UK - Laptop

First off - I'm sorry for posting this as I've read a lot of the Laptop search finds but I am not the brightest person when it comes to IT, and a lot of the responses are USA based....so what I'm looking for is a few opinions that are relevant to the UK market....ie, me!

I would like to get a Laptop and I'm based in London in the UK. It will primarily be for Second Life, and a couple other applications, but I have several Laptop based friends that have attempted to get into SL, only to find they repeatedly crash, the end result is that they have left SL permanently. As the laptop will essentially be the most expensive games console I will ever buy, I would like it to stay logged in to SL, and not crash out every couple minutes.

Can anyone suggest a good UK obtainably, Laptop? and also the approximate price range, so I know how much to sell my kidneys on Ebay for! Teeheeheeheee!

I remember reading somewhere that if LL update the graphics thingy, then my laptop might be rendered useless....in your opinion, how likely will this be, and if so, how soon ?

And for the more technically minded...and because I am useless with IT - please can anyone tell me....have you used your mobile via your laptop to access your internet? I will be travelling a lot soon, and may not be near a internet hotspot...heck, I don't even know if you can connect a laptop via a mobile, I am just rambling...forgive me...Im an SL addict, I can't help it! lol!

And finally, are their any other negatives of using SL via a Laptop ?

Thanks in advance.

I know these work babes.... coz I have one:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_G1_Gaming_Laptops/prod.asp

Also, try Alienware:

http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_pages/notebook_all_default.aspx

If you are getting Vista and ATI, get the latest drivers for the graphics chippy.

I can't see graphics being a problem with any SL update - these babies will play the latest games NPs.

Finaly, there are no issues using a "laptop" with SL if it has some grunt - (let's call these babies notebooks coz you ain't going to want to put it in your lap unless you like a hot crotch ), even wireless is NPs at all (despite claims to the contrary). Happy hunting.

Good luck !

Deu. x

I only use laptops for SL as I travel constantly. Runs fine on a basic 5 year old sony vaio (1.7ghz Pentium M processor, 1 gb of ram, basic intel laptop graphics card). Obviously you need to keep the draw distance down and not max out the graphics settings but you really can run it fine with a basic system.

As to access via mobile, it works fine. Make sure you get an unlimited data package from your mobile provider, and a 3g modem, otherwise its very slow and very very expensive!

Dont even think of trying to access SL via a mobile if you dont have a 3g signal.

Hope this helps

Zog/Bella

I believe laptops will work fine as long as you have a good one. i.e. good ram 1gb good HD processor a reasonably high one wouldnt go for nothing under 2.0 and dont forget that graphics card make sure its a good one that will take sl and 3d gaming.

Extract from SecondLife.com system requirements page:
"Second Life is not compatible with dial-up internet, satellite internet, and some wireless internet services."

"Some" .... <whistle>

And.... as far as I understand, ordinary cables are more secure and are faster on the same connection...

*waves to Bilbo*

Morwen.

What Bilbo and Morwen said. - I run SL on a laptop over a wireless connection sometimes, and I get very poor bandwidth and lots of packet loss. It works, but it's not a good experience. Connect with a cable if you can.

My Laptop is a pretty basic Compaq with 1Gb ram and nVidia graphics. If I had to depend on a laptop I'd get the best graphics I could, and I'd avoid ATI as lot's of people have had problems with these.

Also I'd avoid Vista if possible. It's a bloated memory and cpu hog, and you need all the memory and cpu time you can get for SL. I'm planning to get rid of it on the laptop and go back to XP as soon as possible. If you have to run Vista, then I think 2Gb ram would be a big advantage.

Finally, since SL runs your processor at pretty much 100%, it WILL get VERY hot. Like Deunan said, you won't want to sit with it on your lap, and I'd suggest one of those cooler tray thingies.

WIFI etc or "WIRELESS" is not supported LLABS. Its staes in the Spec area here.

Hi Morwen, wb

Thank you. RL needed last week my attention (no bad things tho ). It is nice to be back

Morwen.

Just my Lindencent...

I recently bought a new Laptop. I went for Dell XPS M1710. It has Vista, 2Gb RAM and nVidia Go 7950 GTX graphics card (512MB). And I have hardly ever had a crash (maybe 2-3 times) the last few months. (Only problem is my internet connection that drops out, but that is something I have to blame my internet provider.)

EDIT:
From Dell's pages, it seems that this model, configured to something close to mine, is sold for £ 1399 in UK right now.

EDIT2:
Even though it is a heavy beast (4kg) and gets very hot, it is no problem to have it on the lap, as long as you have a book or something under it.

/me drools with envy

Ahh wel.... For SL I still prefer my desktop above my laptop. The 19 inch screen, the size of the keyboard, the wireless mouse... and the comfortable chair at my desk.

I know, these things you can also buy for a laptop.... but you buy a laptop for a reason, not to use it as semi-desktop.... I think.

Morwen.

I have a HP 17" wide Laptop with a 1.83Ghz processor and 1 GB Ram. It's a laptop provided by work so the graphics are nothing to write home about but I can run SL without that many issues. I keep my draw distance below 128 and dont turn on rippling water, other than that I dont have any performace issues.

