smallest and cheapest laptop for dedicated games and music streaming

hi all,

i already have a computer that is very good for my music production and gaming. However, i want to start streaming and be able to take it to my friends homes when also djing and playing games on dedicated computers there, so i can just use this new laptop for streaming only. Ideally, the smaller the better.

Can you advise what you guys think for this idea please and what build you suggest?

My initial thoughts were something like this? *link removed as to competitors laptop*

Thank you all in advance!

grazier said:

hi all,

i already have a computer that is very good for my music production and gaming. However, i want to start streaming and be able to take it to my friends homes when also djing and playing games on dedicated computers there, so i can just use this new laptop for streaming only. Ideally, the smaller the better.

Can you advise what you guys think for this idea please and what build you suggest?

My initial thoughts were something like this? *link removed as to competitors laptop*

Thank you all in advance!

Click to expand...

Hi Grazier

I’ve removed the link as we can only advise on PCS builds and not self builds or competitor builds.

If you wanted suggestions on a pcs build then post your maximum budget and someone will be able to help.

If you’re looking at competitors products only, check out toms hardware which is an open forum.

Hi, sorry my bad!

Yeah thinking maximum budget is £600 but would want it as cheap as possible, but of course good enough for the job. My gaming pc is like i7 and 32gb ram and gtx 1080 so can run anything, what I want is to be able to provide then a good stream using a new laptop to just do the streaming stuff

grazier said:

Hi, sorry my bad!

Yeah thinking maximum budget is £600 but would want it as cheap as possible, but of course good enough for the job. My gaming pc is like i7 and 32gb ram and gtx 1080 so can run anything, what I want is to be able to provide then a good stream using a new laptop to just do the streaming stuff

Click to expand...

I know nothing about streaming so will leave this up to the experts.

So let me get this straight. You want a laptop that you can take with you so you can stream gameplay (e.g. to twitch). You won't be running the game on the laptop, that will be run on another system, but you will be using the laptop to handle the streaming.

Assuming you've going to use a capture card of some sort, the streaming laptop shouldn't need to be very powerful at all.

Or would you be trying to do this without a capture card?

Yes you are correct, it is only for the actual streaming to twitch, as the gameplay will be on another computer. I was looking at a elgato hd60 S, capture card so can plug into usb on laptop

Probably the smallest and cheapest you could get away with might be this https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/ultraNoteV-15/ with an i5 8250U.

However, if you want to avoid a ULV CPU, you could go with: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVII-15/ which would be the cheapest option for a 6 core / 12 thread i7 H-series CPU.

Thank you for suggestion, it seems from what have read also that it is CPU is the most important thing and integrated graphics are fine as no processing is needed on gpu. Will have a think and see what can do

Change of circumstances, I have been able to get my old laptop to potential use, you reckon this (which I purchased from pc specialist) will do it?

Chassis & Display Cosmos Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 840M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk 1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400
rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 6x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro &
Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7260 HMC (300Mbps,
802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language COSMOS 17" SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
(NON-BACKLIT)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Google Chrome™
Carry Case Trust Sydney 17.3" Notebook Carry Bag
Laptop Cooling Stands CoolerMaster Ergostand II Quiet Laptop Cooler, upto 17.3 inch
Mouse Corsair Raptor M30 4000 DPI Optical Gaming Mouse
Gaming Mouse Pad Corsair Vengeance® MM200 Gaming Mouse Mat Standard Edition
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year
Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH

I think it should be fine. Since you need / are buying an Elgato HD S anyway, you can always test the performance with that laptop, and if you find you need something with an i7 8750H that option's still open to you.

If you decide to keep using that laptop you could consider getting an SSD (that laptop may have an mSata slot?) for faster booting, loading of programs, maybe recording/saving footage at higher bitrates, etc.

Ah ok thanks, is the i7 and the 16gb ram ok as well you think then?

Yeah, I was saying that this:

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)

Click to expand...

should be more than enough, given the requirements published by Elgato:

Windows:[FONT=inherit !important]
• Windows 10 (64-bit)
• 4th generation quad‑core Intel Core i5 CPU (i5-4xxx or comparable)
• Intel HD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600 series or VCE 3.x compatible AMD graphics (or better)
• 4 GB RAM, built-in USB 3.x port
• Internet connection
https://help.elgato.com/customer/po...gato-game-capture-hd60-s-system-requirements-

[/FONT]

Click to expand...

The only reason they specify a GPU is for hardware encoding, e.g. via NVENC. The Geforce 840M supports NVENC, as do all Maxwell GPUs (Maxwell being the 840M's family).

Apparently the Elgato can also use QSV (Quick Sync Video) off an Intel CPU's HD graphics, and your CPU has HD graphics which support QSV.

Details: https://help.elgato.com/customer/po...ia-graphic-cards-do-support-nvenc-technology-

The i7 CPU is also above the minimum requirements as Elgato have specified them. As you can see from the benchmarks here, comparing that i7 4810MQ against a 4th Gen i5 desktop CPU: https://tinyurl.com/ycjfoydv

If that about covers it?

Ah see, legend mate, I think then really it is perfect for this streaming requirement, good job I managed to switch some stuff about to free up this laptop then lol. Thanks again for your help!