bonus chairs/graphics

ok first off broad question -- why do places have bonus chairs (what is in it for them to givve away money?)

and

i was wondering if there is anyway to change the graphics, my computer doesnt run second life smoothly and i am in no situation right now to go buy a new one with a lot of ram -- is there a way to decrease the quality so it will run smoother??

First question, so they can rank high on the popular places list in Search.

Second, go to Preferences (either at start up or under Edit in the drop down menus). Graphics Detail has sliders that control the detail of the graphics, you can also check off things like bump mapping and ripple watter etc. Under Graphics you can set a lower draw distance which helps with lag.

i have 512 ram and 1.3 gigaherts -- i due however have a good grpahics card -- do u have any suggestions on what certain things should be set at -- or maybe some things that are not necessary that slow it up

Well, your small amount of ram definately is causing you trouble, but first I would slide down extraneous things like tree detail and flexible mesh detail, and you can lower the objects a bit as well. Check off all the shaders. Put Avatar Rendering at Normal. Lighting Detail at Sun and Moon only. Terrian Detail at Normal.

Go to Graphics and drop your draw distance down to 64, that should also help.

Then see how it goes. You may be able to add more detail if it is a great improvement.

thanks -- also do u know how much extra ram cost to buy -- is it so expensive as to not even be worth purchasing unless i wanted a new computer?

It's not that expensive, certainly not as expensive as a new computer, heh. People upgrade their ram all the time. Find out *exactly* what kind your computer needs, first. How much it costs depends on how much you get. If you got another 512 it may run you $50 - 100 dollars or so, depending on the kind you need and where you buy it from.