Is Windows the best laptop for dual pc streaming?

[MagicVayu]

I'm considering a laptop in the $1500 range to use for dual pc streaming.

Plan 1. m3pro macbook

Plan 2. Windows laptop with 4070.

Because dual PC streaming consumes a lot of electricity,
Considering low noise and low heat, which is better to use as a dual PC streaming laptop?

I know that Windows is generally used.
I am also considering a MacBook because of its low power consumption and low heat generation.
Which is better, Mac or Windows?

 

[R@de]

Windows will provide better compatibility with capture devices and with a suitable GPU better hardware encoding performance.

 

[AaronD]

You don't want low power for live media production. It'll fall on its face and you'll hate it. Get a monster, and let it use whatever power it needs.

If you MUST use a laptop, look at Mobile Workstations specifically. Several brands make them. They're thick and heavy, because THEY HAVE AN ACTUAL COOLING SYSTEM! That allows them to run at high load indefinitely, which is what you need here.

Most laptops are optimized so much for portability, that their published specs only last a couple of minutes, if even that. They can't get rid of the heat, and so they throttle back and kill your stream. They're intended to load something quickly, and then sit and do nothing but cool off while the user looks at it.

---

Personally, I use Ubuntu Studio Linux on a Dell Precision M6800 Mobile Workstation. Bought new in 2015 with all the bells and whistles at the time (~$6k in 2015), and it still runs great 9 years later!

Ubuntu Studio – A free and open operating system for creative people.

ubuntustudio.org

Operating System: Ubuntu Studio 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.7
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-117-lowlatency (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-4940MX CPU @ 3.10GHz
Memory: 31.3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Quadro K5100M/PCIe/SSE2

That (9-year-old) GPU is no longer supported, but the CPU has its own hardware video encoder that OBS can use, so I'm still good there.

---

You do need to be a bit more careful about capture cards on Linux, just because some of them roll their own standard instead of following the existing standards that Linux supports natively, and their driver-writers don't take Linux seriously. Google a bit and see what people recommend recently, specifically for Linux, and how the community says to make them work. Follow that, to get the right device and install the right software if needed, and it will probably work for you too.

 

[MrGhost]

Don't hesitate to incorporate your 3rd computer as the streaming device. This can free up a lot of resources on a 2nd computer tasked with handling a large amount of sources, and automation. The third computer really sped up the 2nd computer's automated things. The first computer of course you only do what you must there. The 3rd computer can take that 2nd computer's output and encode it and send it to the internet easily.

The 2nd and 3rd computers can be laptops with Ryzens. The first computer should be a desktop with a Ryzen 12/24 core or above. Of course your needs may vary.

I have had no issues streaming with even an old i7 processor on my 3rd computer. Worked great so far. If you want to incorporate a 4th computer for sending some internet source to the streaming computer (live chat) you can do that too.

Everyone has at least 2 computers by now? Laptops don't fare well unless they have some sort of battery saving software. In my (limited) experience Lenovo Vantage is the only software to protect the battery on your laptop.

I recommend a little Baseus fan pointed at any hot laptop. Has done good things for me. Cost me only less than 5 dollars.

 

[MrGhost]

I found a link to that fan I had bought for 2.50. Guess I got a good deal at that resale shop.
USB fan from Baseus

I wouldn't post this, but I can't tell you how nice a fan this is. It detatches, but keeps going for a long time with its battery. Plus it's so low profile. Clips onto window handles or lamp posts of about 1-1.5 cm (car rearviews?). And has a pleasing blue power light and 2 speeds. It connects to any phone charger or ordinary rectangular USB charging device (car cigarette lighter based?). I wished I had this little fan when I was living in my car....It does have the older type of USB phone charger port (not the newer C type) btw.

 

[AaronD]

@MrGhost From some of your other posts, I think you're WAAAAAY over complicating this! And I'm not sure that you understand it anyway. If it *has* worked for you, maybe you got lucky, like I did a few times and then found that out when I tried to build another rig for someone else with the same ideas and it fell flat.

Anyway, I don't see any use for more than 2 computers:

• 1 to create some computationally-heavy content, like a realistic game
• 1 to add everything else to that content, and stream it

Adding everything else doesn't take a whole lot by comparison, but streaming does. Streaming requires compression, and the video standards that are heavily biased towards easy playback, make the production part difficult. So you need a machine there to take that load. You can't really use a 3rd weak machine to "stream easily", because it probably won't.

