Over the years, desktop and laptop computers have become faster, lighter, and more portable. There are often trade-offs to be made because you can cram so much technology into such a small space.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Our Dynabook Porégé X30L review is a 13.3-inch laptop with an IGZO display, plenty of ports, and decent customization, but poor battery life. Read our full review!
PROMPT
- Characteristic
- What's in the box
- Concept
- show me
- Software
- performance
- Sound quality
- Camera
- Battery Life
- price value
- Photo gallery
- turn it off
Characteristic
The Dynabook Portégé X30L-K1337 we reviewed has the following features and specifications (can be customized upon request):
| CPU | 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor (18MB Cache, up to 4.70GHz) |
| Frame | Intel Iris Xe graphics card |
| show me | Bright 13.3" 16:9 aspect ratio IGZO display with 470 nits FHD resolution (1920×1080) |
| Memory | 16 GB LPDDR5 (embedded) |
| storage | 512 GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| connections | Connectivity Intel® Ethernet Family I219, Intel® Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+) AX211 (802.11ax), Bluetooth |
| ports | 2x USB 4.0 Type C (Thunderbolt 4), 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (one USB for sleep and charge), 1x HDMI, 1x RJ-45, 1x microSD, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Input device | AccuPoint stylus, Synaptics® SecurePad™ multi-touch trackpad, Premium English (US), raised display, backlit keyboard |
| Camera | Webcam with privacy shutter |
| Sound | Stereo speaker system, dual input microphones, DTS audio processing |
| Safety | Trusted Platform Module (dTPM 2.0), fingerprint reader, security lock slot |
| Strength | USB-C power adapter 65W (20V), 100-240V/50-60Hz, 53Wh Li-polymer battery |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Pro |
| material | Magnesium alloy chassis tested using MIL-STD-810H methods. |
| Color | Mysterious blue metallic |
| Measures | 306 x 210 x 17.9 mm (12.0 x 8.3 x 0.70 inches) |
| Leicester | Starting at 904g (1.99lbs) |
What's in the box
- Notebook Dynabook Portege X30L-K1337
- AC adapter 65W
- Dynabook +Care 3 year local service warranty
Concept
At first glance, the Dynabook Portégé X30L looks like a typical ultrabook. It is small, about 12 inches wide, just over 8 1/4 inches deep, and 3/4 inches thick. Black in color, slim cover, and the Dynabook logo highlighted in shiny silver in the center. On the brand side, it's a bit shiny, but it looks good.
Where it differs from half of the Ultrabooks that usually come with multiple USB-C ports is that it has plenty of ports for all your computing needs. On the left side, from back to front, you'll find two USB-C 4.0 Thunderbolt 4 ports (a 65W laptop power adapter is also used to power the laptop), an HDMI port, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, and a 3.5-port audio/mic jack mm. Before that, there is a small LED to indicate the power/activity of the hard drive. On the right side, still at the back, you'll find a lock slot, a full-sized Ethernet port, a second USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (with always-on charge functionality), and a microSD card slot. . .
If you lift the lid, you will see that it is attached with two hinges, one on each side. The display bezel is about 1/4" thick, the top bezel is about 1/2" thick with webcam and microphone holes centered on the top, and the bottom bezel is about an inch thick. The Dynabook logo is printed in dark gray at the bottom center. The front camera also has a physical privacy shutter. At first I thought I broke it, but it's actually a thin piece of metal that attaches to the outer frame of the lid with a magnet. If you move it too far in either direction (to close or open the camera), it will jump.
The keyboard itself is pretty standard too. It is backlit, has five full size rows and one half row for function keys. The number keys are in the middle and are located on the lower right side of the keyboard. The power button is located above the F3 key. Between the B/H/G keys is a track button, as well as a 4-by-2-1/4-inch trackpad with two buttons on top. The trackpad also has a fingerprint scanner in the top left corner. In the lower right corner is the inscription Portégé, printed in dark gray. Although the Portégé does not have number keys due to its size, there is a switchable number overlay feature that allows part of the keyboard to be used as a number key if required. Typing on the keyboard isn't too bad either, and I can easily reach my 100+ wpm standard.
If you flip the computer over, you'll see two front-facing speaker ports, two rubberized handles on the front, and a longer one on top for support and clearance when the laptop is on a flat surface, and vents. top left area (top right when using a laptop). There is additional ventilation at the back of the laptop in the same place.
