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Can you post some hardware specs? In general, the local client is going to use similar resources as a browser session since it's just a repacking of the same software in most cases unless it's horribly handled. Slack comes to mind in this instance.
Some details about what the actual issues are might be helpful as well.
One is a Pinebook Pro, which is an RK3399 processor. Another is a Surface Go 2 with an Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4425Y.
The actual issue is that the video conferencing works, but trying to do anything else is just suuuper slow. Well, the Surface Go 2 is actually fairly good as long as I'm not touching the ZRAM. But, trying to share a window in Google Meet will always involve a lot of waiting. Firefox and Chromium seem equivalent on the Surface, but the Pinebook seems better in Chromium lately.
I can bare-bones most apps I use on these laptops, but for video conferencing it seems like I have to drag along a whole browser.
Can you just stream video and audio directly, like a standard IP camera? This list of solutions in the Raspberry Pi documentation could have some ideas - https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/camera_software.html#stream-video-over-a-network-with-rpicam-apps (there are some RPi specific solutions, but also general Linux approaches e.g. ffplay)
Somehow I collect low-powered laptops.
Don't lie to us. It's not a mystery. I can almost guarantee 80%+ of the people in this thread have something they both collect and pretend it's a mystery/weird that they do.
I used to collect fixed blade knives. Had to give them away when I moved to the UK, not worth the hassle if I was asked about it.
Now I have the start of a collection of old mini-synths that I keep meaning to circuit bend but never get around to.
Maybe Mirotalksfu or galene?
"Somehow"
That would probably depend on the hardware acceleration for video encoding and decoding on your particular system. Doing it in software, especially for low-spec devices, is going to greatly limit your resolution and quality if you want a reasonable frame rate.
Maybe to /dev/video0 and then VNC?
I somehow collect old laptops too, fellow non-collector. Gotta stop this hobby before it gets out of control.