Wanting to have a fast laptop over a slow one is more than just aspiring for a swag that gets the attention and envy of your peers. If you’re a streamer, specifically with Twitch as the platform, having a good laptop would mean a difference between a superb streaming presentation, as defined by stability and clear video quality, and an overall lousy one, which does the complete opposite.
To be a Twitch streamer, whose primary highlight is people playing video games, with a slow computer is a major embarrassment, to say the least.
Common Issues When Streaming with a Poor Laptop
If you’re a streamer, you would never want to let your audiences view a disastrous presentation that’s marked by constant buffering, generalized lag, or worse, crashing, simply because your computer is struggling to process everything from its end. Indeed, any of these is what happens when you try to stream via Twitch with a slow laptop.
For non-gaming laptop users, or “potato” laptop users in general, this is indeed a likely scenario wherein playing certain video games and streaming simultaneously are not efficiently processed, therefore causing a poor level of performance for the world to see. This is a major bummer and not something that will generate good quality attraction that’s pivotal in the potential growth of your Twitch channel.
Hardware Specifications
Streaming via Twitch is not necessarily a very taxing process to the computer you’re using. Its system requirement is fairly low, considering today’s advanced and modern hardware. But there is indeed a fine line that separates the overall experience when streaming with a decent to fantastic gear from a crappy one.
As per Filmora, you would only need at least a 4th generation Intel Core i5 processor (CPU) and 8Gb of DDR or SDRAM (RAM) to seamlessly run Twitch from a desktop or a laptop platform.
If you’re not too privy about computer hardware, the CPU is essentially the “brain” behind every computer or laptop, which means that the faster this part is, the smoother the overall interaction with the computer itself.
Now, even the best 4th-gen Intel Core i5 may only have two cores, but its capability to handle multiple threads makes it a no surprise to be a base requirement. But, being the bare minimum also suggests that there are now a lot more CPUs that are many times better than this one.
If you’re truly seeking the smoothest experience possible when streaming with a laptop, I would suggest opting for the newer generation Intel processor or its AMD equivalent.
RAM, on the other hand, acts like a buffer that enables the computer to simultaneously run as many applications as possible. Consequently, the higher the laptop’s RAM, the more programs it can run side-by-side, all at the same time.
In addition, fast RAMs, as defined by their frequency and latency, also enable faster processing of applications, which is something substantially convenient if you’re streaming.
Why A Gaming Laptop For Streaming?
If the static nature of a desktop is not your thing, you would want the light and portable nature of a laptop – the gaming kind – when making a live stream.
With a gaming laptop, you’re not only confident that you’ll surpass the required hardware specs needed to stream efficiently with Twitch, but you’re also catering to the more intensive aspect of the overall process, that is, running games. This notion holds much truth, especially when you’re trying to play the latest triple-A titles, which are known to be resource hogs.
Gaming can indeed be a very intensive process, more so for a rig that’s hardly built to run games – “potato” PC or a non-gaming laptop previously mentioned. Gaming laptops are designed to do just that—to run resource- and process-intensive applications without ever struggling one bit.
As such, it only makes perfect sense that, if choosing to live-stream your gameplay sessions actively online via Twitch, you would want a setup that’s optimized for that level of functionality, which obviously refers to a gaming laptop.
Why Fast Internet Is Also An Imperative
Twitch is a platform that’s heavily dependent on an active internet connection. Without the internet, streaming is simply impossible. For something that’s so fundamental to the overall process, it goes without saying how critical it is that you have speedy and very stable internet service.
In fact, even if you’re indeed properly-equipped with the right gear—meaning, you’re already using a good streaming laptop—but if your internet connection sucks, so too will the output would be for viewers. You would either appear choppy, pixelated, or even completely out of sync, any of which is a recipe for an abysmal presentation.
When streaming, you cannot possibly settle for something so wrong as a slow and unstable internet, which contributes to the significant issue of poor performance when doing live streaming.
Closing Statements
Gaming laptops are indeed a costlier machine than their non-gaming counterparts. But, with price, comes the efficiency and level of performance that you would need to monetize an experience at Twitch. In the end, a good gaming laptop is a worthwhile investment and one which you’ll likely thank yourself for in the process.