PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/P Reviews

T

hislatestDynabookTecraasksa
straightforwardquestionof
anyonedecidingwhetheror not
tobuyit:how muchdoyou careabout
screenquality?Aboutcolourcoverage
andaccuracy,aboutwhetherwhites
actuallylookwhite?Ifthe answer is
“alot”toany of those,thenyoushould
savethreeminutesofyourlife and
turnthepage,becausenoneofthis
panel’sresultsmakeforpleasant
reading– whetherthat’s61%coverage
ofthesRGBgamut, an averageDelta E
of4.16ora 5800Kcolourtemperature
thatgiveswhitesa yellowishhue.
Ifyou canlookpastthescreen,
however,thisisonebelterofa
businesslaptopthatoffersterrific
valueformoney.I wanttoemphasise
theword“belter”,too,because
Dynabookincludesthemostpowerful
28WvariantoftheCorei7-1165G 7
processorandthatcertainlyshowed
inourbenchmarks. A scoreof 166 is
thefastestI’ve seen fromthischip,
andresultsof 1,517(single-core)and
4,744(multicore)inGeekbench5 are
nottooshabby,either.
ThePCProbenchmarkscores
mighthavebeenhigherstillif
Dynabookhadincludeda fasterSSD,
withsequentialread andwrite speeds
of1,992MB/secand 858 MB/secmade
tolookordinarynexttothelatest
drives.Willmostpeoplenoticein
practice?Probablynot,withtheTecra
A40provingtobeoneofthenippiest
Windows 10 systemsaround(it
qualifiesfora freeupgradeto
Windows 11 whentheupdate
becomesavailable)ineverydayuse,
andnordoI thinkyouwillfeel
limitedby its16GBofDDR4RAM.

Aswehavecometoexpectfrom

Dynabook laptops,it’ssimpleto

upgradetheRAMandreplace theSSD

orbatteryshould theoccasion arise.

Ninecrossheadscrewsareallthat

standin your way,andwiththe help

ofa guitarpickI wasinsidewithintwo

minutes.You’llfindonespare DIMM

socket if youdothesame, makingit

easytoupgradetothismachine’s

32GBmaximum,andboththe battery

andSSDare easytoremoveand

replace.Again,theonly tool youneed

isa crossheadscrewdriver.

TheundersideoftheTecraA40-J

isplastic,buttherestofthemachine

isbuiltfrommagnesiumalloy

finishedinDynabook’strademark

darkblue.Naturallyit’sbeen

subjectedtoa suiteof MIL-STD-10G

tests,butyou would still be wiseto

extendthesingle year ofwarranty

thatcomesas standard.

It’sa stretchtocall thislaptop

stylish– althoughthishasn’t

stoppedDynabookfromdoing

so– andthat’spartially

becauseitmeasures

18.9mmthick.Intoday’s

ultra-sleeklandscape,

fullof15mm-thick

machines,that’s

positivelyportly.

Nordoes that figure

includethe5mmridgeof

plasticattachedtothe

undercarriagethatlifts the

Tecratoa morepleasanttyping

angle.Theotherblemishwhenit

comesto thedesignis comparatively

chunkybezels,measuringover20mm

atthebottom,7mmatthesidesand

11mmatthetop.

Dynabookdoesatleastusethatlast

spacewisely, includinganinfrared

webcamthatsigns in viaWindows

Helloalmostinstantly.The720p

webcamitselfisn’tanythingspecial,

withnoiseandanoverly warmhue,

buta finepairofmicrophonesmeanI

wouldn’trushtoreplaceitwith a

standalonewebcam.

Thereareplentyofports if you

needtopluginsuchaccessories.

TwoThunderbolt4 socketssitonthe

left-handside,bothofwhichsupport

powerdeliveryandvideooutput.

Dynabookincludesa compactpower

adapter,weighing350gwiththe

plugattached,butanyUSB-Cpower

sourcethatdeliversover65Wwilldo

thejob.You’llalsofindanHDMIout,

USB-A 3 .2portanda combo 3.5mm

jack.Heading over to theright

revealsanEthernetsocket,second

USB-A 3 .2port,microSDcardslot

andspace fora smartcard.

Togetherwitha fingerprint

readerbuilt into thesmooth

andaccuratetrackpad,plus

Wi-Fi6 andBluetooth5.2,

there’slittle more that a

businessbuyer couldaskfor.

Keentypistsprobably won’tfall

inlovewiththekeyboard, however.

Therearethingstolike– it’squiet,

offersthreebacklightlevelsandthe

cursorkeys(althoughsmallerthan

ideal)arewellseparatedwithno

functiondoubling– butitseemsodd

nottomakemoreuseoftheavailable

chassiswidth.I wouldalsolikemore

travelandfeedbackon

thekeys,butpersonal

tastesdifferhere.

Oneindisputable

strength to endon,

however,isbatterylife.

Dynabookhasclearly

takenthedecisiontoadd

bulkandweight– 1.5kgisnothing

specialthesedays– so thatitcan

includeameaty53Whbattery,andin

returntheTecraA40-Jkeptgoing for

overtenhoursin ourvideo-rundown

test.That’sa fineresultforsucha

powerfullaptop.

Ifyou’vekeptreadingthisfar

thenI canonly assumethe

screenquality hasn’tput

youoff,andthereis

onefactorinits

favour:a mattefinish

removesanyproblems

withreflections.I stillwish

Dynabookincludedoneof

theexcellentSharpIGZO

panelsI’vetestedinits

otherDynabooks,but look

pastthisandyou’llfinda fast,

long-lastingmachinefor a highly

competitiveprice.TIMDANTON

DynabookTecra

A 40 - J- 11 J

Abrutallyfastandaffordable

businesslaptopwithgreat

batterylife,butdon’texpect

topscreenquality

PRICE£826(£991incVAT)
frombox.co.uk

“Ifyoucanlookpastthe

screen,thisisonebelter

ofabusinesslaptop

thatoffersterrific

valueformoney”

SCORE

SPECIFICATIONS

4-core2.8GHz(4.7GHzboost)IntelCore

i7-1165G7processor16GBDDR43,200MHz

RAMIntelIrisXegraphics14innon-touch

IPSdisplay,1,920x 1,080resolution512GB

NVMeSSD720pIRwebcam2x 2 Wi-Fi 6

Bluetooth5.22 x Thunderbolt 4 (data

transfer,powerdeliveryandDisplayPort

support)2 xUSB-A 3 .2HDMI 2 smart

cardslotmicroSDslotcombo3.5mmjack

GigabitEthernet 53 WhbatteryWindows

10 Pro 324 x 2 21 x 18.9mm(WDH)1.5kg

1yrEMEARTBwarranty

BATTERYVideorundown, 10 hrs 7 mins

Image

editing

170

Video

editing

141

Multi-

tasking

180

BREAKDOWNSCORES

BENCHMARKS

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

OVERALL 166

ABOVEItmaynotbe

particularlyslimor

stylish,buttheTecra

A40hasbagsofpower

ABOVESecurityis

high,fromthesmart

cardslottothe

fingerprintreader