Thanks to Intel’s Skylake CPUs and reference design, manufacturers have managed to release some very impressive and thin 2-in-1 PCs in 2016. With Kaby Lake CPUs, Intel wants to improve things even further and has released new reference design for building thinner 2-in-1 PCs.
Intel thinks that the “sweet spot” for 2-in-1 PCs is around 8 to 9.5mm (0.31″ – 0.37″) and to achieve that, companies should use Core M (Y series) processors, microSD card slot, USB Type-C ports and put the circuit board in the middle of the device to reduce the need for internal cables.
The company also suggests to solder components to the motherboard – for comparison, soldered M.2 SSD takes up to 84 percent less surface area and is 43 percent thinner than a typical M.2 SSD, while a soldered Wi-Fi adapter uses about 29 percent less space. To make device even thinner, Intel recommends reducing the size of the circuit board and using OLED displays.
The biggest problem is designing the device with so many requirements without compromising power. It will be interesting to see if companies will be able to follow Intel’s design.
