Streaming videos, conference calls, and games have become quite ubiquitous these days. All this is made possible by high-bandwidth internet and powerful machines.
While the PC is considered the best platform to stream videos, nothing can beat the portability of a laptop. Surprisingly, laptops these days come with enough power to match PC in performance. We believe, laptops can very much handle streaming without costing you a fortune.
Here we have compiled a list of the best budget laptops for streaming. Whether it is game streaming on Twitch, Youtube, or Facebook Gaming, or watching on-demand movies and TV shows, these laptops would never disappoint you. Surely, some of them are better equipped to perform one task, let’s say live streaming video games, and some at another, let’s say video conferencing, the main theme is their affordability.
Most of these laptops come with a dedicated graphic unit, a powerful CPU, and high RAM and Storage Capacity. We would discuss them later in a brief buying guide.
Disclaimer: You should not raise your expectations too high as all of them are budget laptops. That means you might have to compromise on bells and whistles like Advanced Web-Cam, Metallic design, and RGB lighting.
Our team has scoured the internet for hours to find the supported platforms for these laptops. As per user reviews, these laptops works best for
- Twitch Streaming
- Watching Netflix
- Zoom Meetings
- Vimeo live stream
- Facebook or Instagram live
Without further ado, let get to our first pick.
Best Budget Laptops For Streaming
Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3:
$609.00 in stock
2 used from $559.00
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.85 pounds | 14.1 x 9.8 x 0.98 inches |
| CPU | Intel Core i5 2.50 GHz |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 GB Flash Memory Solid State |
| Display | 15.6″ display with 1920 x 1080 resolution |
| Battery | 6 hours and 19 minutes |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Up to 4 GB discrete graphic card |
Lenovo Legion 5:
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 5.41 pounds | 14.29 x 10.22 x 0.98 inches |
| CPU | 2.9 GHz ryzen_7_4800h |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 5 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB (VRAM) |
HP Pavilion Gaming:
2 used from $639.00
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.41 lbs | 20.3 x 12 x 2.6 inches |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 4600H |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 SDRAM |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels Display Resolution |
| Battery | 8 hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 |
HP Laptop 15:
5 used from $414.99
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 3.75 pounds | 14.11 x 9.53 x 0.71 inches |
| CPU | 4.2 GHz core_i5 |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 8 Hours |
| GPU | Intel Iris |
Dell Inspiron 15 5502:
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 2.67 pounds | 9.23 x 14.02 x 0.7 inches |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-1165G7 |
| RAM | 8GB 3200MHz DDR4 |
| Storage | 512 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD |
| Display | 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-glare LED Backlight Narrow Border WVA Display |
| Battery | 7 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce MX330 with 2 GB GDDR5 graphics memory |
Dell G3 15:
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 5.18 pounds | 14.4 x 10 x 0.85 inches |
| CPU | 2.5 GHz core_i5 |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | Upto 7 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 1650 (4GB GDDR6) |
Acer Swift 3:
$649.00 in stock
5 used from $435.15
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 2.65 pounds | 12.73 x 8.62 x 0.63 inches |
| CPU | 4.1 GHz ryzen_7_4700u |
| RAM | 8 Gb DDR4 |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD |
| Display | 14 Inches with 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 5 Hours |
| GPU | AMD Radeon Graphics |
Acer Nitro 5:
1 used from $799.00
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.84 pounds | 20.9 x 12.6 x 2.8 inches |
| CPU | Intel 4-Core i5-9300H |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 SDRAM |
| Storage | 256 GB NVMe PCIe SSD + 1TB 5400 RPM HDD |
| Display | 15.6 FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS LED backligh Display |
| Battery | 8 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM |
Acer Aspire 5:
$495.00 in stock
8 used from $399.00
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 3.97 pounds | 14.31 x 9.86 x 0.71 inches |
| CPU | 3.6 GHz core_i5_1035g1 |
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with IPS 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 8 Hours |
| GPU | Intel Integrated |
Acer Predator Helios 300:
$1,366.00 in stock
2 used from $999.99
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 5.29 pounds | 14.23 x 10.01 x 0.9 inches |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9750H 6-Core Processor |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| Display | 15. 6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED-backlit IPS display (144Hz Refresh Rate, 3ms Overdrive Response Time, 300nit Brightness & 72% NTSC) |
| Battery | 6 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Graphics with 6 GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM |
Apple Macbook Air:
$799.99 in stock
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg) | 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.16–0.63 inch |
| CPU | System on Chip (SoC) Apple M1 chip; 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores; Up to 8-core GPU; 16-core Neural Engine |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 256GB or 512GB SSD |
| Display | 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit widescreen display |
| Battery | 18 hours |
| GPU | Up to Apple 8-core GPU |
Razer Blade 15 Base streaming Laptop 2022:
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.5 pounds | 9.25 x 13.98 x 0.81 inches |
| CPU | 5 GHz corei7_10750h |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with FHD 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 5 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (6GB VRAM) |
ASUS TUF FX505GT-AB73 cheap streaming Laptop ($800):
5 used from $699.99
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.85 pounds | 14.2 x 10.3 x 1.02 inches |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9750H Processor |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM |
| Storage | 12GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Display | 15.6” 144Hz FHD (1920×1080) IPS-Type display |
| Battery | an hour and 15 minutes |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 (Base: 1395MHz, Boost: 1560MHz, TDP: 50W) |
MSI GF63 Thin 9SC-066:
5 used from $809.89
| Weight & Dimensions LxWxH | 4.1 pounds | 14.13 x 9.99 x 0.85 inches |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-9750H |
| RAM | 16GB SO-DIMM |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Display | 15.6 Inches with IPS 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Battery | 4 Hours |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (4GB VRAM) |
Frequently Asked Questions:
What To Look For In A Laptop For Streaming?
The laptops should meet the following bare minimum criteria.
- 8 GB of RAM
- Core i5 processor with at least Quad Cores
- Dedicated Graphic Card (2 GB VRAM)
- Decent Camera and Mic
- 500 GB HDD or 256 GB SSD storage.
- 15-inch or more
- Good battery performance (3-4 hours)
- Multiple Ports and a powerful Wi-Fi Card
If you are into Game streaming, you will have to go for more powerful hardware specs as your laptop resources have to deal with two intensive tasks: playing games and live streaming.
16 GB RAM, 1 TB storage, and a dedicated graphics card with 4 GB VRAM should be the specs you should look out for. These hardware units will ensure that you get the optimum streaming experience without freezing or lagging.
How Does Live Streaming Works?
Live streaming consists of a number of steps in order. First off, the camera captures the video in frames. The processing unit compresses and encodes the data in real-time. The better the raw power of the laptop, the faster the compression.
The data is then divided into segments than then set to the nearest Content Delivery Network. After CDN cashing, the receiver’s machine decodes the arrived data and turns it into a video playback on the screen. Reciever location and its proximity to CDN decide the latency of streaming, but the processing power of a laptop, strength of internet connection, and bandwidth do play an important role.
Kevin is a Tech journalist for over a decade. He writes on Wearables, Headphones, and Laptops. When he is not glued to his laptop, You will find him working on exciting projects that include Unboxing new Gadgets, comparing them, and tweaking their hardware.