The Dynabook E11-A is an 11.6 inch notebook with an Intel Alder Lake-N processor, optional support for a touchscreen display, and a $299 starting price.
And the new Dynabook E11W-AÂ starts at $349 and adds a 360-degree hinge and optional support for a pressure-sensitive pen. Both laptops are designed for the education market and ship with Windows 11 Pro Education software.
Available with Intel N100 and N200 processor options, both laptops support up to 16GB of LPDDR5 memory, have eMMC and SSD storage options, and feature compact but semi-rugged bodies with features like rubber bumpers, spill-resistant keyboards, and mechanically anchored keys.
Both models should be available for pre-order beginning March 1, 2024.
| Dynabook E11W-A | Dynabook E11-A | |
| Display | 11.6 inches HD 360 degree hinge Touchscreen Wacom Smart Pen (optional) | 11.6 inches HD / FHD options Touch optional |
| Processor | Intel N100 / N200 | |
| RAM | Up to 16GB LPDDR5 | |
| Storage | eMMC / SSD | |
| Ports | 1 x USB Type-C 3 x USB Type-A 1 x HDMI 1 x RJ45 Ethernet 1 x 3.5mm audio 1 x microSD | |
| Wireless | WiFi 6 Bluetooth | |
| Camera(s) | 1600 x 1200 (primary) 5MP world-facing | 1600 x 1200 (primary) |
| Audio | Stereo speakers Dual microphones | |
| Starting price | $349 (w/o pen) $419 (w/smart pen & pen charging garage in the chassis) | $299 (non-touch) $319 (touch) |
Brad, are you 100% sure of the screen resolution of these? Because if that information is correct, these will be the first notebooks with 4:3 aspect ratio screens available in years.
You’re looking at the camera resolution. The only info they gave us about the screen resolution was HD or FHD, which I’m presuming means 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080.
Oops, I’m an idiot—sorry about that.
I find this artcle to be very interesting, thanks Brad…
Dynabook Inc. is a 69 year-old Japanese company.[1] Formerly: Kawasaki typewriter (1954-1958), Toshiba Typewriter (1958-1968), Toshiba Business Machine (1968-1984), Toshiba Information Equipment (1984-2016), Toshiba Client Solutions (2016-2019). Current Parent: Sharp Corporation.
Having Sharp Corporation in the path of evolution is not encoraging: “Sharp acquired the remaining shares of Dynabook from Toshiba in August 2020, making Dynabook Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Sharp. Sharp had first purchased Dynabook from Toshiba in 2018.” On 25 February 2016, Foxconn (mainland China) announced its intent to acquire a 66% controlling stake in Sharp for 700 billion yen (US$6.24 billion). However, the deal was briefly delayed due to unforeseen financial liabilities; on 30 March 2016, Foxconn announced that it had agreed to pay US$3.5 billion for the stake instead.[2] The Chinese Hisense Group with its terrible history of shoddy consumer products also taints the picture.[3]
“…and ship with Windows 11 Pro Education software”. How long will Windows 11 “Pro Education” software last? Windows 10 “Education” version is supported only until 14-October-2025.[4]
I am a big fan of what I call “Education Grade” laptops because of their robust build quality, low cost, and matte screens. However, manufacturers (Dell is a good example) make it almost impossible for consumers to actually buy “Education Grade” laptops, especially in small quantities. That’s because the “Education Grade” laptops because they erode the market for hugely over-priced (hence profitable) mainstream consumer and business laptops; especially in the U.S.
However, there is an actual page where you “might” be able to buy a Dynabook E11 series laptop “specifically designed for K-12 students, to be provided by schools for classroom use”.[7] But color me a skeptic – the quoted words in the previous sentence are exactly the sort of thing you eventually see from a manufacturer like like DELL or one of their tightly-controlled Distibutors to cut-off any small businesses or individuals trying to actually buy a small quantity of said “Education Grade” laptops.
