Best Thunderbolt 3 Laptops 2020

Best Thunderbolt 3 Laptops Windows Central 2020

• Best Overall: Dell XPS 13 (9310)
• Best for Power Users: Dell XPS 15 (9500)
• Best Design: HP Spectre x360 13t
• Best for Gaming: Razer Blade Stealth
• Best for Business: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Best Overall: Dell XPS 13

The latest XPS 13 from Dell is packing the latest in mobile processors, powered by Intel's new 11th generation chips that offer better power efficiency and integrated graphics with extra processing power when you need it. It also features a new design with two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports for the fastest file transfers and the ability to power external accessories such as an eGPU.

It's super thin and weighs only 2.9 pounds (1.33 kg), so it's great to slip into a bag and travel with. It has a beautiful 13.4-inch display, available in either 1080p or 4K configurations (if you're battery conscious, you can grab the 1080p one for extended battery life). It also features Windows Hello for quick biometric authentication too.

Other specs include up to 32GB RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, and integrated Intel Iris Graphics for graphical processing. It's an excellent portable laptop, with a 360-degree hinge that lets you turn it into a tablet, which also supports pen input in case you need it.

Best for Power Users: Dell XPS 15

The latest Dell XPS 15 is rocking plenty of ports, one of which is a Thunderbolt 3-enabled Type-C USB port. It also has two USB-C 3.1 ports and an SD card reader. It's rocking newer 10th Gen Intel processors on the inside (up to i9), a 4K OLED panel option, as well as the newer NVIDIA GTX 1650 Ti dedicated GPU.

This is the laptop you want if you're all about raw power. If you need to do video editing or heavy Photoshop work, you simply can't go wrong with the Dell XPS 15. You can configure it with an Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM, a dedicated GPU (or an external one with the Thunderbolt 3 port), and a 2TB PCIe SSD drive. That's a super expensive configuration, of course, but it's possible.

It also has a sizeable 97WHr battery that should keep you from running out of power all day. The 15.6-inch display also doesn't feel that big, thanks to the InfinityEdge display first pioneered by Dell. It feels more like a 14-inch laptop, which means it fits into your bag much easier than other 15-inch laptops.

Best Design: HP Spectre 15t

The latest HP Spectre 15t is beautiful, featuring a unique gem-cut design with USB-C ports planted in the corners. It has one Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port, which makes it perfect for our list. The HP Spectre 15t's "gem-cut" design brings sharp, angular edges to the metal chassis. The design is an abrupt departure from the more rounded hinge area from the last model. It's especially noticeable near the back, where the corners have been lopped off in favor of hard angles.

The Spectre x360t also features an updated processor to the latest Intel 10th Generation Core i7 processor, Gigabit Wi-Fi. The company moved the fingerprint reader from the side to the top deck. The display bezels are now 5.7% thinner than the last model (though they're still rather large on the top and bottom).

The Spectre x360 15t's 15.6-inch full HD or 4K display is one of the better ones we've tested. With around 320 nits of brightness and 98 percent sRGB color accuracy, the tones, and balance look great. Like other HP models, there are options for a 4K panel – which, while looking great, is likely overkill for many – and HP's new privacy screen dubbed Sure View.

Best for Gaming: Razer Blade Stealth

The latest Razer Blade Stealth features a single Thunderbolt 3 port, a must-have for a gaming laptop as it means you can hook up an external GPU for more hardcore gaming. The new Blade Stealth shares the design language Razer first brought to the table in the Blade 15. That means super-skinny bezels around the up to 4K touch display, a drop of 60% over the previous Blade Stealth. There is also a 1080p matte display, and both configurations promise 100% sRGB color space.

The new Blade Stealth comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 quad-core processor, 8GB or 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage, a Windows Hello compatible IR camera, and a 53.1Wh battery good for up to 13 hours of use. It also has NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics for gaming a content creation.

Best for Business: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

If you're looking for something for the workplace, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is your best buy. Featuring two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and two USB-C 3.2 ports, there's a lot of room for all your USB-C accessories. It can be configured with a 14-inch 4K IPS display with HDR and touch, a common trend in laptops this year. That display also has X-Rite Pantone color calibration, making it perfect for graphics professionals.

The processor also jumps to a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 series. For graphics, users get an all-new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q graphics, a jump from the previous NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti. Additional features include DDR4 RAM and dual 2TB PCIe SSD, which can be configured for RAID.

For a business device, Lenovo rates the ThinkPad X1 Extreme with 14 hours of battery life, which should easily get you through a workday. It's also relatively light at 3.76 pounds, making it a great choice if you need to commute to work.

Summing up

Thunderbolt 3 is a hardware capability upgrade for USB-C ports that delivers more power thanks to an increased amount of PCIe lanes. Thunderbolt 3 ports come with four PCIe lanes, allowing for more data to be parsed at any given time. This enables unique use cases like faster file transfers, power delivery, and even the use of external GPUs.

Whether you're looking for a Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptop that puts emphasis on design like the HP Spectre, or something with all the power and all the ports, like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, there's something for everyone in the world of Thunderbolt 3 laptops.

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