Dynabook Portégé X30-F review: Flawed business laptop with loads of potential

Source: Windows Central

Toshiba's laptop division, which makes the Dynabook lineup of Ultrabooks, was recently caused by Precipitous. Since then, we've seen a revived push of concern-focused hardware including the fifteen-inch Tecra X50-F, and we've now had a chance to test out the 13-inch Portégé X30-F. Does it have what it takes to be your next business organisation partner?

thirteen-inch business Ultrabook

Dynabook Portégé X30-F

Lesser line: Dynabook's Portégé X30-F brings all-twenty-four hours bombardment life, extra security features, and the operation needed for productivity work. Unfortunately, information technology's relatively expensive and has some annoying quirks that are hard to overlook at the cost.

Pros

• IR camera and fingerprint reader
• Sparse and light with decent port selection
• Touch display with anti-glare
• Solid operation
• All-mean solar day battery life

Cons

• Noisy hardware
• Pointing is average
• Expensive
• A lot of flex in the lid

Dynabook Portégé X30 at a glance

Source: Windows Key

Windows Fundamental received a review unit of the Dynabook Portégé X30-F to test out, complete with 8th Gen Intel Core i7 vPro processor (CPU), 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 256GB SATA solid-country drive (SSD), and a xiii.3-inch touch display with FHD resolution. It has an IR photographic camera above the display for facial recognition through Windows Howdy, and there's a fingerprint reader congenital into the touchpad. A Smart Card reader is optional and included here, and an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 adapter is available though not included. With all features considered, this exact review unit costs about $2,154.

Here'south a breakup of the hardware inside this Dynabook review unit.

Category	Spec
Os	Windows x Pro
Processor	8th Gen Intel Core i7-8665U vPro Four cores Up to four.80GHz
RAM	16GB DDR4-2400MHz
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620
Storage	256GB Thou.2 SATA SSD
Display	13.3 inches 1920x1080 (FHD) Bear on
Ports	USB-A iii.0 Two Thunderbolt iii HDMI three.5mm sound microSD menu reader Smart Card reader
Sound	Dual Stereo speakers harman / kardon
Wireless	Intel Wireless-AC 9560 802.11ac (two x two) Bluetooth
Photographic camera	Forepart-facing 1080p
Security	IR camera Fingerprint reader dTPM ii.0
Keyboard	Backlit
Touchpad	Precision AccuPoint
Battery	48Wh
Dimensions	12.44 10 8.86 x 0.75 inches (316mm x 225mm 10 19mm)
Weight	From 2.76 pounds (1.25kg)

What I loved nigh the Dynabook Portégé X30-F

The commencement thing I noticed virtually the Portégé X30-F while unpacking it from the box is its weight. Thanks to a magnesium chassis, it comes in at well less than three pounds, and the xiii.3-inch size makes it easy to tuck under an arm or slide into a purse when you're on the motion. The bottom portion of the chassis is rigid, and the dual hinges on the outer edges accept enough grab to keep the hat from flopping around if you're working in a moving vehicle. The finish is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, so keep a cleaning textile nearby if smudges are an annoyance. The Portégé X30-F has undergone MIL-STD 810G immovability testing to show it can withstand abuse outside of what you'd find in a standard role setting.

Sitting open up on a tabular array, the wedge taper on the lesser chassis adds to the overall thin advent. It's merely 0.75-inches sparse with the lid included, still the Portégé X30-F offers decent port pick. On the left are a lock slot, USB-A, and 3.5mm audio, while the right border includes dual Thunderbolt iii (one doubles for charging), HDMI, a microSD card reader, and a Smart Card reader that is optional. It's a shame there'southward no Ethernet port, but y'all tin can connect powerful docking stations to create a workstation. The optional Wi-Fi 6 adapter also makes it possible to get unreal wireless speeds.

The Dynabook Portégé X30-F delivers a total workday of battery life in a sparse and low-cal chassis.

