Recommended 2-in-1 Laptop? And what on earth is Thunderbolt?

piggeh

piggeh

piggeh

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2011
Posts
1,502
Not looked into laptops in a while. However I want to convert my existing desktop into a home server and then pick up a laptop for more versatile use around the house:

Scenario 1 - Desktop working

I have a desk upstairs which would have a KVM switch for two laptops connecting via USB-C, and linking to dual monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers, webcam, printer.

Does the laptop need to have a Thunderbolt port for all of these devices (and power) to work off the one port? I havent come across Thunderbolt before, so not sure what it does, although I understand it's something to do with peripheral connectivity.

Scenario 2 - Sofa surfing

Unplug the laptop and sit on the sofa or elsewhere and surf the web or do light gaming (Football Manager for example). Ideally would therefore be in tablet form factor.

Scenario 3 - Gaming on TV

Dock the laptop underneath the TV and then play games on Steam via the TV with a bluetooth controller.

Again would need to be docked for connectivity and power, ideally via the USB-C again.

I've been looking at a couple of laptops (max £2k budget):
  • Asus ProArt X13
  • Asus ROG Flow Z13
  • LENOVO Yoga Book 9 13.3" 2 in 1 Laptop
The ASUS look like nice options however I don't like the bloatware and a lot of complaints about their reliability.

Are there any stand out options on the 2-in-1 category, and what should I look out for? I'm not familiar with Intel Arc graphics, Thunderbolt, or whatever other advances there have been in laptops in recent years, so trying to understand what to look for.
 
piggeh said:
Scenario 1 - Desktop working

I have a desk upstairs which would have a KVM switch for two laptops connecting via USB-C, and linking to dual monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers, webcam, printer.

Does the laptop need to have a Thunderbolt port for all of these devices (and power) to work off the one port? I havent come across Thunderbolt before, so not sure what it does, although I understand it's something to do with peripheral connectivity.
Click to expand...

So... Thunderbolt. Depending on the generation (would assume 4 or 5 on a new laptop) generally gives about double the usb-c bandwidth (40Gb/sec, rather than 20Gb/sec) and get intel tested/certified for being able to hold high bandwidth/etc.
Everything listed there would be UTTERLY FINE on usb (any) except the monitors.

Depends a bit on your resolution.
Thunderbolt 4 tops out at 2x 4k @ 120hz (and even then, screaming, on fire, with all ducks in a row).
Lower res... you'll probably be more or less fine with whatever. All that assumes you want to connect everything via the 1 thunderbolt port.

Thunderbolt is essentially PCIe 4x over USB-C with heavily managed controlled/certification that everything has the right chips/connectors/controllers/etc to run 40Gb/sec with low latency.



IF you want to be getting up around the res/hz mentioned, a thunderbolt 4 HUB (not dock or anything like that) is generally the cheapest, most reliable way to get it all working. I'm sure there's some docks that WILL do it as good/better, tends to need a lot of hunting. TB4 port to TB4 hub, monitors on USB-C to dp/hdmi (some care with cables) and a downstream port to the rest of your USB connected bits is "the way".
Took some hoop jumping but got mine (Neo 16 e23) to 2x 4k@120hz and a mass of USB desktop kit. 1 plug (and, ok a second for power, a Tb4 laptop without a big GPU might do it on 1 plug if the hub can give it juice, 240W is about the max atm).
 
Last edited:
Mercutio said:
So... Thunderbolt. Depending on the generation (would assume 4 or 5 on a new laptop) generally gives about double the usb-c bandwidth (40Gb/sec, rather than 20Gb/sec) and get intel tested/certified for being able to hold high bandwidth/etc.
Everything listed there would be UTTERLY FINE on usb (any) except the monitors.

Depends a bit on your resolution.
Thunderbolt 4 tops out at 2x 4k @ 120hz (and even then, screaming, on fire, with all ducks in a row).
Lower res... you'll probably be more or less fine with whatever. All that assumes you want to connect everything via the 1 thunderbolt port.

Thunderbolt is essentially PCIe 4x over USB-C with heavily managed controlled/certification that everything has the right chips/connectors/controllers/etc to run 40Gb/sec with low latency.



IF you want to be getting up around the res/hz mentioned, a thunderbolt 4 HUB (not dock or anything like that) is generally the cheapest, most reliable way to get it all working. I'm sure there's some docks that WILL do it as good/better, tends to need a lot of hunting. TB4 port to TB4 hub, monitors on USB-C to dp/hdmi (some care with cables) and a downstream port to the rest of your USB connected bits is "the way".
Took some hoop jumping but got mine (Neo 16 e23) to 2x 4k@120hz and a mass of USB desktop kit. 1 plug (and, ok a second for power, a Tb4 laptop without a big GPU might do it on 1 plug if the hub can give it juice, 240W is about the max atm).
Click to expand...
Got it all hooked to a standard starport switch with usb-c able to supply 100w to the two laptops simultaneously and everything works fine. Only one monitor connected for now though. Other monitor is connected to an android box so I can play other stuff on there at the same time (movies/films).
 
piggeh said:
Went for an Asus ROG Flow Z13 in the end. A bit pricey but you’re only young once eh.
Click to expand...

I'm really tempted to get one of these, I love the idea of a portable tablet that's got some gaming ability. Not keen on the price though.

How have you been finding the Z13?
 
FlyingFish said:
I'm really tempted to get one of these, I love the idea of a portable tablet that's got some gaming ability. Not keen on the price though.

How have you been finding the Z13?
Click to expand...
I bought it interest free from John Lewis which was a useful option. It’s a nice 2-in-1, use it every night whilst on the sofa and then during the day I plug it into the workstation so I can use it during work hours on and off. It has a few quirks - the facial recognition usually fails (probably because of varying distances) and there’s some stuff like copilot AI drawing which is hilariously bad (not really anything to do with the hardware obviously).

The one thing that’s been a bit annoying is sometimes when hooking it up to a display and then unplugging can mess around with window sizes and resolution, like windows now being bigger than the screen. Not sure if that’s unique to this or just a consequence of docking it to different displays.

Great device overall, getting plenty of use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom