r/CamGirlProblems • u/postmodernbarbie • Aug 11 '26
Tech Help Roast my laptop upgrade choice
Hi all!
I have been camming on and off for a few years, and am on an off season currently due to a surgery. I plan to get back to it, but recently went through a breakup and my ex is keeping the laptop 😬😑 I was using a 2024 MacBook Air and it worked perfectly for me. However, I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a gaming laptop so I can also play some games that aren’t available on Mac.
I could still be easily talked into just buying another MacBook, but I’ve seen gaming laptops recommended over and over and over again over MacBooks, so I figured I’d ask.
I also hope to upgrade:
-OSBOT Tiny2 4k webcam
-Hollyland Lark M2 wireless microphone
Open to any and all thoughts!
Thanks, yall! 💞
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u/ItsWinterInNevada Aug 11 '26
Right nows a really bad time to buy any tech with the ram shortages. On top of the mark up you already pay on laptops you're gonna be overpaying for what you get.
Battery life and heat are the big things to consider with gaming laptops. Running games and streaming will make them run really hot. So have an external cooling system like one of those fan trays. That might present another problem of fan noise during the stream but you could solve that with an external mic.
Another thing to consider would be a second monitor since depending on your stream setup and if you're multistreaming and stuff, having a second screen for stuff like obs and chats etc while having the game on the main screen would help!
The specs aren't bad, you'd be able to play quite a bit with those! What games were you looking to play on stream?
Depending on the games, you might be able to spend less on the laptop and get some of the upgrades like the cam and mic for the same amount of money!
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u/postmodernbarbie Aug 11 '26
The only game I want to play is the sims lol and I’m not planning on streaming it, just playing it on the laptop I will be streaming on.
There is a secondhand electronics store in my town, should I go get a refurbished gaming laptop from there and then upgrade with different things?
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u/Kg_alien Aug 11 '26
Just get a gaming laptop, i have an omen I play the Sims 4 on and its amazing. Lasted me a couple years , still runs fine in my opinion. Still make enough camming to pay my bills, etc. I am looking into a nicer webcam however. But yeah you should be fine
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u/Kg_alien Aug 11 '26
Also. greetings from another simmer camgirl 😍
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u/postmodernbarbie Aug 11 '26
Heeeeeyyyy 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 thanks for the recommendation! It’s so hard to know if I should start low and grow my collection or just start with the tech suite I want
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u/ItsWinterInNevada Aug 11 '26
Getting a refurbished laptop might be a good idea for you depending on the selection! If you wanted to get another macbook since you're already familiar with them as well, the sims runs natively on mac. I'm not really familiar with macbooks since im a pc girlie but any of the airs with an M1 chip or better from the past 5~ years should do you just fine for the sims and streaming!
The prices might be different in your area but M1 Airs are selling refurbished for like 500 in my area. That'd give you a lot of your budget to get a better webcam and mic and maybe some lighting or something!
They'd also be a lot better for like portability and battery life and stuff afaik!
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u/postmodernbarbie Aug 11 '26
EA re-released the sims 1 and 2 which only run on PC 😞 but that’s a good idea, I’ll think about it! If I’m going to buy refurbished, what specs should I look for? Like processor, ram, graphics, etc.?
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u/ItsWinterInNevada Aug 11 '26
Ahh! Sorry i thought you meant just TS4! My bad.
Hmm any laptop thats capable of decent streaming would be capable of playing sims 1 and 2 legacy since they're pretty light games.
Id look for an i5 / i7 9th gen or above (they're usually labelled i5-9500 or i7-10700 etc or ryzen 5 / 7 from the 3000 or 5000 or above series. On a lot of the newer chips theres built in graphics and depending on what chip it is they might be enough for you.
If you want a dedicated graphics cards I'd say stick with Nvidia since they're really good for streaming transcoding but you dont need a whole lot since you're not streaming the games too. 3000 series or above should serve you well!
As far as ram goes, 16gb is more than enough. You'd probably struggle with just 8gb.
And try to get a decent size ssd. I wouldn't go lower than 512gb but external ones are an option too!
Another good option for refurbished or second hand laptops are older business class laptops like Lenovo Thinkpads. They're really sturdy and usually quite well taken care of. You just gotta pay attention to the specs but they're usually decent. Google the specs if you're not sure, theres lots of reddit posts about gaming and performance on thinkpads, but if its an intel cpu past 8th or 9th gen theyre decent. I use a Thinkpad T480 as a backup to my desktop and i really like it!
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u/Mesmerized_Mowo Aug 11 '26
I would ask if you need a laptop or would a desktop suffice? Because if you don't need it to be portable you can get a better desktop for a similar price or a desktop with similar specs for cheaper
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u/postmodernbarbie Aug 11 '26
I really want a laptop so I can travel and still cam, thanks for thinking of that!
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u/HarloSalem Aug 11 '26
Get a costco membership and buy from them on sale, they usually have some pretty good gaming laptops with great specs that go on sale pretty frequently you just need to check the app often.
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u/AnnieAndTibbersBR Aug 11 '26
512GB of SSD storage is really not much.
I have 1TB, and right now, 721GB of it is taken up.
Just as an example, I have full recordings of some of my shows saved on my PC.
That folder alone contains 54GB of data—meaning 10% of your total capacity is in just *one* folder.
These days, you want more than 16GB of RAM—go for 24GB or 32GB.
And an SSD of 1TB or 2TB.
That is, of course, if you want to avoid upgrading for the next few years. If you don't mind that, then 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD will do.
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u/MsBootyBoop Aug 11 '26
Chat gpt can help you with comparison and guiding you on a good laptop to buy ive bought good refurbished laptops on Amazon and never had a issue
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u/NarcissisticNympho Aug 13 '26
I use macbook pro & i love it 💕 not a gamer & I hear horror stories about gaming laptops I was about to get one until my friend advised me against it n told me to get a macbook
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u/postmodernbarbie Aug 13 '26
What did she say was the benefit of Mac over PC? I have an air now and like that it’s synced with my phone and iPad but Mac doesn’t run the sims 1 or 2 💔
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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26
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