Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve used the Dynabook Satellite Pro (C50-J-10V) as our go-to laptop. The Dynabook came pre-loaded with Windows 11, which was a strange experience At least at first. Coming from Windows 10, 11 felt different. Not much has changed, but it takes some getting used to. After a day or two, we found that we much preferred it to the previous iteration.
Plain sailing
The Dynabook is interesting because of how… uninteresting it looks. It’s certainly not ugly. It’s just a 15.7in screen surrounded by an ordinary-looking body. Picture a plain black laptop in your head, throw on a Dynabook logo, and that’s what you get from the Satellite Pro.
Obviously, nobody really needs their laptop to look beautiful. It’s just a neat bonus on top of the specs you’re paying for. But for the most part, people don’t really care, especially when it’s a ‘budget’ laptop such as this. People usually start caring about design when they’re spending more than R20k. Most just want their machines to work well. For the most part, the Dynabook performs well in that regard.
The Dynabook is kitted out with not one but two USB-A ports, a single full-size HDMI, one USB-C port, a single Ethernet port, and a MicroSD reader. Let’s not forget the 3.5mm jack. 3.5mm jacks are falling out of favour with device developers as of late, but they’re always there when we need them. On laptops, anyway.
Something worth mentioning is the trackpad. It’s just not good. For the most part, it works. Until you start to actually use it with a little bit of speed. Then it loses control, which gets pretty tedious after the 10th mistake of the hour. If you’re a mouse kind of person, great. You can avoid the trackpad. But if you’re a mouse hater, then the Dynabook may not be for you. Also, what’s wrong with mice?
On the inside
The Dynabook conceals a decent laptop under its bland outside design. Our review model features 8GB of RAM installed, with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 chip partnering it. It’s good enough to get some work done, as long as that work doesn’t involve anything too resource-intensive.
If you’re looking to get into gaming, cast your gaze in a different direction. This one is most certainly not built for gaming, bar a few low-maintenance games like Minecraft. Of course, we’re talking about the Bedrock Edition (or Windows Edition for the plebs out there). Trying to run the Java edition would be a waste of time.
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But the main point of the Dynabook is to be a “work” laptop. Apps like the MS Office Suite work just as you’d want them to: without any hassles along the way. It performs well in that field. It doesn’t do so well in other areas. Well, the Dynabook does what it says on the tin. It’s a work laptop.
Entertainment is almost a non-starter for the Dynabook. It can of course stream and play videos – that’s a given. But unless you’ve got a decent pair of headphones handy, it will leave you seriously underwhelmed. That’s the fault of the built-in speakers. They leave a lot to the imagination, mainly because you can’t hear half of what’s coming out of them. And if you live near someone with a generator and it’s load shedding, then forget about it. There’s a reason the 3.5mm jack is so noteworthy here.
Full Specs:
- Screen – 15.7in Full HD
- Processor – 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7
- RAM – 8GB
- GPU – Iris Xe Graphics (Internal)
- Storage – 256GB SSD
- Weight – 1.65KG
- Dimensions – 358.2 x 236.9 x 19.9 mm
- Battery – 45.6Wh
- OS – Windows 11
Battery
Our review Dynabook includes a 45.6Wh lithium-ion battery. It certainly could be better, but if it’s used as it’s meant to be, you’ll hardly ever notice a problem. If you should be left without a place to plug in, you’ll get a few hours of productivity out before it goes dark. But if you’re just looking to watch some Netflix with a pair of headphones on, you could make it last four hours or so.
There’s nothing wrong with the battery life, but there isn’t much to write home about. It’s average. You couldn’t ask for more from this one. Well, you could, but then you’re asking for the price to be bumped up.
Dynabook Satellite Pro C50 Verdict
Overall, the Dynabook Satellite Pro was good to us. It has a function in mind and that is to be an ordinary work laptop that gets on with the job at hand. It does it without complaining. Nobody looking to game will be interested in this one and that’s perfectly alright. It excels at being a to-and-from-work machine. You can throw it in a bag, fling it over your shoulder and you’re good to go. Its 1.65kg is hardly noticeable, which is a massive plus.
The price of a great ‘work’ laptop is a few shortfalls, like the dodgy trackpad or the fact that it doesn’t look as flashy as you might want it to. The speakers are probably the biggest letdown. We’ have liked to sit with some music while working. If you’re in an office, you’re already using a pair of headphones (hopefully). This is fine, but doing it at home ruins the mood a little. It’s not a dealbreaker, though.
Lastly, there’s the price. This model will set you back R14, 540 – which sounds like a lot, but compared to other laptops with these specs, it’s not terrible. In a perfect world, the price would be a little lower. But this isn’t a perfect world, and Dynabook needs to make ends meet.