Dynabook, or what was formerly Toshiba, announced today the Tecra X50, a thin and lightweight 15.6-inch laptop with battery life rated at 17 hours. The Tecra X50 will start at $1,544 and include a generous three-year warranty. We’ve asked Dynabook about the Tecra X50’s availability in the U.S and will update this article once we hear back. Dynabook Tecra X50 Specs Dynabook Tecra X50 preview To get you caught up, Sharp rebranded Toshiba to Dynabook after purchasing 80.1% of Toshiba Client Solutions (Toshiba’s PC unit) last year. Instead of throwing in the towel, the new brand went right back to creating new laptops, like the Portégé A30, Portégé X30 and Tecra X40 unveiled back in July. Toshiba laptops may not have had the best reputation, but the Dynabook Tecra X50 seems to have a lot going for it. That starts with the chassis, which is made from magnesium alloy, a material that is increasingly being used as a lightweight yet durable alternative to aluminum. The Tecra X50 exemplifies those benefits with a body that weighs just 3.1 pounds but is MIL-STD-810G tested, which means it can withstand exposure to extreme conditions. We haven’t gotten our hands on a Tecra X50 yet, but we’re excited to test those durability claims and see the laptop’s Onyx Blue color in person. Unfortunately, the Tecra X50 is powered by Intel 8th Gen CPUs (up to a Core i7-8665U), at a time when laptop makers are hurrying to release products with Intel’s new 10th Gen processors. That already puts the Tecra X50 behind competitors when it comes to performance, though the Dynabook will at least support Wi-Fi 6. Other components inside the Tecra X50 include integrated UHD 620 graphics, up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. The Tecra X50 comes with plenty of features for business users, including a TPM 2.0 security chip, an optional smart card reader, an IR camera for facial authentication and a fingerprint reader embedded in the touchpad. There’s also a webcam cover so you can save on tape. At 0.7 inches thick, there isn’t a ton of space on the Tecra X50 for ports, but we’ve seen worse. Housed on the laptop’s thin chassis are two Thunderbolt 3 inputs, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI, a microSD card slot and a headphone jack. We’re bummed that the Tecra X50 runs on last-gen processors, but everything else about the notebook — the lightweight yet durable chassis, long (estimated) runtime and power-efficient display — has us excited to get one in for review. Check out our IFA 2019 hub for the biggest news and previews out of Berlin.
