Warning to laptop users

[LochnarITB]

If you are a laptop user interested in WoW, you might want to look at this link from which I quote:

Although it may be possible to run the game on a laptop or notebook computer, we will be unable to offer support for video related problems stemming from inconsistent driver implementations. We sincerely apologize if you are unable to run the game for this reason and advise contacting your laptop's manufacturer and requesting the release of a new driver package based on the latest reference drivers from the video chip manufacturer.

I downloaded the WoW beta and was having some fun playing on my laptop. I did notice some graphics problems even though the video card should be able to handle it. I would see little pieces of tearing and the sky would flash. I could live with the little flickers and pretended that we were having lightning storms. Then I made my way to Stormwind. I was treated to these graphics (warning - large) pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4

This started me on a journey in search of updated video drivers (one that I had given up in frustration several times before). Either I got lucky or [disjointed lip sync] the Google-fu is strong in this one [/disjointed lip sync]. I managed to find a way to update my drivers beyond the very old ones provided by my manufacturer. It was not for the fainthearted. I ended up having to use a driver from another laptop maker and had to modify one of the provided files to get it recognized properly.

The good news is that it worked. I succeeded where I had failed so many times before. Not only did the junk go away but the movement got smoother and the graphics looked better in general. I actually like them now and no longer think of them as too cartoonish, as I stated elsewhere earlier. Like all things in life, sometimes something that seems to be a setback is really the impetus to push on to something bigger and better.