Overall, the Dynabook Portégé is nothing special or flashy, but it looks and works.
show me
The Dynabook Portégé X30L features a 13.3-inch IGZO matte display with a maximum brightness of 470 nits. While it only has 1080p FHD resolution, that's plenty for a screen this size. Colors look great overall, and the matte panel helps reduce glare depending on the environment. It's also bright enough in most cases, and when using it indoors, I found around 50-60% brightness to be more than enough (not to mention battery life).
Software
While most systems ship with Windows 10/11 Home, the Dynabook Portégé X30L ships with Windows 11 Pro, giving you full access to all of the professional and consumer features that Windows 11 offers natively. If you've read any of our recent laptop reviews or desktop, you know we here at Techaeris are big fans of Windows 11. It's a decent operating system with a modern look and feel, and it works well, especially on a system with a 12th Gen Intel Core 8.i7 processor.
The included power adapter is quite small, about 2 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches, and the USB-C and power combo cable is quite long, about 11 feet. It is a good size and will allow you to plug it in and install it almost anywhere without worrying about the cord being too short.
Best of all, this system is free of excess malware, including antivirus software, so Windows 11 is as clean as a fresh install can be.
performance
The Dynabook Portégé X30L we tested had pretty decent specs. With a 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1260P processor (18MB cache, up to 4.70GHz), 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, it's pretty good on paper. As with most computer reviews, I used standard hard drive read/write metrics:
| Sequential reading of CrystalDiskMark (Q8T1) | 1180.25 MB/s |
| CrystalDiskMark Sequential Write (Q8T1) | 3056.73 MB/s |
| Sequential Read AS SSD | 1451.91 MB/s |
| AS SSD sequential write | 2486.66 MB/s |
| ATTO Sequence Read (Max) | 1039.88 MB/s |
| Serial input ATTO (max.) | 1668.24 MB/s |
While there are much faster SSDs out there, the one in the Dynabook Portégé delivers decent read speeds and acceptable write speeds. To be honest, for work and basic office tasks, I didn't have to wait long to download or save anything to my hard drive. The laptop did well in Photoshop and Lightroom with Intel Iris Xe graphics, but it clearly doesn't match the level of a PC with a dedicated gaming card.
Unfortunately, the memory cannot be upgraded as it is built in, so you need to choose a configuration with enough memory for your current and future computing needs.
On the whole, however, Portégé did a good job of handling the business challenges. It's also fairly quiet, and even after prolonged use, it doesn't feel any hotter than it should.
Sound quality
The Dynabook Portégé X30L is equipped with stereo speakers with DTS sound processing. As with most laptops, there's not a lot of bass on board, but it's quite loud. At full volume it sounds a little hard, but still crisp and clear. Because it has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio jack, you'll probably use it with headphones, but for a while, internal audio works pretty well.
Camera
Unfortunately, and this is not limited to the Dynabook, the front-facing webcam is only 720p. Sure, that's enough, but in this age of remote meetings and teleconferencing, there's no reason why 1080p shouldn't be the norm. In that sense, it comes with a physical security shutter, albeit an interesting one, a thin piece of metal held in place only by magnets.
Battery life
Ultrabook portability is really the goal. In addition to being an ultraportable laptop, it's battery life. Dynabook claims 10 hours of battery life (tested on Windows 10). Unfortunately, I was only able to work for about 4 hours with the laptop in balanced power mode, with the screen brightness set to 50% and the keyboard backlight turned off. During this period, I mainly surfed the web and edited documents without consuming video or music.
price value
Dynabook Portégé X30L starting at $1,379.99. Our test unit is priced at $1,799.99, making it the most expensive model yet. It's a relatively functional, portable and lightweight laptop with enough ports so you don't have to buy an adapter or hub. If you can find it on Amazon or elsewhere for a small discount, it's definitely worth considering. However, if you're looking for something with the best battery life for the price, you might want to look elsewhere.
Photo gallery
turn it off
The Dynabook Portégé X30L we tested was a pretty solid little laptop, but with mediocre battery life. However, it performs well, and if you're dealing with limited battery life, it's not a bad option to consider.
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Last updated: December 1, 2022
Dynabook Portégé X30L Later Review: Compact, Lightweight, Decent Performance, Short Battery Life First appeared on Techaeris.