If and when I get cut off by Dynabook here in the U.S., I know where to look in S.E. Asia online, especially in Singapore and Indonesia – but there are some risks involved with doing International cash trade.
Here is my “Education Grade” laptop example: I am typing this comment right now on an eight-year-old DELL Inspiron-11 (11.6-inch screen) Model-3162 “Education Grade” laptop with a quad-core/quad-thread Pentium N3700 processor. I bought this road-weary little laptop from a Dell Distributor in-person in Jakarta, Indonesia for around $225 USD. I had no other choice, nobody in the U.S. would sell me the Dell laptop unless I bought hundreds of them and could prove only schools were the end-users. I also had to legally agree to never resell the little laptops to anyone else – only schools. In the end I bought three of these laptops in Jakarta. Eight years later two are still in daily use, and one is for spare parts in the odd case where I cannot find spare parts online. DELL is no longer supporting these machines unless you have a pricey contract with them.
I upgraded the 2.5 inch HDD in the little laptops to a 1TB model from Toshiba. I dual-boot Windows 10 Home which came with the laptop, and MX Linux.[6] The laptop cannot be oficially upgraded to Windows 11 (no TPM). So when Intel and Microsoft force me to prematurely retire Windows 10 on perfectly functioning hardware, I will entirely remove Windows 10 from this laptop and just boot Linux or FreeBSD. That’s fine, I rarely use any Microsoft products these days. Micrsoft is a Greedy Bully and SAAS is nowhere on my horizon – so neither is Micrsoft.
I left Linux Mint [7] when they went to point releases instead of rolling releases like MX Linux. Incremental rolling releases are much easier and safer to upgrade compared to point releases, especially if a reliable snapshot utility is included with the distro, there is no BIOS-level dual-boot present, and there is no mandatory Microsoft UEFI lock-in present.
Yes Microsoft UEFI lock-in is a real thing. Here is one real example I had:
A sad but true UEFI Microsoft lock-in story…
Model Name: ASUS VivoBook Flip 12 Laptop
P/N: TP202NA-OB04T
S/N: J7N0GR01E971274
MFD: 2018-07 CN: BY9S
Made in China/15105-04971000
Purchase Location: Office Depot, Pembroke Pines, FL USA
Purchase Date: 21-Sep-2018, 20:01PM EDT
Receipt No: 22VTP94P3556YB48F
Price: $199.99 USD
With Sales Tax (then 6%): $211.99
The UEFI BIOS in that ASUS VivoBook Flip REFUSED to let me install Linux. It took a lot of back-and-forth with ASUS but they finally admitted the lock-out was intentional and done by design in conjunction with Microsoft. ASUS refused to refund any money, same with Office Depot. I will never buy another ASUS product. I still have the ASUS VivoBook Flip laptop unused in the original box. Even though I tried to keep the battery alive, it eventually died. Without a good battery installed, the laptop will never boot again (another UEFI lock-out).
My Office Suite is now (and has been for more than a dozen years since I dumped Microsoft Office) the FOSS LibreOffice suite.[8]
Conclusion: Are there any Dynabook E11 laptops in my futre? I hope so. Dynabook E11 laptops fit my needs perfectly as a small business owner where a lot of travel and field work is done. But will I actually be able to buy unlocked (no Windows) Dynabook E11 laptops in small quantities? I’m skeptical – but hopeful.
References:
Dynabook Inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook_Inc.
https://us.dynabook.com/
Sharp_Corporation 2012-Present
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Corporation#2012%E2%80%93present
Hisense – Sharp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisense#Sharp
Template: Windows 10 Versions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Windows_10_versions
Dynabook – U.S. Order Page
https://us.dynabook.com/computers/laptops/checkout
MX Linux
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mx
https://mxlinux.org/
Linux Mint Cinnamon
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint
https://linuxmint.com/
LibreOffice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibreOffice
https://www.libreoffice.org/