You don't need battery saving software. You need an AC power cord. Anything that "saves the battery", while running on battery, can also kill the stream by not allowing the power that it needs to do the math. And of course when that battery runs out....

External fans....ehhh....sorta work. Not very well. The problem is the internal design, and so an add-on external fan can only do so much. It can do *some*, yes, but likely not enough. Likewise for cooling mats and trays that put some small fans right up next to it. You really need a good thermal design to start with, which if you MUST use a laptop, is a Mobile Workstation. Then you don't need any add-ons; just keep the vents clear and let it do what it's designed to do. Still better to use a desktop tower, if you can.

 

[MrGhost]

@MrGhost From some of your other posts, I think you're WAAAAAY over complicating this! And I'm not sure that you understand it anyway. If it *has* worked for you, maybe you got lucky, like I did a few times and then found that out when I tried to build another rig for someone else with the same ideas and it fell flat.

Anyway, I don't see any use for more than 2 computers:

• 1 to create some computationally-heavy content, like a realistic game
• 1 to add everything else to that content, and stream it

Adding everything else doesn't take a whole lot by comparison, but streaming does. Streaming requires compression, and the video standards that are heavily biased towards easy playback, make the production part difficult. So you need a machine there to take that load. You can't really use a 3rd weak machine to "stream easily", because it probably won't.

You don't need battery saving software. You need an AC power cord. Anything that "saves the battery", while running on battery, can also kill the stream by not allowing the power that it needs to do the math. And of course when that battery runs out....

External fans....ehhh....sorta work. Not very well. The problem is the internal design, and so an add-on external fan can only do so much. It can do *some*, yes, but likely not enough. Likewise for cooling mats and trays that put some small fans right up next to it. You really need a good thermal design to start with, which if you MUST use a laptop, is a Mobile Workstation. Then you don't need any add-ons; just keep the vents clear and let it do what it's designed to do. Still better to use a desktop tower, if you can.

It''s not as if I haven't thought this through. The computers I have I don't buy often. But I have collected a small array which I run as televisions in parts of my house here. And I have found that they can be useful.

Actually you do not 'save the battery' as in, keeping it closer to 100% or something like that. That is not what the software does. The software keeps your AC power block from blowing the battery by constantly charging the laptop. I have experienced battery blowouts on both my ASUS (the current 'streaming' computer in my setup which I have now removed the battery from completely) and my Razer (which also now has its battery removed completely but is still working fine as long as the power is connected). Haha, I am not for one minute suggesting that you use a laptop on battery for anything more than chatting over the internet in a cafe for a few hours. No. Good grief! You don't want to use a battery powered laptop any more than you have to. That is why you need exceptional software such as Lenovo Vantage. It should be the first thing you check when shopping for a laptop. You are going to want to keep your laptop plugged in all the time over the coming years.

Only my Lenovo has the proper software to prevent the AC from keeping the battery at MAX all the time. Though it is from 2015, the battery still is fine, because since the early days I have had Lenovo Vantage installed and kept the battery at 70% while constantly plugged in for all these years. The battery is fine. Still runs the computer for an hour if the power goes out.

Fans. Well I can't say as I ever needed one really, but it certainly keeps the laptop cool on the outside so that after I am done, I don't feel any heat coming from it. I blow the air directly across the surface these days because I don't like to have the extra heat. Don't need it, but it doesn't hurt.

As for my new 3 laptop setup, there is actually plenty of good coming from this. In general my Advanced Scene Switcher which I have programmed extensively works faster now on the middle computer (ASUS). The 2nd general great use of this, is that I don't have to have the internet on either my Main computer or my ASUS. Musicians don't like to hook up to internet. It is a known fact that the internet does bad things to music setups.

 

[MrGhost]

The 3 laptop setup is something I have only recently discovered or attempted. I never knew that my middle streaming computer could both recieve and send NDI stream across my 10/100/1000 router. Since I have discovered this I have also implemented the Razer as a 'chat' source computer using a 2nd wifi hotspot.

You won't find many people doing this because lets face it, they are still on the cult website youtube haha!

For a few years I have only recorded my videos and later uploaded them because I refuse to hook either my main computer for music or the ASUS up to the internet to stream. It's only in the months since Bitchute kicked me off, and I began using Rumble, that I have been a streamer again for the first time since I dumped Twitch for trying to patrol me and Youtube for being a cult.