A premium equipment for the most demanding workers. This is how Dynabook presents its new Dynabook Portégé X40-K, a laptop that does not renounce the hallmarks of the brand (design, lightness and autonomy) and that reaches our newsroom with the new Intel processors (Intel® Core™ i7 12th Gen), 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD. In addition, and as a nod to many companies, although it offers standard Windows 11 Proincludes a utility that allows you to perform downgrade to Windows 10 Pro if necessary.
That it is a premium laptop is also noticeable in the improvements that Dynabook has undergone at the design level. Its unibody chassis, built in a metal alloy and which comes in what the brand calls “dark technological blue” represents a leap in quality compared to the previous Portégé X40-G. In this regard, it stands out for much narrower bezels on all sides, while the two large gray hinges along the rear corners have disappeared in favor of a sturdier bar hinge.
main features
- Windows 10 Pro (Windows 11 Pro with Downgrade Facilitation¹)
- 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor
- 35.6 cm (14″) display, On-Cell Full HD anti-glare touch and IPS technology
- NVMe™ 512 M.2 PCIe GB Solid State Drive
- Color: Dark Tech Blue
- 16 384 MB, DDR4 RAM (3200 MHz)
- Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
- Battery life up to 9 hours and 16 minutes (MobileMark™ 2018 with Windows 11 – MobileMark is a trademark of Business Applications Performance Corporation)
- Weight: from 1.46 kg
- Width x Length x Height: 323.6 x 220.6 x 17.9mm
Design, construction and connectivity
Like many other business laptops, the Dynabook Portégé X40-K goes to 14 inches (Full HD Touch) to favor the scroll information (especially when it comes to working with long spreadsheets), opting in this case for an IPS panel and an intermediate layer that prevents annoying reflections. Here the team stands out for its wide viewing angles and a matte tone that favors spending several hours in front of the screen without getting tired (too much).
The former Toshiba are also very aware of how important it is to offer broad connectivity options in companies and in this sense, we can only applaud the effort they have made in this field. Nothing less than four USB ports (2x USB-C + 2x USB-A) and support for Thunderbolt 4, as well as HDMI, MicroSD card reader, HDMI connectivity and (still highly appreciated by many companies) Ethernet port.
The inclusion of both WIFI 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, the latest available protocols and whose growth is expected to be especially notable in 2023, is also to be appreciated. Overall, Dynabook offers us a winning combination here and to which perhaps we can only put as a downside the fact of an excessive proximity between ports that can make it difficult to connect several devices simultaneously in certain types of peripherals. All in all, nothing to worry about and honestly in this case, more is more.
If we go back to the front of the device, we discover that it includes a 720p webcam that, both in terms of resolution and image quality, is not up to the standard that one would expect from a premium laptop. At a time like the present in which video conferencing is more relevant than ever, a quality webcam can make a difference… and this is an aspect in which this laptop can undoubtedly improve. On the same plane, however, it is worth noting the good work that has been done with a keyboard that has three levels of backlighting and a trackpad that has an integrated fingerprint reader. Do you want to write fluently? In this Portégé X40 you can do it without getting tired.
Performance, autonomy and more
Having the new Intel processors is of course a plus in this team. Especially because of how well they have been implemented. According to the sources consulted, CPU performance offers multi-core results between 10 and 30 percent faster than the average that el Intel® Core™ i7-1260P which speaks highly of a CPU that is, if not the fastest, yes of the fastest of 2022.
Somewhat less interesting, however, is the performance of its SSD drive (Samsung PM991), offering more than satisfactory speeds of 3,000 MB/s in most tasks, but instead suffering when subjected to stress tests (dropping to 1,500 MB/s to 2200 MB/s) and that although it does not harm the user experience, it can be improved when it comes to working with large volumes of information. The integrated GPU does not stop there for what it is and although it is possible to run games with a medium level of detail, in reality let’s not forget the main thing: this is a laptop for work.
Much more remarkable is, however, the fact that Dynabook puts a truly silent team in our hands. Although it is to be expected that the fans will activate when we subject the equipment to particularly intense tasks, they kick on much less frequently than we have experienced in other equipment that moves in a similar range to this Portégé and when they do, the noise level is more than acceptable, also keeping the surface temperature below expectations.
In the field of autonomy, a particularly interesting field for potential buyers of equipment like this, Dynabook promises us up to nine hours of work without the need to recharge the battery, which in theory should be enough for a day’s work. And although this is normally a fact that must be taken “with tweezers”, since manufacturers tend to overestimate the autonomy of their devices, here it has pleasantly surprised us since if we do not stress the team with intense tasks, it is perfectly possible to exceed this figure. loosely.
conclusions
The Portege X40-K is, in Dynabook’s own words, a “new era of premium business computing”, capable of competing in this field with iconic equipment from companies such as Lenovo, Dell or HP at a lower price. And it is that with a recommended price of 1,400 euros, it offers almost everything that we can find in equipment that can go up to 2,000 euros offering similar characteristics.
Of course there is room for improvement, but if we take its price into account, what we find is a more than balanced laptop, capable of performing at great capacity and with a range that has really impressed us.
