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Intro into the Portege X40L from Dynabook
Since the business PC market is increasingly dominated by Dell, HP, and Lenovo machines—with the occasional Mac thrown in for flavour—Dynabook is striving to reenter the wild with a series of workstations that meet all the enterprise requirements.
Dynabook’s latest Portege X40L offers premium, high-performance computing—and its featherlight. The laptop is powered by new hybrid-architecture 12th Gen Intel Core processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6E. This laptop delivers unprecedented performance and battery life.
Price & Availability
The Portege X40L from Dynabook is in a class of its own. The MSRP is USD$2,219.99 which is definitely on the higher end. The unit I have for review features Intel Core I7-1270P vPro, 14-inch WUXGA display, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, and an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 to drive your internet access. The laptop is available from Walmart in two different variants. The first variant is the one I’m testing.
Similar Products
![Hands On Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] Showcasing The Laptop](https://www.cryovex.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dynabook-Portege-X40L-Review-Laptop-Lightweight-07.webp "Hands On: Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] - Dynabook Portege X40L Review Laptop Lightweight 07")
Specification – Portege X40L
| CPU | 12th Generation Intel Core i7-1270P vPro (4.8Ghz – 12 Cores, 4 Performances-cores, 8 Efficient-cores with 16 Threads.) |
|---|---|
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| Memory | 16GB Dual Channel LPDDR5-5200 (soldered) |
| Display | 14”, 1920×1200 IPS, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3, 90 Hz, 16:10 (WUXGA), Touchscreen |
| Storage | 512GB (NVMe One M.2 2280) |
| Connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi AX211 + Bluetooth 5.2, Intel® Ethernet Connection I219 Family |
| Ports | 2 x USB 4.0 Type-C (Thunderbolt 4), 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (one w/ USB Sleep and Charge), 1 x HDMI, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x microSD, Headset |
| Audio | Four Speaker System, Dual-Array Microphones, Dolby Atmos |
| Touchpad | Click Pad Multi-Touch Pad, Raised Tile, Backlist Keyboard |
| Battery | 75Wh Li-Polymer supports Rapid Charge Boost (2 hrs runtime with 15 min charge) |
| Chassis | 312.4 x 224 x 15.9 mm (12.3 x 8.8 x 0.63 in) Weight: Starting at 1.05 kg (2.31 lbs) |
The Design
I have the Portege X40L-K from Dynabook, a lightweight 14-inch notebook in the company line of business computers running one of the 12th Gen Intel processors. This portable and lightweight computer is excellent at what it does, but it does have weaknesses.
With a blue matte magnesium alloy case, the Portege X40L is about the same size as other 14-inch enterprise laptops, just 0.63 inches thick. At just 2.31 pounds by itself and 3.08 pounds with its included 65-watt charger, it is one of the lightest 14-inch enterprise notebooks I tested.
The Portégé has more ports than I’m used to in this thin machine. The left-hand side has a lock, HDMI port and two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports (used for charging).
The right side has a microSD card slot, a full-size expandable Ethernet port, another USB-A port, and a headphone/microphone jack. A fingerprint reader sits in the power button at the top right of the keyboard and works fine with Windows Hello.
While I cannot help but wish the USB-C ports were further back or if there was one on either side, I think it would be much better.
![Hands On Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] Showcase Laptop](https://www.cryovex.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dynabook-Portege-X40L-Review-Laptop-Lightweight-01.webp "Hands On: Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] - Dynabook Portege X40L Review Laptop Lightweight 01")
![Hands On Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] Ports Options](https://www.cryovex.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dynabook-Portege-X40L-Review-Laptop-Lightweight-05.webp "Hands On: Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] - Dynabook Portege X40L Review Laptop Lightweight 05")
The Display
The Portege X40L offers 14-inch IPS non-touch display with 1920-by-1200 resolution, in the now often seen 16:10 ratio, with Eyesafe low blue light features. The laptop display auto adjusts the level of light needed. It also lets you adjust the level of brightness to your desired level. You’d have no problem working outside, although I wouldn’t be working in direct sunlight.
The Webcam
The 720p webcam is disappointing—it is dark, smudged and not made for low-light. You’re better off getting a decent, well-rounded external camera if you need to use it in low light. The webcam has a physical privacy shutter, but it’s nothing exceptional. It does the job in well-lit spaces. The Portege has video conferencing hotkeys, dual microphones with AI noise reduction, two front-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard, and two downward-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
The Keyboard
The keyboard felt good, with keys not having any oomph, and some of the keys are small. Something to take note of, when you mute the microphone, you can see it on the function keys. There wasn’t much else coming from a mechanical keyboard on a desktop that wow’ed me.
![Hands On Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] Keyboard](https://www.cryovex.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dynabook-Portege-X40L-Review-Laptop-Lightweight-03.webp "Hands On: Dynabook Portege X40L Laptop [Review] - Dynabook Portege X40L Review Laptop Lightweight 03")
Performance
The Core i7-1270P processor in the system I am using is one of the higher-end laptop chips and offers 12 cores—four power cores with hyper-threading, delivering two threads each, and eight efficient cores, so 12 physical cores and 16 threads.
It has a base power of 28 watts, 18MB of cache, and the latest Xe graphics. The difference between this Core i7-1270P and its slightly slower sibling, the Core i7-1260P, which I tested on several machines, including the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14-inch laptop (2022), is that the 1270P clocks in with a base speed of 2.2 GHz and a maximum speed of 4.8 GHz, each slightly higher than the 1260P’s base clock speed of 2.3GHz and a max speed of 4.4GHz.
In comparison to other laptops with similar processors, I was able to see some differences.
In graphics-intensive tests, the Portege showed its true colours. It was 21% faster on Cinebench 23 multi-threaded and 6% faster on its single-thread. In 3DMark, the gaming tests score ranges from 10 to 15% faster. PCMark10, which gives you a benchmark of how well the laptop performs in day-to-day activities for home or work, resulted in similar but slightly elevated scores.
Benchmarks
| Dynabook Portege X40L | Lenovo Yoga 9i | |
| Core i7-1270P | Core i7-1260P | |
| Cinebench R24 | Multi-Thread 8816 / Single-Thread 1647 | Multi-Thread 5013 / Single-Thread 1471 |
| PCMark10 | Total Score 5524 | Total Score 5742 |
| 3DMark – Timespy | Total 1973 | Total 1498 |
| Geekbench 5 | Multi-Cores 9632 / Single-Core 1679 | Multi-Cores 5563 / Single-Core 1688 |
A more real-world test is to use it for a week and compare how well it performs when working and in leisure activities. I’m sure you can guess what this means. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, all of which had multiple tabs opened. I loaded my image editor software, art board and other tools I use to complete work tasks; This also meant that I would be listening to music, commuting, on battery on AC power etc.
Battery Life
The Portege X40L has a 65-watt-hour battery. I got over 11 hours of battery life on a balanced profile. A top performer in its class, the Portege seems to have plenty of juice for long work sessions.
Verdict – Dynabook Portege X40L
