SIMPLE: Mac specs for 4k recording?

[Im_JustMarco]

I have been searching everywhere and I can’t find a simple answer anywhere, can somebody please tell me what specs a MacBook Air/Pro needs to comfortably record 4k gameplay in OBS Studio?

ie: M1/2/3 chip? CPU? GPU? Memory? Storage?

I currently have a 2018 MacBook Pro with 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 1536 MB Graphics, 8GB Memory, and 500gb storage. Whilst it is a decent laptop it’s just not capable of running 4k 60 fps gameplay recording in OBS without terrible lag and skipping scenes. I currently record at 1920x1080 in Indistinguishable file size, but it is definitely struggling to keep up and needs replacement sooner rather than later.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[AaronD]

The "M" chips are not designed for performance. They're designed for low-power, which translates to battery life. Most "typical" laptops are like that. They might have good specs on paper, but they're so optimized for portability - size, weight, battery life, etc. - that they don't really have a cooling system. So the good specs are to load something quickly, not much more than that, and then sit and do nothing while they cool off and the user looks at what it just loaded. Bursts of power, not continuous.

Media production requires continuous power. A thin, light laptop that heats up quickly and ends up throttling back to protect itself, is going to fall flat on its face, even if the specs are good on paper.

So look at either a desktop system, or the "Mobile Workstation" (thick and heavy) class of laptop because they actually have cooling systems! Not the ultra-portable stuff. If Apple doesn't make that anymore, then you need to not use Apple anymore.
(or if they do, then that's your answer)

 

[David Harry]

A basic M1 8GB machine, Mac Mini for instance, will record 1080/60. But will struggle above that.

An M1 Max 32GB 32 GPU cores machine, MacBook Pro for instance, will record up to 4K/144 easily. It will also allow for multiple inputs for PiP etc.

BTW. Ignore that previous comment. Apple Silicon is designed for processing power and the MacBook Pro laptops are most certainly designed for video post, they have hardware media accelerators for decoding and encoding a number of different codecs. I use an M1 Max MBP in clamshell mode, basically as a desktop, with DaVinci Resolve Studio and various capture applications including OBS and I can easily capture up to 4K/144 and edit that resolution and frame rate.

 

[Suhendri WIbowo]

hi.. Aku_HanyaMarco sepertinya saya setuju dengan pendapat David Harry dan saya mau berbagi sedikit pengalaman menggunakan laptop MBP M2 Pro ram 16Gb 14" miliki saya, saya sudah menggunakan MBP untuk pemrosesan livestreaming YouTube dan juga proses perekaman dengan device yang sama, dalam kurun waktu 2 tahun ini sama sekali tidak ada kendala! mungkin yang dimaksud AaronD adalah pilihan lain dengan device yang berbeda untuk jenis kerja yang juga berbeda, pada intinya adalah bisa memaksimalkan kreatifitas dan hasilkan karya yang baik, karena perangkat kerja tetaplah perangkat kerja.

 

[Im_JustMarco]

The "M" chips are not designed for performance. They're designed for low-power, which translates to battery life. Most "typical" laptops are like that. They might have good specs on paper, but they're so optimized for portability - size, weight, battery life, etc. - that they don't really have a cooling system. So the good specs are to load something quickly, not much more than that, and then sit and do nothing while they cool off and the user looks at what it just loaded. Bursts of power, not continuous.

Media production requires continuous power. A thin, light laptop that heats up quickly and ends up throttling back to protect itself, is going to fall flat on its face, even if the specs are good on paper.

So look at either a desktop system, or the "Mobile Workstation" (thick and heavy) class of laptop because they actually have cooling systems! Not the ultra-portable stuff. If Apple doesn't make that anymore, then you need to not use Apple anymore.
(or if they do, then that's your answer)

That has actually helped a lot! I completely understand your point, the MacBook Pro is the thicker and heavier class of laptop which would help with the cooling aspect you mention!

Thank you!

 

[Im_JustMarco]

A basic M1 8GB machine, Mac Mini for instance, will record 1080/60. But will struggle above that.

An M1 Max 32GB 32 GPU cores machine, MacBook Pro for instance, will record up to 4K/144 easily. It will also allow for multiple inputs for PiP etc.

BTW. Ignore that previous comment. Apple Silicon is designed for processing power and the MacBook Pro laptops are most certainly designed for video post, they have hardware media accelerators for decoding and encoding a number of different codecs. I use an M1 Max MBP in clamshell mode, basically as a desktop, with DaVinci Resolve Studio and various capture applications including OBS and I can easily capture up to 4K/144 and edit that resolution and frame rate.

Thank you, this is really helpful! From what you’re saying the MacBook Pro M3 Pro would be more than capable of 4k/60 which is exactly what I’m looking for!

I used to record directly from my Xbox X, but for some reason hour long Game Recordings directly to External Storage but it’s has been riddled with corruptions since April and it’s getting to the point where I can’t workaround the problem with my current setup, and I’m not ready to let go of my hobby yet lol!

I might have to twist your ear about Clamshell mode and some of the possibilities to optimise recording at the time if you don’t mind?

 

[Im_JustMarco]

hi.. Aku_HanyaMarco sepertinya saya setuju dengan pendapat David Harry dan saya mau berbagi sedikit pengalaman menggunakan laptop MBP M2 Pro ram 16Gb 14" miliki saya, saya sudah menggunakan MBP untuk pemrosesan livestreaming YouTube dan juga proses perekaman dengan device yang sama, dalam kurun waktu 2 tahun ini sama sekali tidak ada kendala! mungkin yang dimaksud AaronD adalah pilihan lain dengan device yang berbeda untuk jenis kerja yang juga berbeda, pada intinya adalah bisa memaksimalkan kreatifitas dan hasilkan karya yang baik, karena perangkat kerja tetaplah perangkat kerja.

Thank you, I managed to translate what you said and it has really helped a lot! I definitely agree with you, I understood what Aaron D says about different devices for different workloads. The fact you have had really good results with MacBook M2 actually makes me think that I don’t have to go too pricey to achieve the 4k/60 resolution!