processor is much more of a factor than the graphics card for SL performance for some reason, so while I'd have liked a better quality graphics card and perhaps one with 256mb, apparently that isn't really an issue. A Linden said in another thread that even 64mb would be fine at this point. Anybody know if the X1400 has any compatibility problems with SL?

Given the reputed importance of the processor for SL, I was really hoping to get more of a boost in my new rig. Currently have 1.70GHz and have upgraded only to 2GHz in the new rig. I bet 2.16 or 2.33GHz would have shown a much more noticeable difference, but we'll see. It was just way too expensive to go much higher than 2GHz in this particular setup.

I'd also have liked 3gb of RAM just to really future-proof this thing, but from what I read here 2gb ought to be just fine for SL. Agree? Plus memory gets cheaper over time, so upgrading in the future might not be a big deal if necessary.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this setup and diagnosis if you see any potential problems. It doesn't ship until late in the month, so presumably I could still call up and reconfigure if something isn't right here. Thanks in advance.

I think you will be fine, make sure to read over the dual core sticky to get the best performance you can and when you get the laptop make sure all the drivers are up to date especially the video ones.

I think you will be fine, make sure to read over the dual core sticky to get the best performance you can and when you get the laptop make sure all the drivers are up to date especially the video ones. Some answers to your concerns, 2GB of ram is plenty, the way you are comparing the processors is not true, MHz doesn't mean everything, the core 2 duo processor is much more efficient than your old Pentium M, you will be surprised. I personally haven't seen SL use more than 128 MB of video ram, I had it come close, but nothing over. 256mb would be better for the future since you cant upgrade your video card. You made a good choice with the hard drive too, a 7200rpm should help you with caching since its faster than most laptop hard drives which are 5400RPM. You should expect a huge difference from your old rig, I think you will be happy with the changes.

I think you will be fine, make sure to read over the dual core sticky to get the best performance you can and when you get the laptop make sure all the drivers are up to date especially the video ones. Some answers to your concerns, 2GB of ram is plenty, the way you are comparing the processors is not true, MHz doesn't mean everything, the core 2 duo processor is much more efficient than your old Pentium M, not to mention your FSB is higher and you have probably twice the cache right on the cpu as your old one (this makes a big difference). I personally haven't seen SL use more than 128 MB of video ram, I had it come close, but nothing over. A 256MB video card would be better for the future since you cant upgrade it. You made a good choice with the hard drive too, a 7200rpm should help you with caching since its faster than most laptop hard drives which are 5400RPM. You should expect a huge difference from your old rig, I think you will be happy with the changes.

I manage SL reasonable well (mid teens frame rate, all graphics effects on, no more lag then most) with a T42 using 1Gig RAM and a 64 MB ATI Radeon Mobility Graphics card, so your new one should be fine.

Just remember to install Omega drivers, which give the ATI Mobile cards Catalyst specs. Download the newest from www.driverheaven.net (I think).

Zealot,

I have a t42 also (1.7Ghz CPU, 64MB GPU, 1G ram) and my SL freezes up and crashes all the time. You have never had this issue? I have also downloaded and installed the latest Omega Drivers (6.9). Cable modem internet connectionCan you help me figure out what the problem is? Thanks!

Zar

I've run it on both a t42 and a t60 (using imagecfg.exe on the t60) - with 1G RAM in both. Perhaps I've been lucky as I've never had problems with the "stock" video drivers. The t60 performed better mostly because I tend to multitask while running SL (browser windows, graphic apps, etc.).

Well that's odd. I have a 60gb hd with only 7 gig free. Would that do it? why am I crashing so much with sl? The screen will freeze and then the screen goes blank only to return with jibberish in the window and I have to close it. ARggggh!