Thanks Dave, I also thought about the MacBook Air M1, as every review says they are incredible (fast, efficient, etc), but I cannot use it on the tablet holder for Zwift and there are a few only windows programs that I need for my work, so it’s not an option for me.
Current 15" 2 in 1 laptops that I know come with a 1650Ti card, not 1660Ti. I’m also worried about their thermal performance, and they come with 10th gen intel so, not only the GPU but also the CPU is not as efficient. Of course, they aren’t cheap either.
That is why I liked the 11th core i7 + Iris Xe laptops (as the one from @tjacoby), and reviews show that temperature-wise they perform fine.
As I don’t have any references, will I find any difference between Galaxy S7+ and one of these Iris Xe laptops?. Regarding the S7+ displaying Zwift, I really like how fluid it works and how it shows shadows and lights. However, I think given its chip-set it should have a little more of detail but I don’t have any devices to compare. Moreover, for that size, maybe more detail is not so obvious. I understand that the detail for android devices is in ‘basic’ config so I suppose that the quality with an Iris Xe laptop will be just similar but with a bigger display. ¿?
Other option is just wait for 2-in-1 11th gen intel laptops whenever they came with discrete graphics.
Correct; unless Zwift HQ add the Iris Xe to one of the higher profile lists (Medium seems most likely, but that’s still a big step up from Basic) then you’ll get the same baseline detail from that as any Android device. Resolutions may differ slightly per device though.
Very Nice, you win the internet today! I was using a 7th gen i7 XPS 13 with the integrated iris 640 iGPU before. I did quite a bit of research on thermal throttling and found notebookcheck net a great site for comparing offerings with real performance reporting. Almost all of the smaller 13" TigerLake offerings suffer from extensive thermal throttling, the dGPU’s likely won’t help any; hence my Razer decision with great cooling. The 15" with dGPU’s will definitely give you better graphics. I may go with an AMD NUC with a dGPU just for Zwift. I don’t believe the CPU performance between the Ice Lake and Tiger Lake chipsets are very significant. If it wasn’t for Intel cornering the premium laptop market I’d of gone with an AMD offering - so much more performance for the $'s. There are zero AMD laptops with 13 or 14" QHD or UHD screens. For overall performance I found the Wahoo Headwind to be my best investment, even though I was using large floor fans prior.
It will run fine I have tested Zwift on my Intel HD520 graphics which is considerably older than the new Iris XE. Plus it works on Phone ARM chips any onboard graphics will be fine
Unrelated to the thread - @Jorge_LC any feedback on the Stages bike?
Thanks @tjacoby, I’ve been looking at notebookcheck and it is really an interesting site. I also agree with you, there should be more AMD offerings for the smaller premium laptops and 2 in 1 convertibles, but it is what it is, so I think I’ll wait for new CES announcements. For example, yesterday Lenovo presented a 14" Yoga 7i with OLED display and Nvidia MX450 (discrete but not as good as 1660Ti). I guess there will be more things coming soon.
Hi again, we’re really enjoying our new SB20. It is very robust and well made, and it’s so easy to adjust everything: height, saddle or handlebars, even for my daughters. The dreamgear concept is also great for zwifting. Road feel is fantastic because of the big flywheel. It seems expensive but we are 4 at home(we’ve got 2 daughters) and now everyone is riding every week, to the point we are starting to have ‘schedules’ issues. 
On the other hand, I also had some issues with the original flywheel, it started to make weird noises. However, Stages Europe support was great and in less than a week, we had a new flywheel installed by a technician. So, all in all really happy. Now I just need to improve, I just started cycling, I’ve always been into swimming but zero cycling. 
So, I’m really bad, but never mind because that way, it’s easier to improve. 
Hope this helps, are you planning to buy a smart bike??
Yes @Jorge_LC - I’m considering a SB, although I’m a solo user in my house. I have a dedicated trainer bike and she’s showing a lot of age (maybe 80k km’s before retired to the trainer). I like seeing you early adopters work through all the teething problems first, and would like to see some local inventory to try them out first. I’m not Keen on hauling a 100lb SB to my LBS for repairs, if they can even work on them. Having Stages do a house call is a great option.
For Zwift GPU’s; I’ve just ordered the Razer eGPU case to hold an old Nvidia 1060 SC 6GB GPU we have lying around, will see how it goes. I doubt Zwift will ever reward much more powerful GPU’s - will see.
A 1060 6GB is enough for 4K at 60fps in most [solo] rides. 
Hi again, I am rethinking the whole thing. Instead of using a new laptop I could use one of this or similar:
4k 17" Portable monitor on my SB20 tablet holder (I have verified it fits) and installing a mini PC case with a mini ITX motherboard with a GTX1660Ti (or similar, small size) with a good enough processor to sustain 4k with high detail for zwift.
