Question / Help What specs should i have on a new laptop to smoothly capture 4k resolution?

[marshill88]

Whenever I try to screen capture the display on 4k using a 4k monitor, I get gigantic frame drops. i have no way that i can see to disable my integrated laptop GPU (on a Dell Precision) and OBS seems to use my junk integrated GPU whenever I try to screen capture the display. So I'm returning my laptop because I tried Camtasia, Bandicam, Action...everything out there gives me horrible frame drops on my new $4500.00 laptop :(

It makes me wonder if a laptop...any laptop...is simply incapable of creating fluid, smooth 4k screen captures. With 5k to spend, I can't seem to do it right and I talked to the sales people at Dell asking them what I need to get great 4k video captures and they don't seem to know :(

Can someone please recommend some hardware for a laptop? Is "Alienware" a good choice with a strong GeForce? Right now, I'm on an Nvidia Quaddro. Do i need 64GB ram? Will 32GB work? Also, am I correct to assume that any integrated graphics card is a "no-go" for OBS (since it's not an option to simply disable the onboard GPU on new workstations like the precision)

 

[Deleted member 121471]

A fast SSD + NVIDIA GTX 10x0 series cards should be enough, assuming you want to use hardware encoding, if I'm not mistaken about NVENC capabilities. 16GB system memory is plenty unless you have specific workloads that require more ram, such as 3d modeling. It also depends heavily on which software you want to capture.

Alienware is overpriced flashy junk, I recommend researching alternatives to get better bang for your buck.

 

[koala]

4k recording is extremely straining for cpu and gpu. You will probably not get any notebook cpu that is capable of encoding with x264 30 fps 4k. Using a hardware encoder is probably the only way to go. Nvenc is capable of encoding 4k at 30 fps, I don't know if it is also able to encode 4k at 60 fps.
As a comparison: I clicked a bit on the dell website, chose the most expensive components and I assume you speak of a dell precision 7730 with an Intel Core i9-8950HK @ 2.90GHz and a Nvidia Quadro P5200. This is a performance comparison with equivalent desktop hardware:

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...GTX-1080-vs-GeForce-GTX-1070/3888vs3502vs3521

and CPU:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...en-5-2600X-vs-Intel-i7-9700K/3246vs3235vs3335

You see, a notebook with this power is only equivalent to an "ordinary" high end desktop computer that can be built for about $1000-$1500. The GPU is definitely inferior to available desktop GPUs.

I know this doesn't really answer your question "what notebook do I need to smoothly capture 4k", but it may help to classify your task and may enable you to research yourself the proper hardware by showing you other hardware to compare to.
There is only one thing I know for sure: any laptop in this performance class is vastly overpriced compared to a desktop and obsoletes quickly within the next 1-2 years after purchase.

 

[marshill88]

thanks for this great answer. it completely answers my question. i'm going with a mid-range laptop and a desktop then! :)

 

[marshill88]

Hi Koala. Thanks for your great post. Just to update you on what I did. I called Dell and returned my $4500.00 laptop, because I only had it literally one week, they allowed the return. I then spent the whole day trying to figure out how to buy a desktop and from who :( I almost went with Cyberpower but found bad reviews on them. Alienware came in crazy expensive. Almost went with Origin, but finally built a system on Digital Storm. 16GB, GeForce RTX 2080, I7 3.6gz (4.9 turbo), samsung SSD, a few fancy add-ons...came in at $3500.00....It wasn't as cheap as cyberpower and not as cheap as amazon prebuilts, but seemed like they make it from solid parts...I hope Digital Storm is a good company or I'm toast lol...but still, it was all for a net gain of 1000 bucks between the two yipee. I have to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive. I wanted to let you know that your post was the very cause of my big money decision. So thanks for your advice! I can't wait to get my 4k screen captures going.