What is Thunderbolt 3?
Thunderbolt, a hardware interface developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple, allows external devices to connect to a computer. It has four generations now. Thunderbolt 3 is based on the USB Type-C port. It provides superfast speed for data transfer ( click here to know more about Thunderbolt 3 vs USB C).
Thunderbolt 3 is capable of transmitting at a rate of 40 Gbps, which is much quicker than USB 3.1 (with the rate of 10 Gbps) and USB 3.0 (5 Gbps). In other words, a device with a Thunderbolt 3 port could read and write data much faster than the device with a USB 3.0 or 3.1 port.
For example, the read/write speeds of a Seagate Barracuda Fast SSD which has a USB 3.0 port is up to 540/500 MB/s, while that of a Samsung X5 Portable SSD which has a Thunderbolt 3 port could be up to 2800/2300 MB/s.
Therefore, when choosing a new laptop, a huge number of users would prefer the one with a Thunderbolt 3 port.
Top 8 Thunderbolt 3 Laptops
Although providing fast transfer speeds, the Thunderbolt 3 laptops are expensive. Most of them cost more than $1,000. In the following contents, the top 8 Thunderbolt 3 laptops will be introduced and some of them are relatively cheap. If you don’t want to cost much, you can consider the following Thunderbolt 3 laptops.
Top 8 Thunderbolt 3 Laptops
- Razer Blade Stealth 13 Ultrabook
- HP ZBook 15 G5
- Alienware AW15R3–5246SLV-PUS
- ASUS ZenBook S UX391
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- Apple MacBook Air
- Lenovo Yoga 730
- Dell XPS 13
Option 1: Razer Blade Stealth 13 Ultrabook for Gaming
If you are a game lover and require high performance, Razer Blade Stealth 13 Ultrabook should be one of the best options you can choose. With the powerful CPU and dedicated GPU inside it, this laptop has an impressive processing speed for daily usage. Its battery lasts for up to 8 hours for regular work. For heavy-duty work, it can last for up to 5 hours.
Besides, it has complete connectivity, including Thunderbolt 3, USB-C, USB-A, Wireless AC, Windows Hello infrared camera, and dual-array mics. It has a 4K Thin Bezel Touch Display, and the keyboard is designed with single-zone RGB lighting which makes it look cool and enables you to work or play games at night.
Option 2: HP ZBook 15 G5 Mobile Workstation
HP ZBook 15 G5 laptop is 7 pounds. It might not look stylish compared with other Thunderbolt 3 laptops introduced in this post, but it provides optional storage and memory, which means you can configure them according to your needs.
It includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports and three USB 3.0 ports. And with powerful specifications like an Intel 6-Core i7–8850H processor, this laptop can be used for office work, schoolwork, engineering projects, 4K video editing, and other heavy tasks.
Option 3: Alienware AW15R3–5246SLV-PUS
Alienware is another popular brand of gaming laptops. The hardware like NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series GPU, 8 GB DDR4 memory, and 15.6-inch display could give you wonderful gaming performance.
With a VR-ready system that passes the Oculus Ready and Vive Optimized certifications, the laptop enables you to enjoy mind-bending virtual reality travel. And its Thunderbolt port provides fast data transfer. Besides, the new Alienware 15 could support up to 11 hours of battery life.
Are you looking for the cheapest laptop with Thunderbolt 3? Here are some popular Thunderbolt 3 laptops and you can take them into consideration. Click to tweet
Option 4: ASUS ZenBook S UX391 Ultra-Thin and Light Laptop
ASUS ZenBook S UX391 has a beautiful look and nice specifications at an affordable price. It is designed with a USB-C port and two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left side. And the keyboard has been featured with a 5.5° tilt so you can type comfortably anywhere.
Generally, you can use the laptop to do normal work for up to 9 hours. If you play games or edit video, it could last for up to 5 hours.
Recommended article: What’s the Best Time to Buy a Laptop?
