I've been disappointed (not really Uber's fault) to see that the client simply doesn't work on any of my laptops whose graphic drivers are not recent directx drivers (independently of the raw performance which is ok on some other recent games). This problem must concern a lot of laptops thanks to the lazy customer/technical support policies from computer sellers. I'll try the linux version, but I suppose a "lite client" will be made either by uber or by fans in the future so that people can play the game on more platforms. Unrelated note: without HDR, the night-time side of planets can be utterly unplayable. I had to activate both HDR and Icons(Always) to see anything on the dark side of the moon.
Sorry, but mostly every AAA game require you to get latest drivers to avoid glitches/freezes. There is nothing special that PA require them too. No "light client" will be helpful here while old drivers just crash the game. E.g game just call some OpenGL functions and crashed due to wrong output or shader compiler crash.
Supporting old stuff is fairly ridiculous. It's like forcing the latest new console game to work on the Playstation 2. It increases the game development costs many times over and even can limit the game if we're forced to have less of a game.
