24
Reviews
27 April – 10 May 2022 • Issue 630VERDICT A no-frills 15.6in business
laptop that looks like good value, but
has a disappointing screen and lags
behind the performance of rivals★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE
Asus ExpertBook B1 B1500 £655
A similar price
and specification,
but it runs faster
and has a slightly
superior screenSPECIFICATIONS
Four-core Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor •• 8GB
RAM •• 15.6in IPS 1920x1080-pixel resolution
screen •• 512GB storage •• 720p webcam •• Wi-Fi 5 ••
Bluetooth 5 •• 1x Gigabit Ethernet port •• 1x HDMI port- • 1x USB-C port •• 2x USB 3.0 ports •• Windows 11
Pro •• 19.7x362x241mm (HxWxD) •• 1.9kg •• One-year
warranty http://www.snipca.com/41523
If you’re in the market for a no-nonsense,
business-like laptop that runs Windows
well and is reasonably priced, this model
could be of interest. However, its screen
may leave you wanting more.
It’s a 15.6in panel with a resolution of
1920x1080 pixels. The problems began
with our colorimeter tests, which
indicated a maximum brightness level
of only 269cd/m 2. Even when we were
indoors, we felt the need to try increasing
the brightness setting in the hope of
pushing it beyond its maximum. Then
there’s colour coverage, with the screen
only capable of reproducing 59 per cent
of the sRGB colour standard. You’ll get
away with working on documents,
spreadsheets and browsing web pages,
but it will make your videos and photos
look dull.On a more positive note, it has one of
the largest trackpads we’ve ever seen. To
put its 133x88mm dimensions into
context, the Microsoft Surface Book 3 has
a 105x69mm trackpad, which gives an
area of 72cm2. The C50’s trackpad area of
117cm2 is over half as large again. This
means you have a generous navigation
space with which to swipe gestures and
explore the screen. Even though it isn’t
glass-coated for extra smoothness, it’s a
superb feature.
The downside of such a large trackpad
is that it can get in the way when typing,
and its palm-rejection technology doesn’t
work perfectly. We ended up deactivatingLAPTOP ❘ £665 from Box http://www.snipca.com/41523
Dynabook Satellite Pro C50-J-12A
Not the bright choice
A portable business
laptop that does the
basics, but its screen is
substandard
LEFT EDGE
RIGHT EDGE
the trackpad (by pressing the Function
key and F5) when typing long tracts of
text.
It’s an average keyboard, with little
finesse to the key presses and a clicky
sound, but the wide case allows for the
inclusion of sizeable, well-spaced keys
and a number pad on the right-hand side.
Those hoping to take the Satellite Pro
on their travels should note the lack of a
keyboard backlight, which makes it
harder to work in low light. It’s a shame
because there are other aspects of this
machine that make it suitable for life on
the move: given the size of the screen, it’s
surprisingly light at 1.9kg, and at 20mm
(when the lid is closed) it’s incredibly
thin. The sturdy plastic chassis, finished
in an attractive dark blue, should stand
the test of time.
Battery life is reasonable rather than
exceptional, lasting around eight hours in
our tests. Dynabook provides a tiny
45W charger that plugs into a DC input
via a flimsy-looking pin, and you can
also charge it via the USB-C port that sits
on the left-hand side. This port has a
peak transfer rate of 5Gbps, and can
also be used to connect a screen, as
can the neighbouring HDMI port. USB
3.0 ports conveniently sit on both sides
of the chassis, and it’s great to see an
Ethernet port, 3.5mm jack and microSDcard reader on the right (as pictured
below).
It has a Core i5-1135G7 processor
with Iris Xe graphics, along with 8GB of
RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s a potent
combination for an office machine, but
we expected more than the 4,129 it
achieved in our benchmark test. For
comparison, the Acer TravelMate P4
P414-51 (reviewed in Issue 626) and the
Asus ExpertBook B1 B1500 (Issue 625)
have similar specifications and scored
around 4,500. This suggests that
Dynabook’s cooling system isn’t as
effective as its rivals’.