Well, my girlfriend just got a new Macbook...

...and has dove headfirst into SL.

She got the higher-end base Macbook (not the pros).

Here's the specs.

280 x 800 resolution

2.0GHz Intel Core Duo1

512MB memory (2x256MB SODIMMs)

80GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive2

SuperDrive (DVD±RW, CD-RW)

And of course, the Intel display chips, which means it's technically not really supported by SL.

Be that as it may... seeing as I'm the supergeek in the relationship, I'm going to have to provide tech support for the inevitable SL crashes that will happen on her new baby.

I know nothing about macs. They're delicious, but I know nothing about them.

What can I expect SL to do with that machine, aside from run slowly?

Danke,

LF

At that resolution, I think it will look very odd

Beyond that, I cannot venture a guess, just wanted to poke fun at what I think is a tpyo.

Definitely. 1280x800.

1 gig of RAM would be better. And 256 MB Vram will make it run sweet as a nut.

xx KK

First off, refer to this thread for the crashing issue. And then, I suggest you contact each person who really uses Macbook and ask that it is still available so far no matter how slowly it runs. The following threads have the users.

/164/db/128771/1.html
/164/ae/128042/1.html
/164/d3/115756/1.html
/164/37/110614/1.html

Unusable issue because of unsupported graphic chips comes across even though you use Windows like this. As Torley mentioned, "it shouldn't lock you out suddenly--just that there's higher risk of bad problems like lockups, crashes, graphical glitches, etc. for the very reason it's unsupported."

Agree with Kumi Kuhr - bring that baby up to 1 Gig Memory and it will help the Mac run better and SL should be fine.

The Notebook will get hot. SL is a CPU hog. I have my Powerbook on a Griffin Technology iCurve Laptop Stand with a little personal fan blowing on the CPU / memory area (the hottest part).
Get a 3 button Mouse(PC or Mac) or track ball your hand will get crapped real quick if you play long. I use a Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball Mouse.
Get a external keyboard (any USB keyboard will work).
Finially add a pair of powered speakers or good head phones - some good jams on SL.

All items can be found on Amazon

Why not just attach a monitor with that keyboard and mouse? And while you're at it, put it at a desk.

Just another Mac user chiming in to tell you to upgrade the RAM beacuse the 512MB that comes with it is completely insufficient. SL will be anywhere from extremely frustrating to nearly unusable until you do that. I have a Pro, so I'm not sure if the Macbooks will take 2GB of RAM or not. I highly recommend totally maxing out on it though.

She's not going to be happy, no matter what, but...

Double the RAM. At least.

Chew up all the RAM and make stuff you really don't want swapped out swap out.

Agree with you Jimbo I just added all the items to a laptop to make it into a desktop system but if you're playing Second Life you in it for a min. of an hour. Try using a MacBook for that long and you'll want it on a desk. My Powerbook's great using it as a unconnected laptop but when I'm in SL for a couple hours using a real mouse/trackball is sure nice.

Yah, you can't use SL without a SECOND MOUSE BUTTON because CONTROL CLICK means something different.

(goddamn pigheaded billionaires with a style fetish afraid of putting a second button on the trackpad...)

All the Macbooks (including the 15" pros now) have a double finger-tap = right mouse button click. I use SL several hours during the week with just the touch pad using this trick. It works good and once you have adjusted to it it really isn't that bad.

The real solution is to get yourself a super-sexy mighty mouse wireless. I love mine.

Quick Addition: You can find the right button/double tap enable in your mouse settings in the system preferences.
-Alan

Yes, and it drives me up the wall, I'm too used to being able to right-click without worrying about whether I'd been holding the left button too recently. I bought a third party driver called "sidetrack" that lets you define an area you can tap for "right click" which works better... but it's not really good enough. I have a compact USB optical mouse that does the trick, but it's another bit of hardware to carry around and keep track of.

That's an evil piece of hardware. It doesn't really have a right button, and has the exact same problem as the trackpad double-tap... it doesn't really distinguish between right and left taps too close together and it can't tell if you're just resting your finger on the left side.

Plus it's too big to use in the space available next to the trackpad.

I miss my Thinkpad. Too bad it doesn't run OS X.

I have the same exact Macbook and it runs just fine as long as you set draw distance to 64m. I can't have Photoshop open at the same time like I can with my older Mac with more RAM and will probably install more memory eventually due to that, but if she just wants to use SL and not use other programs at the same time, she should be ok. It does get hotter than my other Mac, but even so, I can use it for hours on my lap without a problem. As for the controls, I find it much easier than on the PC. I suppose it's just what you are used to. I never have quite gotten the hang of the controls on the PC at work.

why would you need a right mouse button? i have an original MacBook Pro 15" that doesnt have the double finger tap thing for right click, and its all i ever use on this ocmputer, games, work, SL, whatever. If you want to "right click" in SL all you have to do is use CMD+click instead of CTRL+click, its really not that hard. a few games i have use CMD click, some use ctrl, the OS uses ctrl... heck the Citrix client uses Option Click... but theres always some way to do it.