Business Laptops - No RJ45 Ports Anymore?

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sonyxperiageek

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#285696 10-May-2021 19:58

So I am trying to look for a laptop that meets the following specs, but very hard to find one in stock at the moment!

at least 16GB RAM
at least 1TB SSD
i7
Win 10 Pro
has a numpad
is light
has good battery life
and has an RJ45 port!

Closest I could find is the HP ZBook Power G7s, but they aren't due in stock anywhere until end of June! And I've been noticing there's more and more laptops with no RJ45 ports these days... I know you can get a dongle for it, but a dongle here and a dongle there just has the potential of misplacing it or forgetting to bring it somewhere etc. The nature of my work means an ethernet connection is extremely important.

Anybody have any recommendations for a laptop that meets the above specs?

Sony

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lNomNoml

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#2705755 10-May-2021 20:13

RJ45 is on it's way out on laptops...sadly, everything is pushing to be slimmer and have less ports, these days having lots of ports is apparently bad. Your 1TB SSD requirement makes finding a match really hard, 256GB/512GB is the "standard" at the moment.

timmmay

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#2705761 10-May-2021 20:26

HP Probook still have RJ45, but Elitebook don't. Some Lenovo laptops do. If you want Ethernet you often have to get a dock and everything goes via USB-C.

mentalinc

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#2705763 10-May-2021 20:37

Whats the usecase for needing a RJ45 port?

At a permanent desk a docking station or usb A/C to RJ45 is probably the normal..

As for SSD 1TB, can;t you just buy your own and add them in? If you're buying a decent volume, surely the account rep can sort that at?

And once you get to 16GB you tend to be in "workstation" class laptop's so you by default cross off light/portable.

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K8Toledo

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#2705771 10-May-2021 21:04

sonyxperiageek:

So I am trying to look for a laptop that meets the following specs, but very hard to find one in stock at the moment!

at least 16GB RAM
at least 1TB SSD
i7
Win 10 Pro
has a numpad
is light
has good battery life
and has an RJ45 port!
Closest I could find is the HP ZBook Power G7s, but they aren't due in stock anywhere until end of June! And I've been noticing there's more and more laptops with no RJ45 ports these days... I know you can get a dongle for it, but a dongle here and a dongle there just has the potential of misplacing it or forgetting to bring it somewhere etc. The nature of my work means an ethernet connection is extremely important.

Anybody have any recommendations for a laptop that meets the above specs?

It appears Elitebook & Thinkpad LAN ports are now exclusive to docking stations. I guess that's fairly reasonable.

HP Docking Stations (with LAN port)

https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-HP-EliteBook-800-805-G7-business-laptops-adopt-AMD-Ryzen-4000-Intel-Comet-Lake.466236.0.html

coffeebaron

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#2705775 10-May-2021 21:25

There is definitely use case for ethernet port on laptop. I use mine often when dealing with network issues etc at customer sites. My EliteBook has one, but yeah sounds like my next laptop, I might be more stuck for choice too.

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michaelmurfy

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#2705776 10-May-2021 21:27

I've got a Lenovo E14 which has an Ethernet port, great battery life and is upgradable (SSD, Ram).

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Handle9

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#2705804 11-May-2021 01:55

lNomNoml:
RJ45 is on it's way out on laptops...sadly, everything is pushing to be slimmer and have less ports, these days having lots of ports is apparently bad. Your 1TB SSD requirement makes finding a match really hard, 256GB/512GB is the "standard" at the moment.

Yip. Thin and light sells and USBC docking stations make the rj45 fairly redundant in a corporate situation.

If I have the choice between lighter but carry a dongle or have an rj45 port I'll carry a dongle every day if the week and twice on Sundays.

There's definitely a use case there for rj45 but it's becoming more and more niche.

yann

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#2705805 11-May-2021 03:16

I have a HP G7 850, 15" - has most of the specs, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, i7, Win 10 Pro, Num Pad and battery life is okay, though it isn't the lightest thing and there is no RJ45. I dock in at work with an HP Thunderbolt G2 dock, though do carry one of the USB-C to Ethernet dongles around with me though I have not yet used it (though having said that at home I am mainly on a MacBook Pro which hasn't seen an ethernet port for a few generations).

I think the generation before my EliteBook did have the ethernet ports, but the RJ45 seems to be getting phased out by the various manufacturers.

K8Toledo

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#2705808 11-May-2021 06:02

coffeebaron:

There is definitely use case for ethernet port on laptop. I use mine often when dealing with network issues etc at customer sites. My EliteBook has one, but yeah sounds like my next laptop, I might be more stuck for choice too.