Im with Fafu on this one, Ive had a Dell XPS M170 for over a year now and never a problem in SL with it, very fast too, comparable to a pretty fast desktop.

I would advise against Alienware, I have an Area 51-M 7700, bought not too long before the Dell was, it weighs a ton and its slower in every respect than the Dell, and the price was almost the same.

When the Alienware was just over a year old it developed one pink and one blue line down the LCD display, dead pixels, I phoned Alienware and they said because its a month out of warranty Id need to pay for a new LCD, they said to change the LCD needs a new case(I suspect this is rubbish and what they mean is they buy the LCD and case together from Clevo in a single unit), they told me it would be over £400!!!!

Needless to say I told them where they could stick that, £400 for a low rez 17 inch LCD?!?

If you must buy Alienware I suggest a long warranty, but if you compared the two as I have, the Alienware is an unreliable bulky dinosaur which gives the impression of being thrown together, the Dell is light and fast and is a proper "laptop", not a boat anchor, only downside on the Dell in my oppinion is the WUXGA screens ridiculously high resolution for a 17 inch, its something like 1990x1400

(note when I say "light" I do not mean its as light as a regular poverty spec laptop, but its a damn sight lighter than the Alienware)

My desktop is an Dell Optiplex MT745.... and it beats my Dell Precison laptop with ease. Both are about 2 months old. The Desktop belongs to me private, the laptop is company property.

Morwen.

Dell own Alienware, they use allot of the same components within both brands, I know as the company I work for manufacture and supply allot of the components world wde and I manage our Dell account in Europe. So nowadays Alienware is just Dell in disguise, all be a very nice funky disguise in most cases.

My laptop (company owned) is a Lenovo with 2Gb RAM and a 512Mb Nvidia graphics card, no problems running SL. My desktop is a HP workstation with dual Xeon processors and 4Gb RAM plus also an Nvidia graphics card with 512Mb. (yes I'm spoiled)

Good to see you again, Morwen.

Mandy C *waves at Morwen and bilbo*

I use an old Acer C111 Tablet PC with 1GB Ram and only 64MB video memory.

Generally, it runs quite quick. I've made sure to keep things simple and not install to many apps, for example.

SL runs fine until it grinds to a halt. It slows the whole PC down, in fact. Is is the case that my PC isn't powerful enough or a problem with the view itself? I'm on a wireless connection too.

I'm looking forward to buying a new PC but will wait until Vista is a little bit more seasoned and there are better tablets available on the market. Gonna be a few months.

Works fine on vodafone 3g in case anyone is looking

Zog

Pffftt.... IBM is for geeks (okay, I had to look the brand up) and HP is just an Compaq with the name of Mr. Packard on it (<--- just kidding. I really have no idea ).

And concerning your desktop you only own me on the graphic card (as far as I can see and understand).

It is good to be back. I needed to concentrate a bit on RL (only good things tho ).

Morwen.

I'm also looking for a laptop for general use on the road and it would be great it it would also run sl, so I can be in-world while I'm on-road

I just checked tou LaptopsDirect and was amused to see that they are offering a *downgrade* from Vista to XP for just 40UKP !!

I'm still not sure how to decide from the specs if any given laptop will run SL, can I assume that anything with 512 Mb nVidia graphics will be certain to work ?

This looks pretty good.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5920WSMi_Laptop_LX.AGS0X.015/version-1.asp

SL runs fine on my Vista laptop, its very stable and I prefer it over XP.

The ABSOLUTE minimum I would go for is something like a Compaq Presario F500.

It'll run SL but sluggishly (how the heck ANYONE can say SL runs fine on an integrated card is beyond me ), anything lower spec, which includes ALL Intel Cards and any Laptop with integrated memory is avoid at all costs.

The F500 (which cost me £500 in a sale) has dedicated memory for the graphics card, 1 gig ram and runs SL adequatly with turned down graphics.

Basically the key words you need are :-

THESE ARE OK
ATI or Nvidia Video with Dedicated Video Memory
1 gig Ram
Windows XP preferable - the F500 came with Vista but, with a bit of driver hassle, it runs XP better than Vista.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE
Intel Graphics
Integrated memory.
512MB ( unless the store can offer an upgrade to at least 1 gig and if your not technically minded fit it for you).

You would be MUCH better off with a fast 256MB graphics card like a 7600 or 7900 or better 8600 (DX10), than a slow 512MB one like a 7200 or 8400. As long as the videocard ends in the digits "600" or higher, its generally a faster card aimed at gaming rather than a slower card with extra memory.

512MB on a slow videocard is better for media editing, but worse for gaming. It can cache more memory but it can't keep up with drawing it as fast. Also avoid any mention of turbocache or hyper memory, those tend to piggyback off the computer's processor and main system memory, instead of having the dedicated card do the work.

If I were buying a gaming laptop, what I personally would look for is a minimum of 1Gig system memory (2Gig if possible), any Intel "Core 2 Duo" family processor, and a 256MB or 512MB 8600 or 7900 videocard (the model is more important than the ram).