man playing video games on his laptop while streaming

Are Gaming Laptops Good For Twitch Streaming?

Are you striving to become a Twitch streamer? If so, you will want to identify the right computer to use for your streams.

Not every computer will have what it takes to help you stream with good results. While a gaming laptop might be enough to run the latest games, it may not have the power to stream and game at the same time.

In this article, we will be going over whether or not gaming laptops are sufficient for Twitch streaming.

Are Gaming Laptops Good For Twitch Streaming?

1. Specifications

Gaming laptops aren’t inherently better or worse than a gaming desktop. The fact is, the specifications will dictate whether it’s good for streaming. Therefore, you will need to identify a gaming laptop that offers ideal specifications that can handle streaming. The most important thing that you will need if you are going to be using the laptop for streaming would be a quality CPU.

Your CPU will dictate whether or not your laptop is capable of streaming at all. If your CPU is under-powered, your laptop won’t be able to handle streaming.

Whereas, if your CPU is newer and it has multiple cores, you will likely be able to leverage the power of your laptop to handle the strenuous task of streaming. You will want to have a multi-core CPU if you are planning on not only streaming but also gaming on the laptop simultaneously.

2. Heat

Heat is the enemy of electronics. You will need to try to find ways to keep your laptop sufficiently cooled during intensive streams. If you can get a laptop cooler, you will be able to keep your CPU from throttling which could hinder your streaming efforts.

By keeping your CPU cool, you will be able to maximize the performance of your CPU and get better streaming capabilities out of it.

As you can tell, a dedicated gaming laptop can be an effective device for streaming. It comes down to whether or not the specifications of your laptop are sufficient to handle streaming tasks and if you are planning on using it as a dedicated streaming device or a multi-purposed device.

3. What Will You Be Streaming On Your Laptop?

If you’re looking for something to do non-gaming streams, a laptop might be a better option than a large bulky desktop.

Many podcasters will live stream with laptops specifically because of their mobility. Laptops allow these streamers to broadcast on-location or while visiting someone they are speaking with on their show.

A non-gaming stream puts fewer demands on laptop than a gaming streamer would endure.