AMD Ryzen 5 4500U Benchmarks - Previously Unimaginable Performance For Sub-$600 Laptops

[polarathene]

This is a bit of a tangent (and direct me somewhere else if that's more appropriate), but how do different distros handle the 2-in-1 form factor? Are there different operating modes, what is the transition like, etc? I'm considering getting one of these, but if the 2-in-1 is more of a gimmick and just results in a bad tablet or compromised laptop I may give it a miss.

I think Gnome is meant to handle that well/better, whereas KDE/Plasma last I knew was still WIP. It can also sometimes be an issue with Linux support iirc, some have sensors that provide orientation information, while others have firmware that I think don't have compatibility issues that monitor the angle of the hinge and do something like send a signal when it triggers between modes, sort of like how your screen will get an off signal when the lid is almost closed. Similar for touchscreen IIRC, might have been related to the transition detection and not switching/toggling input devices or some issue there.

You could try searching or asking on reddit like r/kde or r/gnome?

[polarathene]

There are multiple designs that incorporate 6 and 8 core zen 2 chips with measly 8 gigs of ram soldered on board and no option to upgrade. This is one astonishingly stupid decision, severely crippling those powerful cpus.

It is almost as if oems are hesitant to design really good machines around those amazing CPUs in order to not upset intel....

My Intel laptop from 2019Q3 (10th gen i3) came with soldered 4GB, but had a spare dimm slot for adding 16GB more. Pretty sure the soldered kind is LPDDR4/LPDDR4X which afaik has better performance(single dimm) and probably cheaper than adding a dimm slot + mountable dimm.

This was a $399 budget laptop though, they cut costs elsewhere as well such as a 2017 1080p display that still was stuck with eDP 1.2, so no PSR support(see related post above). I bought it in January, and now wishing I saved up a bit and waited to get this much better product (although the display probably isn't much better I guess).

[polarathene]

no Ethernet port etc. AMD can probably force the OEM providers in this area now that they have the proper bargaining "chips" Maybe this will gain more ground with another iteration of ZEN chips aimed at the laptop market.

Is ethernet as a port going to remain relevant? Wifi 6(AX) is probably going to be fairly adequate, whereas with USB4, you'd be able to have 40Gbe or so between USB4 devices or some adapter. An adapter wouldn't be that big of a deal, on a desktop system you'd not really need to care about it once plugged in, on a laptop if you're regularly plugging/unplugging an ethernet cable in, it's not likely to add much more friction to the process(can probably just leave it connected to the ethernet cable and you just plug in to USB instead, or if you have a newer router, then USB4 cable instead(unless distance is an issue I guess).

[squidink7]

Michael , I have the same laptop and the trackpad doesn't work on it. What distro are you using? If it is Ubuntu could you try Manjaro/Fedora and tell me if it still works? thanks.

[RJVB]

Is ethernet as a port going to remain relevant?

Of course, as long as there are driver issues and connectivity issues that may or may not be related to authentication/encryption. Wired connectivity just works and doesn't require you to upgrade access points every so often. This may seem less relevant for laptops but some of us use those as transportable desktops. Now, if laptop manufacturers would replace the RJ45 port with an additional USB port that allows gigabit connectivity over a dongle without sacrificing a port or need for an additional hub...

What's the exact name of this little monster btw, and is it a 14" or a 15"er (the article mentions 15" at least once)? The only Flex 5 I can find on Amazon.fr at this moment is a foldable Ideapad that is definitely not in the sub $600 range...

Either way, I suppose there won't be an option for me to replace that small internal SSD with a >= 500Gb SSHD (perfect performance/budget trade-off for me, esp. combined with a 120Gb or so mmc SSD as a work drive for things like big builds, in an internal slot or USB3 enclosure).

[polarathene]

Now, if laptop manufacturers would replace the RJ45 port with an additional USB port that allows gigabit connectivity over a dongle without sacrificing a port or need for an additional hub...

Don't you have adapters for USB that can offer such? Like this? Which you could just leave attached to the ethernet cable and plug the usb end in when you need it (unless you're using the cable regularly with another device for some reason)

As I mentioned, USB4 does away with the need for an ethernet cable, provided you have both ends supporting USB4.

[RJVB]

Don't you have adapters for USB that can offer such?

I don't ATM because all my systems still have a proper RJ45 connector with the corresponding controller behind it. But an adapter won't provide an additional port on the laptop itself and that was my main point. Well, there's also the point of having to have multiple adapters if you have multiple work locations, or having the schlep one around, but one could imagine that these things become cheap and small enough that they could actually fit inside the connector that's fixed to ethernet cables, much like the stuff Apple hide inside their Lightning plugs. Then you're just left with the principle that you can never have too few common/USB ports on your computer, be it a desktop or a laptop.

