More Mobile: Troubleshooting Update (Premium)

One month after my last Most Mobile update, I wanted to provide an update to explain the troubleshooting I’ve done, and the results I’ve seen.

Most importantly, perhaps, nothing I’ve done has exonerated Intel’s 12th-Gen Core chipsets. The problems I’ve experienced only happen when I use PCs based on this family of chips.

I also wanted to clarify what the problem is: while Chromium-based web browser problems are the most obvious symptom I’m seeing, too many are focusing on this one area and forgetting a crucial piece of the puzzle: the problems I see only occur when the PC is docked to a USB-C hub or Thunderbolt 3/4 dock (I’ve now tested on both). And it’s not just browsers: I’ve seen other performance issues as well. In fact, let’s not forget my original supposition, that Intel’s shift to an Arm-like hybrid architecture with both Performance and Efficient cores has required it to introduce a 28-watt P-series lineup between the 7/15-watt U-series and the 56-watt H-series. In other words, it wasn’t seeing the same performance with what used to be the mainstream U-series. For the 12th-Gen, the new P-series has moved into that slot.

I should also point out what I’ve not done (yet): I’ve not spoken privately or on the record with Intel or any PC maker, and I should do so. That said, I know they’re reading what I write, and I’m surprised no one has contacted me. Just as I’m surprised that no other laptop reviewer, to my knowledge¸ has pointed out any performance problems. Instead, everyone seems to rely on benchmarks, in which the 12th-Gen chipsets seem to outclass their predecessors by a reasonable percentage. (That said, remember that any year-over-year comparison of a particular PC model is comparing a new 28-watt system to what was a 15-watt system last time (in most, but not all, cases).

So let’s step through some of the testing I’ve done. Starting with a few things I either forgot to mention before or maybe didn’t explain clearly enough.

Regarding docking, I use a USB-C dock at home in which a laptop is connected to an external display of some kind, and I most typically do not use the laptop’s built-in display. I’ve tested this setup in three different configurations---using the USB-C dock built into the HP Conferencing Monitor, the USB-C dock that I usually travel with tied to an HP Z27n display, and a Thunderbolt 3 dock again with that HP Z27n display. I experienced problems in each case with multiple 12th-Gen Intel Core-based PCs. And never with two AMD Ryzen-based laptops (which I only tested over USB-C).

In our Mexico City apartment, I used a Thunderbolt 4 dock and that same travel-based USB-C dock with 2-3 different laptops on the most recent trip, and in each case, the laptops were not connected to an external display. The 12th-Gen PC (an HP Envy 16) experienced the performance issue with the dock and the hub, a 10th-gen (I think) HP laptop I left in Mexico experienced n...