Steam Stream Laptop - Specific requirements - Budget

LSoares1

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Dec 2, 2008
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18,510
So I have a powerful gaming rig in my home office. I would like to be able to play certain games in my bedroom using Steam Streaming, but don't want to spend a lot of $$ on a laptop to do just this.. Not really interested in a used laptop, but below are what I am looking for.

Screen size: ~15" Resolution: Must be 1920x1080 - While my gaming rig can handle much more than this, I typically leave the resolution at this level.. I don't want to deal with any issues with streaming a different resolution from my PC to my laptop...

Wireless: 802.11a/c

Storage: don't really need much, HDD is fine, but would like if it could have an SSD (even if only 256GB)

CPU/GPU/RAM: Again, don't really care much so long as it can handle steam streaming games. I'm not sure if specific level of CPU's is needed to decode the Stream...

I don't really want to spend more than 500...
I saw this one on Amazon, which seemed decent for the price, but wanted to know if anyone had some better options or ideas... Maybe a better one will be available this black Friday in my budget range...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K1IO3QW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=GALXDAMS8RFF&coliid=I2T79APAV274YT&psc=1


 

the_crippler

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Jun 14, 2010
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18,610
What I've found in my use of Steam Stream is that the bandwidth of your connection is more important than anything else. If you have even a basic modern laptop, you're going to be find hardware-wise...but over wi-fi, I've always gotten stuttering and dropped connections. A hard connection is better.

I only use it for turn-based games for the most part. I've never been happy with the performance. (Note, my sample size is three progressively newer laptops since the early beta, two different routers and both wired and wireless connections.)

I would honestly see if you can borrow someone else's laptop first and try it out with your network to see if it's something you want to invest in, especially if this is all you want the laptop for.

EDIT: I've used Windows, SteamOS and Linux. All three perform about the same for me.
 

LSoares1

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2008
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18,510
Good news is that i would only play strategy games on the laptop (games like Civilization 6).. Any real gaming, I would do at my PC.. Just want to have something I can use while in bed after the wife has gone to sleep...

Does Steam have a tool in it to test the bandwidth capacity between the main PC and the laptop? To see if it at a basic reliable level?

I've hardwired my entire house earlier this year, but not the bedrooms on the upper floors. (Didn't want to deal with getting the wires through the walls up to the attic and then down to each bedroom).. I'll do it at some point, but not right now...

In the meantime, I'll test with my wife's PC and if everything goes well, I'll likely just buy the 350 laptop... can't hurt that much at that price.

Thanks again for your input.. much appreciated.
 

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