That's the general feeling I was getting. I'm guessing regardless of laptop vs desktop / Windows vs. Mac, everyone is having to cool down systems during load with med - high fans.
The issue is that real-time video encoding is _really_ computationally intensive. And the latest AV1 even more so. That processing, whether on CPU or GPU takes power (Watts) and then you have heat dissipation to deal with. There are multiple ways to deal with such heat, some quieter than others, some more power efficient that others, some using less physical space than others, etc. gets more complicated in a mobile platform. And latest NVMe SSDs (PCIe v5) can sustain such throughput that active cooling currently required for high-performance, sustained data i/o. Hence future performance laptops are likely to need either water-cooling for CPU, chipset, GPU, & SSD; or some newest gen plating techniques... I've read of at least 1 water-cooled laptop (mobile workstation).
if room noise is an issue, there are multiple ways (assuming using external monitors) to noise-suppress sound from a laptop. My specific OBS Studio setup involves Win10 tower in a small closet with XLR mixer/sound system, and I'm using 50ft fiber DisplayPort MST cable, and Active USB cable to keyboard, monitors and mouse. as just one example
RE: Third point. I did see one YouTuber comment that the 4090 Nvidia is nothing like the desktop version and its naming should really be revised (maybe with an m at the end). The projects I'd like to record are important to me so no problem buying the best.
My understanding is that all of the nVidia mobile GPUs significantly underperform (as expected with corresponding lower specs) that same model name desktop GPU... stupid marketing people... not sure if AMD is same, probably... anyway (and don't get me started on USB naming)
It isn't so much 'the best', but a function of are you getting anything for spending more on higher end model?
That is, the encoder (NVENC) is same across the upper models (difference being 1 vs 2 streams supported?) so, unless you need the GPU performance for something else, you may be wasting money (and battery life). At 1080p60 you aren't likely to notice much, if any, difference across a 4060 to a 4090 in OBS Studio (presuming no other massive workload on GPU at same time). Whether you'd notice a difference elsewhere, would likely depends on very specific workflow considerations with Resolve. With move to 4K video, VRAM becomes a consideration, with 8GB being recommended for Resolve and more is better, to a point (and gets exponentially more expensive as you go up).
RE: Fourth point. I asked specifically about GPU since that seems to be the bottleneck where I'm at now. I'm kind of astonished that just opening OBS can cause the CPU to spike to 100% (even with just one Logitech c920 and a FocusRite 2i2 for audio connected at 1080p 60fps). Was trying to look into the Mac alternative Ecamm but the trial won't run correctly on my Mac and the pricing seems excessive.
On a Intel i7-10700K (not overclocked, in a business class Windows 10 tower), starting OBS Studio does not spike the CPU to 100%. But, a momentary CPU spike to 100% when starting an app is NOT something to be anxious about. The computer and Operating Systems are largely designed to do that (start something as fast as it can). However, sustaining a high CPU can lead to all sorts of issues... depending on specifics
Reading through various OBS forum posts led me to believe Windows would be way better by leaps and bounds for my OBS needs. While I love and can afford Apple's ridiculously overpriced hardware, I'm not married to it if Windows can do it better. I'm just not familiar with who's the best of the best in that class.
There isn't a clear 'best' in the x86/Windows mobile workstation world. I'm shopping for one now.
Resolve can work fine on older hardware, OR bring a new US$5->20K desktop workstation to its knees, depending on specifics (video resolution, color depth, Fusion, etc).
On a 12+ year old Workstation tower, 24GBs RAM, I run 3+ non-CPU/GPU demanding VMs in VMware Workstation routinely. And have CPU & RAM to spare. It depends on what those VMs are doing.
With that Budget, you can easily get a top class mobile workstation (though a top-spec'ed model would cost more). Which is what I'm looking at, as my needs prioritize mobility over outright performance. Though I'm expecting to get a nice discount because of my situation.
I'd prefer a AMD Dragon Range (HX) CPU and nVidia GPU, with Thunderbolt 4 or USB4, but that doesn't seem to be available at the moment. (maybe with next AMD CPU release later this year?) Lenovo has such AMD/nVidia mobile workstations, and I like the idea of using the power for GPU (AMD uses ~1/2 the power as Intel for same amount of CPU work), _but_ AMD system software is terrible. And high-speed local I/O is a show-stopper requirement for me (I refuse to deal with 10 or 20gb/s USB for video file transfers on a new system). So, I've focused my research more on Dell Precision and HP ZBook (Fury or Studio) lines, either of which I'd be ok with. There are other options, but my criteria includes a long support lifecycle, excellent service (business class next business day onsite service, US call center, etc), so I could get slightly better value, but with significant to me trade-offs. Things for you to consider is size/weight, and whether you'll be 'docked' typically (with nice large calibrated monitor) or need 16" or 17" laptop OLED 4K screen (which weighs more and uses more battery). With larger screens and higher-end laptop models, you get more RAM & M.2 SSD slots for future expansion (if that matters to you).
Personally, I (being frugal, by nature) tend to avoid the huge price premium (and limited performance gain) for the highest model CPU (ex the Intel I9-14900HX vs I7-14700HX) as I'd rather spend that money on after-market SSD and RAM upgrades... but that's me. Time is NOT money for me, so I target the high-performing, value choice (vs top-end for its own sake) CPU and GPU [and then get a really long life out of it] ... but that is dictated by one's specific requirements
