Improving my stream with a new PC or laptop

[BEASTHOUSE]

Hello,

I was wondering I someone may be able to help me. I'm currently streaming using my MacBook Air + Elgato HD60S+ PS4 and my CPU usage is around 22% before I start streaming. When I hit stream I'm looking at around (max) 55% so my CPU usage is through the roof (everything else is closed down and only OBS running). My stream isn't too bad on 720p 30fps but I'm looking at ways in which I can improve it.

I'm currently looking at gaming laptops on a budget but really feel it's not necessary - especially as I'm not playing games from the laptop - just using it to run OBS. If someone could point me in the right direction of specs or even a machine that will make light work of OBS and run my stream with a bit more quality then I'd be forever grateful.

I know the obvious answer is 'you get what you pay for' but I'd rather not pay a stupid amount of money so any helpful tips on what to look for/pc or laptop on a budget that will be better suited to OBS over my Mac would be helpful.

Cheers

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

a laptop will be power constrained, for the computationally demanding task of real-time video encoding.
So, for a given amount of money, you will get a more powerful desktop vs laptop.. but a decent laptop will be more than adequate
A nVidia GTX 1650 Super (with Turing NVENC) or better is recommended for GPU encoding offload.
So the question for the CPU becomes what you are doing for the GPU. If you get a Turing or Ampere NVENC based GPU, then you'll need less CPU. Intel just released today their 11th gen Desktop CPU, which I'd recommend over earlier gens for security reasons.... but realistically a 10th gen CPU on sale would probably be fine. For power efficiency an AMD Ryzen CPU will beat an equivalent Intel CPU (recent generation chips)

What you don't mention is whether you use any of OBS features which might drive higher CPU load. OBS Settings differences can mean being able to get away with a 5-10yr old CPU, vs maxing out a current gen powerhouse. it just depends.
And how long do you want this to last? And only 720p, or are you looking to stream at 1080p now, and maybe higher in a few years (without replacing PC, assuming upload bandwidth available)?