Dynabook Reveals T8 & T9 Laptops w/ 16.1-Inch Display & Blu-ray Drive
by Anton Shilov on November 8, 2019 12:00 PM EST
Dynabook, formerly Toshiba's PC division, has been pretty energetic with announcements recently, marking its return to active life and attempt to address certain market segments with unique products. This week the company introduced its new T8 and T9 laptops for multimedia enthusiasts, which feature a rare 16.1-inch display as well as an integrated Blu-ray/DVD burner.
Dynabook’s T8 and T9 notebooks come in Stylish Blue or Satin Gold chassis made of thick plastic that measures 379×256.5×23.7 mm — similar dimensions to a mainstream 15.6-inch class laptop. The laptop features a 16.1-inch Full-HD IPS display, which offers a larger screen real estate that the company hopes will provide a slightly more immersive entertainment experience. To further improve the system's multimedia capabilities, Dynabook’s T8 and T9 systems are equipped with stereo speakers by Onkyo that are located under the display and are enhanced with DTS software that adds Dynamic Wide Sound capability.
The innards of Dynabook’s T8/T9 laptops are pretty typical for this class of machines (except for the ODD, of course). The notebooks pack Intel’s quad-core Core i7-8565U processor with UHD 620 Graphics, 8 GB or 16 GB of DDR4-2400 memory (T8 and T9 models, respectively), a 256 GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD, a 1 TB 5400 RPM hard drive, and a Blu-ray drive that is compatible with BD XL discs.
On the connectivity side of matters, the Dynabook T8/T9 features Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, GbE, three USB 3.0 Type-A connectors, a USB Type-C port, an HDMI 1.4 output, an SD card reader, and a 3.5-mm audio connector for headsets. The laptop also offers a 720p webcam with IR sensors for Windows Hello face recognition, a microphone array, a full-size keyboard with a 19-mm key pitch and a numpad.
When it comes to battery life, Dynabook claims that its T8/T9 laptops will work for up to 9 hours on one charge based on JEITA 2.0 run time measurement method.
| Dynabook's T8 and T9 | |||
| T8 | T9 | ||
| Display | 16.1" 1920×1080 | ||
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8565U | ||
| Graphics | HD Graphics 620 (24 EUs) | ||
| RAM | 8 GB DDR4-2400 | 16 GB DDR4-2400 | |
| SSD | 256 GB SSD (M.2, PCIe 3.0 x4) | ||
| HDD | 1 TB 5400 RPM HDD | ||
| ODD | Blu-ray burner, compatible with DVD, BD, BD XL media | ||
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) | ||
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5 | ||
| USB 3.0 | 3 × Type-A 1 × Type-C |
||
| GbE | 1 × GbE | ||
| Card Reader | SD | ||
| Other I/O | HDMI 1.4, 720p webcam with RGB + IR sensors, microphone, stereo speakers by Onkyo, audio jack | ||
| Battery | up to 9 hours | ||
| Dimensions | Width: 379 mm Depth: 256.5mm Thickness: 23.7 mm |
||
| Weight | Starting at 2.4 kg | ||
| Price | $1,920 without VAT in Japan | ||
Dynabook will start sales of its T8 and T9 laptops in Japan some time in mid-December. The T9 model will cost ¥210,000 without tax (about $1,920). It is unclear whether Dynabook will offer T8 and T9 machines outside of Japan as the unique value proposition offered by the laptop — an enlarged 16.1-inch Full-HD IPS display and Blu-ray disc playback — makes a great sense in Japan, but may get a lackluster welcome in other countries.
Related Reading:
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
Samus - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
It's interesting to see what other markets demand. Toshiba\Dynabook in Japan and Acer in France (and all of Europe for that matter) have always had fascinating market leadership with products that totally fail elsewhere.kaidenshi - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
How about realizing the site isn't catered specifically to your tastes? If you don't like it, don't visit.Better yet, if you can write better and more relevant articles, please do, and submit them.
WinterCharm - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
But WHY!?WinterCharm - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Let me elaborate:Why bother with a Blu Ray drive on a computer where you're not even going to bother putting a HiDPI 4K display on it?
I could see the appeal if they went with a 4K OLED panel on this laptop, but this is... just sad. 1080p display, and it's almost 2020... lol.
Inteli - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Did we forget that standard Blu Rays are only 1080p? A UHD display would be pointless for displaying 1080p content.As much as I like seeing a ODD in a laptop since I use them regularly, I can count the number of times I needed an ODD for my laptop specifically in the past 10 years on one hand. Combined with the fact that tray-loading ODDs on laptops always felt sort of cheap to me means I wouldn't see myself purchasing one of thesr any time soon. I could see the appeal as a light duty DTR for someone who uses a lot of Blu Rays, but that's such a niche market. It's nice to have the option though.
bill.rookard - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link
Because a 4k screen increases costs and also sucks battery life. If you're already spinning a DVD drive it's going to affect battery life, and then driving a 4k display would drop it even more.Jorgp2 - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
That looks like a laptop from 2009sorten - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
A built-in optical drive? How quaint :-)I have an external optical drive that I've used for my Surface and my desktop as well as other people's computers. It's not something that I'd want built into any of my computers at this point, but I guess some people have the need.
Hifihedgehog - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Nerdy numbers moment: Am I the only one who finds it funny that the horizontal dimensional in pixels is identical in quantity to the product?Hifihedgehog - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
*product price