On the one hand, WoW Classic will run on it, albeit slowly--single digit frames per second even at the rock-bottom render size of 640x480, which makes it look like I'm playing the game on a C64--but
it does work. I could play the game on the thing, I think, without much trouble.
But on the other hand, it's dead slow doing anything other than word processing. Even surfing the web is slow. Well, FFS, it's 11 years old, and I did get a few extra years out of it by switching it to a SSD in 2015. But I think it's time to get a new one.
One of the problems is that Seiren is hardware-limited to 4 GB of RAM. That was plenty in 2008; in 2019 8 GB is "entry level". I'll probably get a machine with 16.
I will probably go with a Ryzen processor this time. The 2200G in Achernar performs so well that there's no reason not to, and I don't want to spend a crapton of money on a laptop which will not see all that much use; as before I'll be looking at "budget" laptops but I'm not looking for "bargain basement" machines. Heck, you can get a new HP laptop from WalMart for $180 but it's got a processor not much better than the one in Seiren; it would likely run about the same speed as Seiren does. Fine for an emergency replacement, I suppose.
Best Buy has a number of refurbished Ryzen 5 machines (second generation, even) which would scream compared to Seiren, and most of them are under $400.
Not this week! ...but soon enough, I think.
The heck of it is, Seiren looks, largely, as if I'd just taken it out of the box. There's very little wear on the thing, because I always kept it in its case except during use, and I only used it when traveling. That's why I don't want or need a really expensive, high-zoot laptop.
I'm going to look around and do some comparison shopping and figure out what I want, though. It's also not going to be easy to let Seiren go, as it's been a faithful companion since November 2008. (First post from Seiren.) The machine I buy will probably not perform as well as my current desktop does, but it'll be a good machine--and I'll be able to play WoW on it.
Heh.
