Need help deciding whether to do Mac to PC Changeover for just OBS

[tripletopper]

Hello.

I found at a thrift store a monitor and computer all in one from around 2016 that could go up to Windows 10. It's an HP envy

Currently the hard drive is wiped.

Currently I have two different Macintoshes that are used for two different studios for my obs.

My everyday computer usage like emails websites stuff like that is done almost exclusively on my Android phone.

If I put the Envy in the secondary studio which is literally only used for light gun games by the CRT, would I be able to use the current version of obs and therefore have access to my favorite effect which is RGB additive to take the left eye make it black and red right eye and make it black and cyan and merge them additively to make an anaglyph 3d picture?

Currently I use either four pairs of cameras if filming off the Sega scope for missile defense or three pairs of cameras plus one capture card for all the other light gun games. The computer I have is a 2018 Mac mini i3.

It looks like it has a thunderbolt ports but I've never seen a USB a type thunderbolt port. If that could get me extra USB a 3.0 ports maybe I'll have enough for that but I'm not sure if I have enough USB bandwidth to deal with my situation.

By the way the computers considered too old to be sold to most used computer stores because I heard it does not take Windows 11.
Last thing is, would a reasonable person say that if the only thing I do on this Windows computer is broadcast out on Twitch that someone who's germophobic enough to get exclusively Macintoshes would probably not have to worry about my Windows 10 computer causing a problem with the Macintoshes or with the home network in general?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

An all-in-one from 2016 is going to be a VERY low powered device, not usually a good fit for the computationally demand of real-time video encoding... but depends on video encoding offload options, other loads, etc.

There is no USB-A Thunderbolt port. I suspect it is a powershare port or similar?? ... NOT thunderbolt (thank stupid USB forum for a lot of stupid naming conventions, symbols, etc). On PCs, except for PCIe Add-in Cards (AICs), Thunderbolt wasn't really a thing until, USB-C and TB3

Then, unless you take special steps OS support from Win10 ends in 2 weeks. and even then only for a year ... So, you have plenty to learn to keep this PC working for 1 year. Now, with some network/security expertise, and avoiding using the PC connecting to the Internet (for the most part), some of could safely use Win10 after patching ends... but the group of people who could safely do that is REALLY small (and knows what VLANs are, registry editing, and more). Now, if the ONLY Internet contact was sending livestream video, I wouldn't worry too much. Log onto ANY website from an unpatched OS - no way... that is just asking to get hacked, and yes, a hacked computer will then be used to check EVERY device on local network for devices to further compromise (ensures persistent presence).

Using OBS Studio on older hardware often requires expertise in Operating System and OBS Studio optimizations. At the OS layers, disabling lots of unnecessary services, startup processes, UI eye-candy, etc. Then, from 2016, not sure that will be a SATA SSD or HDD.

I get being tight on budget, but this seems like a LOT of work, and not sure really worth it.

 

[tripletopper]

My Mac mini 2018 Intel as my Secondary computer, the one just for CRT light gun games, is probably a better computer than the 2016 HP Envy. (Just found out recently it was a 2016)

No local used computer stores willing to take them. Once I sold it on eBay I had to pay more for shipping than I did for the actual computer and I didn't feel comfortable shipping such a heavy thing on eBay so I canceled paid the advertising credits and decided I'm either going to recycle it at the recycle shop which pays money for electronics or donate it to either a friend or a charity that is both helping me so I'm going to help them if I can.

I don't know how valuable the charity finds a 2016 computer, so I asked the charity if they can put a dollar value on whether a computer would be more valuable donation of the charity or the income derived from selling it to the recycler would be better. Let them have the choice to say either the computer as hardware is more valuable to the charity than any money or vice versa once we figure out what that tipping point is.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

My primary computer is even older (though a powerful workstation)... so I get making use of older hardware.
The real/safe/secure option is to follow process and use Win10 on that older 2016 PC for 1 year. OR, bite go to the effort to install Linux on it now. As you and I are well aware, for light-duty usage, an older PC can sometimes be fine (and highly desired for those that have nothing). The caution is that folks who don't know computers, then try to use low-powered PC for heavy duty usage (real-time video encoding) or other, and quickly find system gets unstable/crashes, or best case only gets intolerably slow ... and don't know why.

Beware using date to determine better/worse... a computer that is five years older, but upper end, can still be way faster/better than the newer, low-power unit.. it depends.