As to the Flex 5: I hadn't noticed that it exists in a whole range of CPU/drive configurations but through the magic of ITC-related exchange rates this sub-$600 config works out to a just barely sub-€700 config here. I'm more interested in a 13" form factor anyway, when time really comes to replace my mid-2011 i7 MBP.

PS: I do have a 1st gen Belkin Thunderbolt dock that has a gigabit RJ45 among other niceties. Am I right that this is likely to work with the kind of USB ports found on current-day computers or would it require an official Thunderbolt connector (whatever those look like nowadays)?

[polarathene]

an adapter won't provide an additional port on the laptop itself and that was my main point.

Sorry don't quite follow, you'd have traded a fixed RJ45 port for a USB port, so when not using it for ethernet, it'd be an additional port for another device. If you meant an adapter that not only provides a RJ45 port but also exposes an additional USB port, perhaps such a thing exists, not sure, that'd make it a USB hub though I think, and that has some drawbacks vs single USB device regarding the spec IIRC, such as power draw(probably irrelevant in this usage)

Well, there's also the point of having to have multiple adapters if you have multiple work locations, or having the schlep one around, but one could imagine that these things become cheap and small enough that they could actually fit inside the connector that's fixed to ethernet cables

They don't cost that much, if you have regular cable that's for you to use, and you can trust leaving the adapter attached to the cable, then the only thing that changes is you plugging a USB cable in instead. In such a situation where this is a regular enough event, and that it's tethering to a cable, the portability factor doesn't matter too much here, you're presumably not frequently in a situation where you're going to use ethernet outside of those fixed locations at work/home.

Am I right that this is likely to work with the kind of USB ports found on current-day computers or would it require an official Thunderbolt connector (whatever those look like nowadays)?

You need thunderbolt support or USB4 which afaik incorporates TB 3.0 into it's spec. In either case, both would support their own form of networking which is much faster than ethernet typically offers you, you just need both devices to support that, otherwise use an adapter/dock.

[RJVB]

Sorry don't quite follow, you'd have traded a fixed RJ45 port for a USB port, so when not using it for ethernet, it'd be an additional port for another device.

Exactly. That's better than just losing the RJ45 port and having to use one of the few USB3+ ports for wired connectivity, no?

If not the only USB-C port which you also need for charging... Like on my tablet/hybrid PC which doesn't have any other USB3 ports. I found a nice and promising mini hub with a USB-C female connector which is supposed to forward power to the host but which doesn't (possibly because the male USB-C connector is just a fraction too short). This is the sort of thing that makes me a dinosaur who's very much in favour of old-style dedicated ports (that don't require additional support in the kernel, incidentally)

[polarathene]

Exactly. That's better than just losing the RJ45 port and having to use one of the few USB3+ ports for wired connectivity, no?

I think there is a misunderstanding. I was suggesting that in place of a dedicated RJ45 port on the laptop, it could have a USB port instead. You can then use it with an adapter for ethernet, or anything else. If it's USB4 supporting, then you get that added benefit once it's more ubiquitous for networking.

Adding additional USB ports isn't always a solution though, there are constraints that mostly fall on the USB controller, such as total bandwidth and power output that you'd run into far before the device limitation in most situations(I think Microsoft Surface or at least earlier versions actually had the supported device limit pretty low with many internal components taking up slots).

I found a nice and promising mini hub with a USB-C female connector which is supposed to forward power to the host but which doesn't (possibly because the male USB-C connector is just a fraction too short).

Power delivery requirements can get confusing, especially with USB-C IIRC. There are USB-C data only cables, as well as 3A and 5A cables that can do up to 20V for 100W, if neither of those successfully negotiate, I think the limit is 1.5A and 5V, prior to USB-C there's a bunch of USB-PD and USB-BC specs that were supported for regular USB-A ports, along with the various proprietary charging protocols.

USB hubs also changed it up, in that they'd usually need an external power supply due to only being able to receive N load units of power (basic USB power specs for downstream ports), where it would take at least 1 of those load units (fixed amount of amps) for itself and might allow 1 per port it offered or possibly distribute it to active ports on demand (which might lead to some confusion when it isn't sufficient). Anything that connected to the USB hub would be regarded as a low power device usually IIRC, which meant a connected device was only entitled to only 1 load unit(amount of amps per unit supplied varied based on USB version of controller), self-powered(external supply) was the kind that could allow for more.

For USB-C to forward power to the host I think it has to negotiate it and support it. My laptop has USB-C ports but can only be charged from a DC barrel connector for example. So it's possible that your device was the same if it wouldn't normally support USB-C charging, but that sounds like it only offered the one USB-C port. chances are it might be charging via proprietary standard, my android phone has USB-C but it still uses the vendors charging protocol, not USB-PD, so probably same issue for you.