In my experience, I was *soo* set on a thin 4080 rig until I saw the temps hit 95C... total nightmare. For your situation, check out the Acer Predator Helios 16 Gaming Laptop PH16-71-84W5. It's often $500 cheaper than rivals and handles the 175W TGP plus 32GB DDR5 way better. Lesson learned: thick chassis = better airflow. Basically, don't pay the 'thinness' tax if you want 4K performance without throttling! gl!

In my experience, finding a beast that doesn't melt while streaming 4K is lowkey a struggle. I've been there... actually had a high-end rig start throttling 20 mins into a stream once and it was sooo frustrating. You really gotta be careful with the super thin models cuz they just cant handle the heat for long sessions. For your situation, here's what I recommend:
* Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 with Intel Core i9-13900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 - its basically the gold standard for thermal management right now. * ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2023) with RTX 4080 and 32GB RAM - the massive chassis really helps the fans breathe better than the 16-inch version. I would suggest maybe picking up a IETS GT500 Powerful Turbo Fan Laptop Cooling Pad too just to be safe. It’s loud but keeps things frosty... anyway gl!! 👍

I've spent way too much time testing these things and honestly, you don't need to drop 4k to get a reliable 4080 rig that wont melt. If you want thermal stability for long 4K streams, the MSI Vector GP78 HX 13V RTX 4080 32GB RAM is probably your best bet for the money. It basically uses the same cooling setup as their more expensive Raider models but cuts out the flashy RGB and premium materials to save you a few hundred bucks. I've found it way more reliable than the thin-and-light stuff that just ends up throttling after an hour. Another solid shout if you find it on sale is the ASUS ROG Strix G18 2023 G814 RTX 4080 32GB DDR5. Its a bit of a tank, but the extra room inside helps keep the fans from screaming too loud while youre trying to record. Tbh, for 4K streaming, you want that stability over aesthetics every time.

Saw this earlier but just now responding... I went through this last year trying to find a rig that wouldn't basically take off like a jet engine during a 4K Twitch stream. ngl, it's a massive headache because most 'thin' laptops with an RTX 4080 are just thermal throttled messes. I spent weeks comparing TGP (Total Graphics Power) ratings because a 4080 at 175W is a whole different beast than one capped at 100W for 'portability'... Just sharing my experience with the models I actually tested: - ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2024) G834 - This was my final pick. It uses liquid metal on both the CPU and GPU which makes a huge difference for long-term sessions. I paid about $3,600 for mine. The extra fan specifically for the VRMs helps keep things from melting when you're encoding 4K video while gaming. It’s bulky, but it doesn't throttle.
- Razer Blade 18 Gaming Laptop (2024) - I tried this one briefly. It's gorgeous but honestly, you're paying a 'style tax'. It’s like $4,500 for a similar spec. While the vapor chamber is cool, it still felt hotter to the touch than the Strix during heavy loads. Plus, it's so expensive to repair out of warranty.
- MSI Titan GT77 HX 13VI - If you don't care about weight, this thing is literally a desktop. It's got 4 fans and can hold 4 NVMe drives. It's loud as hell, yeah, but I never saw it drop clock speeds. It's a chunky boy tho, usually retails north of $4,200. Basically, you gotta decide if u want 'portable' or 'powerful' cuz you cant really have both for 4K streaming. I’d suggest looking for 17 or 18-inch chassis models; that extra internal volume is a lifesaver for heat. gl!