1 Best Laptop for Live Streaming (Twitch)1.1 Introduction2 Top 3 Laptops for Live Streaming (Twitch) [Reviews]2.1 MSI GL65 Leopard 10SFK-062 Laptop2.2 Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop2.3 Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop3 Final Words

Introduction

Twitch is a video streaming platform used by millions of people every day. While not designed specifically for gaming, it is mostly dominated by gamers. Many famous personalities such as Ninja and Shroud, some of the most recognizable internet celebrities, have jumpstarted their careers using Twitch. No one can deny the importance that Twitch has had in the lives of these people, and it just might change your life as well! If you’re passionate about gaming, then you have probably thought about a way to make a living out of it. As a competitive gamer, the best way of turning your hobby into a job is by live streaming on a platform like Twitch. To get started, you will need a powerful desktop or a laptop. Your success isn’t entirely dependent on your equipment, but rather the quality of the content you produce, however, having good equipment will help you a lot in your journey. Since your device will be an investment, it must last you at least a few years so you don’t have to go looking for another one any time soon. This is why we recommend performance as your number one priority. If you were just gaming, you could probably get by with mediocre specifications, but live streaming requires a lot more. Having a modern processor and a graphic card will just make your life so much easier and ensure that neither your stream nor your game is lagging. The laptop market is filled with thousands of devices, some amazing and some average. Each laptop is made for a certain type of user, and one that suits you may not be the best fit for someone else. To help make your choice, we also have guides on how to stream on a laptop, minimum streaming PC specs, and how to check out twitch chat logs. Choosing the best laptop for live streaming is a not an easy task, especially considering how a lot of people succumb to manufacturer’s false marketing claims, which may result in getting a worse laptop than your expectations. This is why we have scavenged the entire internet to find you few of the best laptops for your Twitch and gaming needs. While this list is going to specifically talk about Twitch streaming, it is still applicable if you plan on using another platform such as YouTube. Please note that if you just want to watch Twitch, as opposed to creating your own Twitch stream, then check our our guide on how to Chromecast Twitch to your TV.

Top 3 Laptops for Live Streaming (Twitch) [Reviews]

MSI GL65 Leopard 10SFK-062 Laptop

As previously mentioned, your number one priority when searching for a streaming laptop must be performance, and one laptop that shines exceptionally in this area is the MSI GL65 Leopard 10SK-062. It has some of the best specifications out there and is more than enough for all of your streaming and gaming needs. The GL65 comes equipped with an Intel 10th Generation 6-core Core i7-10750H which isone of the best laptop CPUs out here, the only other processor with more power would be an i9, however, the performance gains are so little that it doesn’t really make much of a difference. As for the GPU, you get an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8 with 8 GB DDR6 dedicated RAM which, like the processor, is extremely powerful and even beats many desktop grade GPUs from a few years ago. It also has a lot of Nvidia-specific features such as Ray tracing which make the textures feel really realistic. Overall a terrific video card! Paired with that is a 512 GB NVMe SSD. Depending on your usage, it may or may not be sufficient for you. Luckily, it is upgradeable to more than 1 TB. We recommend upgrading only if you’re 100% sure that you’ll need more space or if you’ve already been running out of space on a smaller drive. The RAM is a total of 16 GB DDR4 2666MHz. Moreover, it’s in the form of dual channel which means that there are two 8 GB sticks. It will result in slightly better performance than if it were only single bandwidth. Normally having 8 GB would be sufficient, but over here, we think that the 16 GB will be really useful for you, especially considering how you will be playing a game and streaming at the same time. Just like the storage, the RAM is also upgradeable to 64 GB and if you ever feel that your laptop is lagging, then installing new RAM stick can breathe in new life into your laptop. It also means that your laptop will be future proof. The screen is a 15.6″ FHD IPS-Level 144Hz 72%NTSC Thin Bezel close to 100%Srgb. It’s bright and has really vivid colours. The strong suite is definitely the 144 Hz display, which will make your game play as well as regular content real smooth. The port selection in this laptop is also excellent, as you get 3 USB-A Gen 3s, 1 USB-A Gen1, 1 USB-C, 1 HDMI, 1 LAN port, 1 microphone/headphone jack and a charging port. No matter what accessory you plan to attach, this laptop will support it. The feature list doesn’t stop here. There are a ton of other features that make this laptop much better for you. For example, you get a 720p webcam, if you plan on showing your face, there is also an RGB keyboard where the keys are individually lit. It is great for gaming because of the low response times. You even get a great cooling system so that your device can handle high intensity tasks for an extended period of time without facing thermal throttling. The dimensions of this laptop are 14.08 x 9.76 x 1.08 inches and it weighs about 5 pounds. Compared to ultrabooks or even regular laptops, this one is a quite heavy and for good reason. The top-of-the-line specifications and the cooling system require the chassis to be thick for fitting components and proper heat dissipation. Moreover, this laptop isn’t meant to be portable, it is more of a desktop replacement. Similarly, the battery life isn’t great either. With general use and power saving turned on, it can provide you with an average 4 to 5 hours, but once you start gaming, this time drops down to an hour or maybe even less. That’s why we recommend having your laptop plugged in at all times, not only to keep your device running, but also to avoid performance issues.

Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop

If you think that the MSI GL65 was a bit of an overkill, then you should definitely look at the Acer Nitro 5 Gaming laptop. It’s a really popular machine and rightfully so. You are given some pretty impressive specifications for a reasonable price. It does everything really well and even makes some high-end laptops look bad. This device is powered by a 9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H Processor (Up to 4.1 GHz). Modern processors have become so good that the difference between the best of the best and something a bit more realistic like the i5 is so little that it’s difficult for regular users to notice it. As for the GPU, you get a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is actually not that far behind the RTX series. However, it must be noted that there are a lot of RTX specific features that it doesn’t have, such as Ray tracing, but these features don’t affect the performance that much, but rather just make the game look a bit better on your screen. Sadly, the first issue with this laptop is that it only has 256 GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. While this is plentiful for an average consumer, it is probably going to fill up quickly for a streamer. Luckily, Acer has given you the offer to upgrade the storage as there is an extra 7.5-inch bay, which allows you to add an extra hard drive. We highly recommend doing so, in order to store all your games and desired programs such as OBS.    The RAM is an 8GB DDR4 stick, which, like the storage, is also upgradeable to 20 GB. We would recommend doing so if you feel that you are having issues with performance due to limited RAM. Upgrading with also make your laptop more future proof, and you wouldn’t have to worry about upgrades or purchases down the road. The display is a 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED-backlit IPS Display, which is right about what you would expect from a laptop in this price range. It is bright enough to use in any environment and produces relatively crisp images, as well as good colours. What’s good to see is that it has relatively narrow bezels as compared to the competition, which makes it more pleasing to look at, and even gives the impression of looking like a more expensive laptop.   The port selection on this laptop is amazing, as you get 1 USB 3.1 (Type-C) port (Gen 1 up to 5 Gbps), 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Port (One with Power-off Charging), 1 USB 2.0 Port, 1 HDMI Port, and 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port). You get plenty of connectivity options which gives you the freedom to attach any accessory. There are many other features which make the Acer Nitro 5 a much more compelling buy. Some of these include True Harmony Technology Two Built-in Stereo Speakers, Acer Purified Voice Technology with Two Built-in Microphones, Acer Fingerprint Reader supporting Windows Hello, a pretty nice Back-lit Keyboard, a decent HD Webcam (1280 x 720), and a pretty attractive and well-built design. As you can see, Acer included a ton of features, some not even found in the more expensive laptops.   The Acer Aspire 5 is 14.31 x 9.86 x 0.71 inches and weighs 3.97 pounds. While not being as light as an ultra-book, it’s still pretty light and easy to carry, especially when comparing to the previous option. The size is also really good for being not too large, but large enough for it to make media consumption enjoyable. The battery life is rated at 9.5 hours, while in real world usage it will provide you a respectable 6 to 8 hours, depending on your usage. This is definitely in the realm of being an all-day battery life laptop, and it also provides great portability for those who carry their laptop everywhere. However, this doesn’t mean that you should game while not having it on a charge. The battery life while gaming can go down quickly so having your device plugged would yield better performance. Overall a pretty decent machine at the given price point!

Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop

A common theme seen in all the gaming laptops is that they are really heavy. For making a thin and light gaming laptop, manufacturers either loose some performance or make it super expensive and more often than not, it’s the former. Luckily, Razer has taken an entirely different approach with the Razer Blade 15 by building a high-end, thin and light ultrabook! No matter how thin a gaming laptop is, most people won’t be interested if it doesn’t provide good performance. Razer was aware of this, that’s why they chose to provide you with the best of the best components out there. The laptop is powered by an Intel 10th Generation 6-core Core i7-10750H. It’s completely identical to the CPU seen in the MSI. As for the GPU, you get multiple options to satisfy your needs. You either get a GTX 1660 Ti, which is a middle to higher end graphics card, or you can have the RTX 2060, which is the lower-end RTX card, but still outperforms the GTX series. Finally, you also have the choice to get the RTX 2070 Max-Q which is the most powerful GPU featured on our list. Your choice will depend on your own personal usage and budget, however if you would want our recommendation, then we recommend going for the RTX 2060, which give you all the RTX-specific features like Ray-tracing which you might miss on with the GTX version, while also providing good enough performance to not be a major problem. The storage will also depend on which graphic card you get. With the GTX 1660 Ti, you get a 256 GB NVMe SSD and with the RTX series you get 512 GB. Based on this only, we would recommend getting one of the RTX series. But if you get the GTX variant, but want to upgrade the storage, then you’ll be glad to know that it’s actually possible. As for the RAM, you get a plentiful 16GB DDR4-2933MHz (8GB x 2). Luckily, this is also a high performing dual channel memory. Moreover, like the storage, the memory is also upgradeable to 64 GB. You wouldn’t want to do it right after you get your device, but if ever in the future you want to get a bit more performance, you can do it and its good to see you have the option to do so. The display itself is a 15.6-inch 144Hz Full HD, 1920 x 1080 panel, which takes up 100 percent of the sRGB colour space. The highlight of this display is definitely the 144Hz high refresh rate, which makes your gaming session much smoother. You also get an extremely colour accurate display, that will be useful for people looking to use it for tasks like Graphic designing or video editing. Moreover, with the RTX 2070 Max-Q you also get the option to upgrade the display to 4K and OLED. This means that your display will be much sharper and also turns of the screen whenever there is supposed to be a black pixel, therefore it makes your display produce deeper blacks, better colours, while also using less energy. However, we don’t recommend upgrading as it will cost significantly more while having practically zero advantages while actually gaming or streaming. A lot of thin and light laptops skip on essential ports, which makes them less functional. Luckily, Razer has not skipped on this aspect and has included a good mix of ports. These include Gigabyte Ethernet, 2 USB-C thunderbolt ports, 3 USB-A, microphone/headphone jack and an HDMI. As you can see, all necessary ports have been included, while also keeping your laptop relatively thin. Some other useful features include an individually lit RGB keyboard, with Razer Chroma software for absolute customizability, which makes it one of the best RGB on any keyboard. Webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition and an amazing aluminium unibody chassis. The size of this laptop is 0.78″x9.25″x13.98″ and weighs about 4.7 pounds. While this laptop is certainly thin, it weighs slightly more than a regular ultrabook, but that’s because of the components used, as well as the sturdy aluminium build which does make this laptop really durable. The battery life on this machine is actually pretty good for a gaming laptop as you get approximately 3 to 4 hours when gaming and closer to 7 hours for regular usage. This is again an aspect in which gaming laptops are just average by nature. Otherwise, considering everything else you’re offered, we think that’s is a worthy compromise.

Final Words

We reviewed three unique, yet capable laptops. All of them cater to a certain kind of user and provide really compelling features. No doubt each of them will provide you great performance, but we still want to decide which of these three is the best in its own respective field and will make you the happiest. That being said, you will be satisfied going with either of them so you don’t need to fret over these too much. The first laptop we reviewed was the MSI GL65 Leopard 10SFK-062. It is truly the definition of a gaming laptop. With top notch performance and a very aggressive design, it’s the perfect model that other manufacturers should even considering taking inspiration from. What sells this laptop is that’s is moderately priced. It’s not cheap by any means because of the high-end components, but it’s really well priced which makes it a valid option for a lot of people. The next one is the Acer Nitro 5. It’s supposed to be the budget roundup of our list, but that doesn’t mean that you should underestimate it. It still packs a real punch while performance. It may not have the flashy features like the fancy RTX cards, or individually lit up RGB keys, but it does the basics really well and at a price that won’t break the bank for most people. Finally, we reviewed the Razer Blade 15. Those who know about gaming laptops are already familiar with this brand and its amazing products. The blade 15 is a really high-end laptop, thus it also has the performance to boast about it. Yet it’s not the highest performing laptop for that high price, nor is it trying to be that. At the price range it comes at, the performance differences are so incremental that it doesn’t matter so it is good to see that razer has taken a really good approach by focusing more on other aspects. What really drives the sales of this laptop is the amazing unibody thin and light design as well as that gorgeous display and amazing keyboard. It’s time to decide which of these devices prevails as the best. In our opinion, the best laptop for streaming is the Razer Blade 15. Not only is the most powerful laptop on our list, but it also has a lot of features that make it amazing for streaming. The display is a special highlight as it has a high refresh rate and is also really colour accurate which means that if you ever plan to edit and upload your stream to a platform like YouTube, then this laptop will be able to handle it. One of the only reasons why one wouldn’t buy this laptop is because it’s really expensive. In that case, we recommend getting the Acer Nitro 5, which offers amazing performance for a really attractive price. We would only recommend buying the MSI GL65 Leopard 10SFK-062, if you don’t have enough money for the Razer Blade, but your budget is a bit more than how much the Acer Nitro costs. Even then, we would recommend saving up for the Razer blade because the upgrades it offers are definitely worth it.