Ryzen Asus vivobook - USB 4.0 question

[RK63]

Hi Forum, I’m currently looking to buy a new laptop, and looking at the Asus Vivobook S14 Oled (cpu: Ryzen 8845HS)

One concern i have is whether the laptop’s USB 4.0 Gen 3(this is how product page lists it) can handle gigabit ethernet connection. Tried to look it up, but didn’t end up wiser.

Not a big tech guy myself, would appreciate if someone can help me figure this out( i understand for intel the same is called thunderbolt, which would mean it should handle ethernet)

thanks in advance!

[Agall]

2 minutes ago, RK63 said:

Hi Forum, I’m currently looking to buy a new laptop, and looking at the Asus Vivobook S14 Oled (cpu: Ryzen 8845HS)

One concern i have is whether the laptop’s USB 4.0 Gen 3(this is how product page lists it) can handle gigabit ethernet connection. Tried to look it up, but didn’t end up wiser.

Not a big tech guy myself, would appreciate if someone can help me figure this out( i understand for intel the same is called thunderbolt, which would mean it should handle ethernet)

thanks in advance!

USB 4.0 at a minimum supports 10Gb/sec of bandwidth, so it'll handle 1Gb/sec networking perfectly fine.

 

USB to ethernet adapters are reliable alternatives to innate ports.

[RK63]

5 minutes ago, Agall said:

USB 4.0 at a minimum supports 10Gb/sec of bandwidth, so it'll handle 1Gb/sec networking perfectly fine.

 

USB to ethernet adapters are reliable alternatives to innate ports.

thank you for the answer:)

Just for my understanding, is this something that should be standard for USB 4.0 in laptops, or is this a feature that is enabled by manufacturer decision and/or cpu capabilities?

[Agall]

12 minutes ago, RK63 said:

thank you for the answer:)

Just for my understanding, is this something that should be standard for USB 4.0 in laptops, or is this a feature that is enabled by manufacturer decision and/or cpu capabilities?

USB4 standards are a minefield. I remember its original marketing goal being to say that basically anything marketed as USB4 had 40Gb/sec USB and thunderbolt, but that's simply not the case. Thunderbolt 3 didn't even have a single standard for it, since any TB3 port could be 20Gb/sec or 40Gb/sec, something that would make or break whether the device could properly support an eGPU enclosure.

 

Its definitely valid to challenge the capabilities of anything marketed USB4, since there's a handful of configurations possible for it, including DP alt and thunderbolt capabilities. On AMD CPUs to run Thunderbolt specifically, it requires a discrete Intel controller. Even on Intel platforms, it doesn't appear to be a native feature in the CPU's uncore or chipset.

 

When it comes to ethernet though, any USB port can support it, and really any USB 3.0 port can support a 1Gb/sec adapter. Whether or not you'll fully saturate 1Gb/sec depends on a dozen different variables, including the quality of the NIC built into the adapter and the type of data you're transmitting.

[RK63]

36 minutes ago, Agall said:

USB4 standards are a minefield. I remember its original marketing goal being to say that basically anything marketed as USB4 had 40Gb/sec USB and thunderbolt, but that's simply not the case. Thunderbolt 3 didn't even have a single standard for it, since any TB3 port could be 20Gb/sec or 40Gb/sec, something that would make or break whether the device could properly support an eGPU enclosure.

 

Its definitely valid to challenge the capabilities of anything marketed USB4, since there's a handful of configurations possible for it, including DP alt and thunderbolt capabilities. On AMD CPUs to run Thunderbolt specifically, it requires a discrete Intel controller. Even on Intel platforms, it doesn't appear to be a native feature in the CPU's uncore or chipset.

 

When it comes to ethernet though, any USB port can support it, and really any USB 3.0 port can support a 1Gb/sec adapter. Whether or not you'll fully saturate 1Gb/sec depends on a dozen different variables, including the quality of the NIC built into the adapter and the type of data you're transmitting.

really appreciate you going into detail with the answer, i have seen numerous articles describing USB 4/Thunderbolt x capabilities but couldn’t draw any conclusions. now i understand why:)

One last thing is what is a good source to verify a specific machine’s USB 4/TB capabilities? Besides asking in forums from users (maybe a review would touch base on this also) or trying to get someone from the brand’s support line to answer

[Agall]

59 minutes ago, RK63 said:

really appreciate you going into detail with the answer, i have seen numerous articles describing USB 4/Thunderbolt x capabilities but couldn’t draw any conclusions. now i understand why:)

One last thing is what is a good source to verify a specific machine’s USB 4/TB capabilities? Besides asking in forums from users (maybe a review would touch base on this also) or trying to get someone from the brand’s support line to answer

Outside of someone testing it, you're unlikely to find concrete information. Sometimes their marketing comes with the spec, sometimes the website's spec page has it. If its got an Intel thunderbolt controller, its quite likely 40Gb/sec and obviously thunderbolt capable.

 

Example:

[RK63]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

Outside of someone testing it, you're unlikely to find concrete information. Sometimes their marketing comes with the spec, sometimes the website's spec page has it. If its got an Intel thunderbolt controller, its quite likely 40Gb/sec and obviously thunderbolt capable.

 

Example:

thank you again:)

will keep an eye out if other manufacturers would lay it out in more detail, or the reviews cover this.

All the best!