@Dave_ZPCMR , do you think it is feasible?? What will be teh best motherboard/processor combination and graphic card?
The only bigger problem I see is that I cannot find 17.3" touch panels (however there are 15.6" touch screen monitors available), so I will need some kind of remote or touchpad to control the PC.
It’s possible, but smaller = more expensive. A 1660 Ti is a bit overboard btw (especially in the current climate where pricing of the higher VRAM models in particular is getting silly), a 1650 Super is enough.
Fine then, 1650 super.Indeed what I want is to minimize cost while assuring good performance. I will look for the components and will report back, just in case I am thinking of something silly. Thanks in advance for all your help. I hope this might also help others in the future that want to build a miniPC exclusively for their smart bikes or trainers.
@Jorge_LC Dave has helped more than a few of us so I dont mind promoting his wisdom - suggest you also check out this article he wrote for Zwiftinsider last year when making your purchasing decisions (Zwift on PC: The Ultimate Guide to Running Zwift at Its Very Best | Zwift Insider).
Thanks Dean!, great advice. I’m reading thoroughly that link now!
As I’m looking for something really compact, I almost want to hide the PC and taken into account that for zwift is better Intel, and GTX 1650 is more than enough, what about this, that comes already mounted?:
Mini PC HYSTOU This will be around 570€ with intel 5 9th gen, GTX1650, 16GB Ram and 256GB SSD.
However, I am not sure what version of GTX1650 exactly uses and it seems to be only BT4.0 (obviously not a new motherboard), could this be an issue connecting zwift to my Stages bike? I’ve never had connection problems between TabS7+ and SB20.
I’ve seen that a GTX1650 super alone, is around 230€ so, building the mini pc per pieces could cost more??
What do you think? Thanks!
That’s an absolute fortune to pay for a no brand bespoke PC shipped from China, just because it’s small. Up to you, but it’s a terrible idea IMO.
PS: the graphics card is a GTX 1650. Notwithstanding the current supply issues, you should never pay 230eur for one. It’s significantly weaker than a 1650 Super, and isn’t suitable for running Zwift in 4K if you want to hit 60fps often.
Put a 4K-capable mini ITX build in a Fractal Design Node 202. Can’t comment on pricing where you live but it’s something I reckon I could do for under £400/450eur with the right deals.
Glad I’ve asked!! 
Sorry for my ignorance!!
OK I will try and search for that equipment. I was just about to send you these lines below, as I didn’t understand that it was expensive, but, never mind, I’ll try to look for it. Thanks.
*Ok, I understand I’ve got no warranties and not the best components from China, but I still want it to be small. *
*The 570€ price was including the GTX 1650 (that I didn’t know was slower than the GTX1650Super). *
Just to avoid misunderstandings, when I was talking about 230€ I was referring to Nvidia GTX1650Super price, online, and thus I thought I was getting good value for the money with the chinese miniPC (not knowing the difference between both 1650s).
As I still want it to be small, if I buy each spare component:
*An ITX motherboard + intel core i5 + 8GBRAM + 128GB SSD +GTX1650Super +ITX small case+ W10 OS+ external power supply (as it does not fit in the case) could I get it right? Even if I was using a bigger and cheaper tower case, I don’t think I could get much cheaper. *
*I understand that the 1650 from that Chinese PC was worse but I still don’t get that 560€ for all of the components, including the graphic card is a ‘fortune’. If I try to mount this PC here, I’m sure it would get much pricier. *
And regarding possible power supplies issues you were talking about, how many watts are needed for that kind of PC, aren’t there good enough external(because of the mini case) power ‘bricks’??
Thanks for bearing with me and sorry again for my wrong ideas.
With a tower case it can be done much cheaper still, under £300/350eur. What you need to bear in mind is that you don’t need to buy brand new/modern components throughout. A 4th generation i3 (an i5 isn’t required unless you plan to do streaming etc) is good enough to max out Zwift and they’re really cheap, as are the motherboards and DDR3 RAM. You’ve got to spend a lot of money to massively improve on those core components in Zwift and that’s only to make group events better. The graphics card will be the most expensive component with today’s prices but again you don’t need brand new. A GTX 1060 is good enough for 4K at 60fps almost all of the time. So the pricing I looked at for £400 was based on what I know I could recently pay for an ITX H81 board, i3-4170 or similar, 8GB DDR3, a Node 202 with 350W SFX PSU, cheap 120GB SSD and a GTX 1650 Super (if you can get one at a reasonable price!). Knock a load of money off that for a normal case and ATX PSU. You don’t actually need to activate Windows 10, it works fine without.
Anyway I hope this helps and gives you an indication of what can be done for a lot less money than most people think. But going small always means expensive.
When I recently built my current PC, I looked at mini-ITX stuff and I was shocked at the prices for motherboards and cases. Micro-ATX was so much cheaper, so that was a no-brainer.