More Mobile: Sweet 16 (Premium)

An influx of exciting new 16-inch laptops this year has reset my expectations when it comes to a More Mobile computing setup. These laptops won’t travel all that well, but they may be perfect for transitioning between a docked configuration and use elsewhere in a home or office.

As I write this, I’m in the middle of a crazy season for laptop reviews: of the 9 reviews I have yet to write, over half are for 16-inch Windows laptops or convertibles, including the Lenovo Yoga 7 16, Lenovo ThinkPad Z16, HP Envy 16, HP EliteBook 865 16, and Lenovo ThinkBook 16p. (I’ve not yet posted anything about the last two but will soon.)

Just in this subset of what’s available in the market, you’ll find a range of resolutions, display technologies, and touch and non-touch options. Some of these PCs are more modern updates to existing 15.6-inch designs, and some, like that sleek ThinkPad Z16, are new. But the one thing they all have in common is the 16:10 aspect ratio which I believe to be the perfect configuration for productivity work. That’s what makes the otherwise subtle move from 15.6 inches to 16 inches so impactful.

When I started down this More Mobile path almost exactly a year ago, I alternated between a series of 15.6- and 14-inch laptops, using only the devices’ internal displays and connecting to peripherals via a USB-C hub. Over time, I took this configuration on the road, created a second setup at our new Mexico City apartment, and switched from internal laptop displays and an external USB-C hub to an HP Conferencing Monitor with its internal USB hub at home. So I guess I use two different More Mobile setups now, depending on where I am.

Of course, it’s a little more nuanced than that. With two displays at home—the external display in the HP Conferencing Monitor and the laptop’s internal display—I have experimented with using both simultaneously. This is a bit of feedback that no one who prefers dual displays is shy about promoting, and I guess I get it, but it’s never worked for me: I always prefer just having a single display, the bigger the better.

The one exception has been recording the Hands-On Windows podcast, which I’m doing with TWiT because of many years of experience with them, and because video is hard, and this isn’t something I’d do on my own because of the time and expertise requirements. But TWiT has been very accommodating, and they handle recording me and mixing what I send them into cohesive, individual episodes. What I send them is the on-screen demos in the form of video files.

To pull this off, I need to use dual displays: the HP Conferencing Monitor is configured as the primary display, and is what gets recorded. I use free software called OBS Studio to make that recording, and TWiT uses Google Meet to record me remotely. Both of those run in the secondary display—i.e. the internal display in the laptop—so they’re never captured during the screen recording. (And I configure Windows 11 properly so that you never see their Taskbar icons on the primary display, of course.)

There are all kinds of ways I could configure a PC for this kind of thing, of course. I could use a laptop’s internal display and an external USB-C display, for example. But if I gave up the HP Conferencing Monitor, I’d lose more than the expansive on-screen real estate. I’d lose its USB hub. And that means I’d have to start using a dedicated USB-C or Thunderbolt hub instead. I don’t know, I kind of like using the HP for that.

But I can see bringing a 16-inch laptop to Mexico and using that there instead of the 14-inch laptop I’m currently leaving behind. The initial trip would be a bit awkward—these things aren’t exactly travel-friendly, as noted—but I’d appreciate the bigger display and the superior webcams and microphone setups found in these laptops too.

Plus, there’s no reason a 16-inch laptop couldn’t form the basis of my home setup: sure, I’d leave that display closed when I’m not recording that one podcast, but it would be nice to bring around the home for those times when I want to work from a couch or the bed.

Well, in theory: one of the other issues with these new 16-inch beasts is that their power requirements are quite high, and I’ll need to see whether the HP Conferencing display pushes enough power over USB-C to drive such a laptop. I suspect not, but at least some of these laptops use a barrel pin connector for power (like the HP Envy 16), and that will means two cables: one for power and one to connect to the monitor. That’s not very seamless.

And maybe none of this matters. One year into my More Mobile experiment, it’s an experiment no more: this is just the way I work now, and while the details may shift over time, that’s fine and a great example of the versatility of the PC ecosystem. Things just keep getting better and I can adapt when and whether I want to new trends. It’s nice having that option.

Here’s to a successful second year of More Mobile. I love it when an idea transitions into a new workflow, and More Mobile is definitely here to stay.