Choosing a laptop for Resolume.

The official system requirements are as follows,

System Requirements

 Windows 7 SP 1 or later, 64 bit

 AMD or NVIDIA graphics card with 256MB of VRAM

 4GB RAM

 OS X 10.9 or later

 AMD, NVIDIA or Iris Pro graphics card. 256MB of VRAM

 4GB RAM

Recommended Specs

 Windows 10 / OSX Mojave

 i7 Processor, 2.6 GHz

 NVidia RTX 2070 (PC) / Radeon Pro 560X (MAC)

 SSD

 16GB Ram

Okay great, but what computer should I buy???? This question is one that we all face on an
annoyingly regular basis. The answer is simple really, buy the best machine you can afford at the
time and use it to bring in income. You can (and will) upgrade it in the future, if all goes well, you’ll
be getting bigger gigs which pay more and allow you to once again face the “what computer should I
buy” question.

Fundamental Choices

The type and size of gigs you do will determine the style of computer that’s most suitable for you:

Large festivals, stadium and arena touring and fixed installations require rackmount machines,
probably custom built to your spec and tested thoroughly with your outputs and content.

Flyaway gigs with DJs require compact systems which are easy to transport, laptops are the standard
choice with high end gaming machines offering a lot of power in relatively compact form factors.

Local gigs depend on logistics, laptops are great for one offs, but if you are in one venue for a few
shows in a row a rackmount or desktop machine is easier and safer to leave setup.

If you are just starting out then the best machine is one you currently have, start off playing about
on any machine you can get your hands on, load up the Avenue demo and see if it runs ok with the
supplied clips. Chances are that you can get hold of a machine which is good enough for a few layers
of 1080p footage without having to spend out loads of cash. As your skills develop you’ll have more
of an idea of the type of shows you want to do, and thus a better idea of the kind of spec machine
that’s needed. With this in mind we face our question once again; What computer should I buy?
Benchmarks

Resolume has a set of clips to benchmark systems with. You can download the footage and view all
the results at http://resolume.com/blog/11093/performance-benchmarks please ensure you add
your results to the list using the form at https://tinyurl.com/y4ec6x7e

The benchmarks should give you a reasonable idea of the performance you can expect from a
system with similar specs. Comparing your results against similar systems can point you towards
systems tweaks to squeeze out extra performance.

System Components

GPU – This is the single most significant component, the better your graphics chip the more you’ll be
able to do. Resolume 7 requires an OpenGL 4.0 compatible GPU. Nvidia are the defacto standard for
high power to cost ratio performance, but ATI have some perfectly capable cards too. For decent
performance a GTX1060 or better is what you should aim for.

CPU – Resolume still uses the CPU, playing back non-dxv media can be CPU heavy. In rackmount
servers where you might want to have several GPUs and capture cards choosing a CPU and
motherboard with a high PCIe lane count is important. A recent intel i7 or amd threadripper
processor will be fine for Resolume. If you will also use the machine for content creation and media
conversion you may wish to increase your CPU spec, a top spec CPU won’t make that much
difference to Resolume, but will have significant benefits in After Effects.

RAM – The more the merrier, 8gb is really the bear minimum you should consider these days, with
16gb being standard. 32gb or even 64gb is possible even in laptop systems. Higher speed memory is
worthwhile if you get a choice. Content creation really benefits from large amounts of memory. If
you live in after effects then 64gb is a worthwhile investment giving you longer previews.

Drives – Video files are big so you’ll need as much space as possible. Ideally your video clips should
be on an internal NVME SSD, this has the fastest connection to the GPU and offers a vast
improvement over SATA and all the external interface options. Some laptops even allow you to RAID
NVME drives, a RAID 0 pair of NVME drives offers the highest portable performance. External drives
(even expensive SSD ones) are risky, they can get unplugged mid show with disastrous
consequences. That said having a fast SSD usb-c drive is a good way to transfer content to machines
at gigs.

Screen Resolution – It’s worth having a higher resolution panel on a laptop, whilst you can VJ with a
1920x1080 GUI you get 4x the space on a 4k screen which is essential if you work with lots of layers.

Video Outputs – You need to get your pixels onscreen somehow, so video outputs are handy. 1
output is the minimum, on a modern GPU the outputs with be HDMI, dP or mini-dP. To go beyond 1
output is possible on most modern gaming laptops, with Nvidia cards supporting upto 4 screens
(which gives you a maximum of 3 external outputs + your laptop screen)

Video Inputs – Capture cards are a good option for integrating live cameras and other sources into
your mix. Magewell USB3 capture is a popular choice, along with Blackmagic and AJA who offer
Thunderbolt 3 capture options. If you are choosing a machine specifically for VJing then it is worth
making sure it has full Thunderbolt 3 (as opposed to just USBC)
Other Connections – You’ll want a good number of USB ports to upload new content during shows,
connect midi controllers etc I like to have a little USB light plugged into my machines if there is
space.

Popular Brands

Clevo – Clevo are an OEM laptop manufacturer who supply machines which can be built to order
from a range of suppliers. Their top of the range gaming laptops are considered the gold standard by
touring VJs who value out and out performance over lightweight and fancy design. If you are
ordering a machine built to your spec be sure to request an upgrade to the thermal paste used, this
significantly reduces temperatures and increases performance.

Razer – Razer machines look slick and are pretty powerful, not all of them have great GPUs so bear
that in mind when selecting a model.

Alienware – Now part of Dell, games focused machines with plenty of power for VJs.

MSI, HP, Dell and the other big names all have gaming orientated laptops, any reasonably powerful
machine from the last 6 years will be enough to get started, refurbished machines offer good value if
you are on a tight budget.

Apple – Macs were once the standard choice for VJs but their current price to performance ratio is
not great. For smaller shows any of the 15” retina machines with Nvidia GPUs will be fine. Don’t
worry about needing to get a super-fast PC if you already have a mac, learn with what you have.

“Okay but which laptop is best?” – To get started probably the one you already have. Learning to
work creatively with 3 or 4 layers is a prerequisite to doing bigger shows. Try the software on as
many machines as you can install it on and see how it performs. When you choose a machine
specific to Resolume get the best you can in your price range having considered the points in this
document. There are no perfect machines, so it’s always a compromise, but with a little knowledge
you can figure out if a machine is likely to work well based on its specs.