Tbh I'm a little disappointed, and precisely the same reason. I have an older Elitebook and after posting I realized just how handy a LAN port can be.

I used LAN with PROSet (Ethernet) twice last week to diagnose poorly terminated patch cables, and twice while re-imaging a borked Thinkpad.

On the weekend 60GB of media files were transferred over LAN to same laptop then taken to a friends house, where we binged watched the entire series of Succession (great show btw). :)

While LAN ports may not be used very often, they are often very useful. :)

nztim

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#2705809 11-May-2021 06:48

In the HP world (Elitebook G7/G8) the either PHY is present on the laptop main board and certified a USB-C Ethernet Adapter/Dock just provides the cable connection

MAC addresses are passed through from the laptop transparently

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sbiddle

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#2705813 11-May-2021 07:29

K8Toledo:

coffeebaron:

There is definitely use case for ethernet port on laptop. I use mine often when dealing with network issues etc at customer sites. My EliteBook has one, but yeah sounds like my next laptop, I might be more stuck for choice too.

Tbh I'm a little disappointed, and precisely the same reason. I have an older Elitebook and after posting I realized just how handy a LAN port can be.

I used LAN with PROSet (Ethernet) twice last week to diagnose poorly terminated patch cables, and twice while re-imaging a borked Thinkpad.

On the weekend 60GB of media files were transferred over LAN to same laptop then taken to a friends house, where we binged watched the entire series of Succession (great show btw). :)

While LAN ports may not be used very often, they are often very useful. :)

If I used an Ethernet port only a handful of times per week I'd consider it a niche use and would opt for a smaller laptop and dongle.

My use of an Ethernet port can be 10+ times per day for onsite work and configuration which would make a dongle a pain. Mikrotik have a USB WiFi adapter but that's no good for connecting to other hardware. In many of my setups it's simply not possible to gain access to core routers and switches via wireless, and the only way is physical access via Ethernet.

tchart

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#2705872 11-May-2021 10:00

My Asus has one of those slim RJ45 ports with the moving/folding catch.

This is useful when configuring WISP style routers which often dont have the ability to get to the Web UI when running in AP mode (Im looking at you TP-Link).

This was an US import (Amazon) as I had specific criteria like you (non-soldered upgradable RAM, second drive bay etc) but my previous laptops had the same features (and they were NZ purchases).

I think most laptops now just expect you to have dongles for this kind of stuff (as I sit here with a single USB connection to my dock).

You may have more luck with a "gaming" laptop since most gamers would expect an ethernet port.

K8Toledo

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#2705881 11-May-2021 10:22

sbiddle:

If I used an Ethernet port only a handful of times per week I'd consider it a niche use and would opt for a smaller laptop and dongle.

My use of an Ethernet port can be 10+ times per day for onsite work and configuration which would make a dongle a pain. Mikrotik have a USB WiFi adapter but that's no good for connecting to other hardware. In many of my setups it's simply not possible to gain access to core routers and switches via wireless, and the only way is physical access via Ethernet.

Several times a week is def not niche imo it simply means my routine varies daily. Example this avo I have three clients to see however none of those jobs require an Ethernet cable.

But tomorrow it may be an essential tool. And if I turned up to job without the right tools I'd look pretty incompetent. That's one less client for me (fwiw I work in Field Services).

I do prefer the Lenovo X2 series but not a separate dongle. Just one more thing to remember....:)

sonyxperiageek

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#2705897 11-May-2021 10:55

Reason for needing an ethernet port is that I'm in broadcast industry so WiFi is not really an option for bandwidth demand and reliability etc. Plus like most people here, I could also be setting up various networks so simply plugging a cable in to the router is so much easier than "Oh...I forgot to bring my usb-rj45 dongle"

Sony

qwertee

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#2705899 11-May-2021 11:07

sonyxperiageek:

So I am trying to look for a laptop that meets the following specs, but very hard to find one in stock at the moment!

at least 16GB RAM
at least 1TB SSD
i7
Win 10 Pro
has a numpad
is light
has good battery life
and has an RJ45 port!
Closest I could find is the HP ZBook Power G7s, but they aren't due in stock anywhere until end of June! And I've been noticing there's more and more laptops with no RJ45 ports these days... I know you can get a dongle for it, but a dongle here and a dongle there just has the potential of misplacing it or forgetting to bring it somewhere etc. The nature of my work means an ethernet connection is extremely important.

Anybody have any recommendations for a laptop that meets the above specs?

Was looking to buy the HP Probook G8 450 from PB tech for $2100. The hard drive is not 1TB but a 512
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHNB4508239/HP-Probook-450-G8-Business-Laptop-156-FHD-IPS-AG-2

Still undecided and waiting for prices to drop

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