The keyboard has tile keys with a white two-phase backlight (on and off). There's plenty travel to keep your hands comfortable after a long 24-hour interval of typing, and I actually didn't mind sitting down at the laptop to tackle a lengthy commodity. There are plenty of alternate functions available, including a total number pad. I used both the fingerprint reader and IR camera to log in rapidly and securely, and both methods worked without issue. In that location was hardly whatever filibuster with either slice of hardware. It would be nice to come across a webcam shutter for the standard photographic camera, which is condign a common add-on in many business-focused Ultrabooks.

The 13.three-inch IPS panel has an anti-glare finish that does a decent job of eliminating glare, and it gets up to most 400 nits brightness. This combination makes information technology easier to piece of work outdoors, and the display offers solid colour. Testing with my Datacolor Spyder 5 Pro, I got back 97% sRGB and 76% AdobeRGB color reproduction. Equally long as you're getting into specialized blueprint work (which isn't a bang-up fit for the functioning hardware anyway) you lot should be happy with the display. The added bear on function offers some versatility, and it can be disabled to further lengthen battery life. Privacy filters are becoming more common with business organisation hardware, though there's no option here.

The bottom of the laptop has dual speakers with harman / kardon audio, and for the most part they do a expert job. Sound gets loud enough to hear in a decorated space, though some baloney is noticeable at higher volumes. The positioning along the front border ensures the speakers aren't totally muffled when you're using the PC on your lap.

The Portégé X30-F is using 8th Gen Intel Core "Whiskey Lake" vPro CPUs instead of the latest 10th Gen hardware, but that doesn't mean performance isn't reliable. The Core i7 model hither with 16GB of RAM delivers the power to cut through any productivity work — give-and-take processing, spreadsheets, spider web browsing, and fifty-fifty some light editing — and the 48Wh runs for a full 8 hours if you're using a counterbalanced power programme. The add-on of Instant On, combined with the IR camera, ways you can go from sleep to logged in and ready to work in about a 2d. It's a respectable user feel.

I ran some synthetic benchmarks to see how well the Portégé X30-F stacks upwards against other laptops we've recently reviewed.

CPU PCMark Cinebench SSD

CPU

Geekbench five.0 Benchmarks (Higher is better)

Device	CPU	Single core	Multi core
Dynabook Portégé X30-F	i7-8665U	1,236	3,473
Dynabook Tecra X50-F	i7-8665U	1,241	three,043
Dell Inspiron xiii 7390 2-in-i	i7-8565U	ane,111	2,965
Lenovo ThinkPad P53	Xeon E-2276M	i,237	vi,152
Surface Laptop 3 13.5	Core i5-1035G7	1,177	4,413
Dell XPS thirteen 2-in-1 7390	Core i7-1065G7	1,209	iii,571
Surface Laptop three fifteen	Ryzen 5	769	ii,720
Dell XPS 15 7590	Core i9-9980HK	ane,176	7,624

Great performance from the Core i7 CPU here. You lot can opt for a Cadre i5 CPU if yous want to salvage some money or don't quite need the performance from the more expensive chip.

PCMark

PCMark x Express

Device	Score
Dynabook Portégé X30-F	iii,881
Dynabook Tecra X50-F	4,128
Dell Inspiron 13 7390 ii-in-ane	3,764
Lenovo ThinkPad P53	5,668
Surface Laptop 3 xv (AMD)	iv,006
Dell XPS 15 7590	v,521
Dell Precision 3541	3,906

Cinebench

Cinebench (R20) (College is better)

Device	CPU	Range
Dynabook Portégé X30-F	Core i7-8665U	one,313 to ane,242
Lenovo ThinkPad P53	Xeon E-2276M	2,686 to 2,701
Surface Laptop 3 13.five	Cadre i5-1035G4	1,584 to 1,606
Surface Laptop 3 xv	Core i7-1065G7	1,703 to 1,745

Running Cinebench four times in a row, the scores prove the following ranges. Typically, the results driblet on successive runs due to thermal constraints on the processor.

SSD

CrystalDiskMark (Higher is better)

Device	Read	Write
Dynabook Portégé X30-F	529 MB/s	348 MB/south
Dynabook Tecra X50-F	3,400 MB/south	1,952 MB/southward
Lenovo ThinkPad P53	three,567.23 MB/s	2,813.25 MB/south
Lenovo ThinkPad P52	3,120 MB/s	1,551.5 MB/south
Dell XPS 15 7590	3,000 MB/s	2,796 MB/s
MSI PS63 Mod	three,300 MB/south	ane,875 MB/s

I've seen Dynabook annunciate an Thou.2 PCIe SSD online (and in the reviewer'southward guide), but what's included here is an M.2 SATA SSD with a fraction of the read and write speeds. At this toll and for business applications, faster storage would be appreciated.

All models include Dynabook's +Intendance iii-yr warranty and service to sweeten the deal. If something breaks on your laptop, yous have the option for deport-in or on-site service depending on your setup.

What I disliked about the Dynabook Portégé X30-F

Source: Windows Central

Dynabook advertises this laptop as an option that volition fit in every bit well in the boardroom as it will fare in the field. It has undergone durability testing to show its worth, and just because information technology'southward thin and lite doesn't mean it can't put upward with a chirapsia. Only expect at LG'south gram lineup. However, the X30-F is made to piece of work anywhere, and the flex in the lid is a bit alarming. It's noticeable every time yous touch the top half of the laptop, and information technology doesn't exactly bode well for the longevity of the display if you're difficult on your device.

The Precision touchpad is shine and tracks well, though its size is cut down past the included AccuPoint II organization. Information technology places a blue pointing nub in the center of the keyboard, equally well as two physical buttons below the spacebar. While the pointing nub does its job, the physical buttons take a shallow and rather wimpy click. They just feel cheap. Calculation to the aggravation is the fact that touching the fingerprint reader — something you'll do oft because of its placement on the touchpad — cancels your finger input. Yous take to elevator and place your finger dorsum on the touchpad to begin pointing again.

When I first began using the laptop, I thought information technology had a faulty hard-disk drive (HDD) installed due to audible ticking. Notwithstanding, what sounded like a timer waiting to get off was coming from somewhere else (the X30-F uses an SSD). I've also heard all kinds of whine when the laptop is under load, which is especially annoying when you're working in a tranquillity space.

Finally, the pricing on the Portégé X30-F is confusing, at least when you compare it to popular competitors. Something like Lenovo's ThinkPad X390, a 13-inch business Ultrabook with like hardware and features, costs almost half of the asking toll of the X30-F every bit configured here.

Should you buy the Dynabook Portégé X30-F?

Source: Windows Key

I take mixed feelings near the Portégé X30-F. I similar seeing a brand revived and new competition in the business organization space, merely after using the laptop for a week I don't really want to continue using it. The Thousand.2 SATA SSD is plodding and makes for irksome load times, the pointing experience is oft frustrating, and the laptop has a lot of noticeable noise coming from it, fifty-fifty when idling. If I had the pick of returning the laptop or shelling out a whopping $2,154 correct now, I think I'd save my money.

However, Dynabook'due south Portégé X30-F is a sign of things to come from the company. It includes useful security features, a chassis that's been tested for corruption outside of an office setting, a solid display, and fantabulous battery life with stiff performance from the included hardware. It's calorie-free and easy to accept with you wherever yous become, and instant-on is a welcome addition. With some refinements, the Portégé lineup can abound into the asking toll.

13.iii-inch business organisation Ultrabook

Dynabook Portégé X30-F

Expert foundation with some attractive features

Dynabook'south Portégé X30-F is a business concern-focused laptop that could exist smashing if not for a few flaws.

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UH OH

An internet connectedness volition soon be required when setting upward Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has appear that later this twelvemonth, users will be required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows xi Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows xi Home since launch last October, and Windows 11 Pro is now expected to follow arrange soon.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/dynabook-portege-x30-f-review

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