I don’t know if this is possible or even advisable, but theoretically maybe the NIC could be hardware passed through to a linux VM, and then configure the host to use the guest VM as a gateway? It’d be kind of a nuts solution but it’d get points for creativity. Guest VM takes hardware control of the NIC and the host connects to the VM like it’s a separate device on the same network.
Something like the question posed here
You’d have to solve a few separate problems that might not be worth it, unfortunately I don’t have these answers:
- Hardware passthrough to the guest (does it require any special drivers on windows/is this idea already dead in the water?)
- How to configure VM networking properly so that the host can use the connection (is it enough to configure the connection as bridged?)
- Performance
I’ve got a similar use case and went with an X13 Thinkpad (AMD). It’s good for hardware support, but if you want a good experience for watching videos, I’d look somewhere else. The display and audio are not that good.