Option 5: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon for Business
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a wonderful laptop for business. It provides two USB-C 3.2 ports and two Thunderbolt 3 ports, which enables users to connect many USB devices to the laptop. It has a 14-inch 4K IPS display with HDR and touch. Besides, the display is designed with X-Rite Pantone color calibration, a perfect feature for graphics professionals.
In addition, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 offers about 14 hours of battery life, and users can work with it for a long day.
Option 6: Apple MacBook Air Laptop with Thunderbolt 3 Port
MacBook Air laptop includes two Thunderbolt 3 on the left side, and it’s thin and light. It is designed with a Retina display with True Tone, Backlit Magic Keyboard, and Touch ID. With up to 11 hours of battery life, you can use it to work through all day.
Option 7: Lenovo Yoga 730 Thunderbolt 3 Laptop for Business
Lenovo Yoga 730 is much cheaper than above Thunderbolt 3 laptops. It is discontinued according to Lenovo, but you can still find it on online stores like Amazon.
It is super portable starting at just 2.47 pounds and 14.1mm thin. With up to 11.5-hour battery life, you can use it without any worries about power issues. It has a Thunderbolt 3 port and 2 USB 3.0 ports. For added security, it offers the fingerprint reader.
By the way, if you want to draw on the laptop, you can buy the Lenovo Active Pen 2 and use the Windows Ink feature, which provides the natural feel of a pen-on-paper experience.
Option 8: Dell XPS 13
You can choose different configurations (Up to 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7–10710U Processor) for this laptop and the price starts at $779.99, according to the official website of Dell. The Dell XPS 13 laptop is equipped with 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports with Power Delivery and DisplayPort and 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C port.
It’s super thin and slight (starting at just 2.7 pounds). If you choose this laptop, you can transfer files quite fast between the laptop and a portable Thunderbolt 3 SSD, and you can go everywhere with it. This should be the cheapest laptop with Thunderbolt 3 you can find.
Transfer Your Data to the New Thunderbolt 3 Laptop
If you decide to replace your old laptop with a new Thunderbolt 3 laptop, you might need to move your important files, folders, and applications, so you can keep and use them on the new laptop. But how to transfer all your files from an old laptop to a new one at once? You need an external hard drive and a professional tool to copy them.
For the tool, I recommend MiniTool Partition Manager. It’s a disk manager that can help you manage your disks and partitions as you wish. Of course, you can use it to clone your whole disk or only the partitions you need to another hard drive.
As the new Thunderbolt 3 laptop includes a fresh installed operating system, you just need to copy your non-system partitions. Now, let’s download this tool and move your data to your new laptop.
Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to your old laptop and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard and get its main interface.
Step 2: Right-click a partition you want to copy and select Copy. In the pop-up window, select the unallocated space on your external hard drive and click Next.
Step 3: Edit the size and location of the copied partition and click Finish. Then repeat the operations to copy other partitions you need.
Step 4: Click Apply to start copying your partitions.
When the copying process is finished, you can disconnect the external hard drive and then connect it to your new Thunderbolt 3 laptop to copy the partitions to the new laptop. Of course, you can only copy the partitions to the unallocated space on the disk of your new laptop. So, please make sure the disk is large enough to keep all your data.
If you are planning to replace your old laptop with a Thunderbolt 3 laptop, you can get some ideas from this post. Click to tweet
Bottom Line
What is Thunderbolt 3? How do I choose a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 ports? If you are asking these questions, this post which introduces the top 8 Thunderbolt 3 laptops might be helpful for you. If you are planning to replace your old laptop with a new one, don’t forget to transfer your data.
You can share your ideas with us by posting them in the following comment section. If you encounter problems while using MiniTool software, please don’t hesitate to contact us by sending an email to [email protected] .
Thunderbolt 3 Laptops FAQ
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Position: Columnist
Sherry has been a staff editor of MiniTool for a year. She has received rigorous training about computer and digital data in company. Her articles focus on solutions to various problems that many Windows users might encounter and she is excellent at disk partitioning.
She has a wide range of hobbies, including listening to music, playing video games, roller skating, reading, and so on. By the way, she is patient and serious.
Originally published at https://www.minitool.com on December 24, 2020.
