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Dynabook's story is one of change, continuity, and innovation.

Once known as Toshiba, the company underwent a major brand transformation in 2018 when its PC arm was acquired, but according to Matt Tominello, the Product Marketing Manager for Dynabook ANZ, the heritage remains. "They purchased all of what was the Toshiba PC business - the factories, the engineers, the sales, the marketing departments, everything," he said. "That heritage, which has been going since obviously 1985 when we introduced the first commercially viable laptop computer, remains. It's just under a new, Dynabook brand."

The shift, while significant in markets outside of Japan, was a natural evolution. "That Dynabook brand is actually only new everywhere outside of Japan," Tominello explained. "When we introduced Toshiba Techra or Portégé or Satellite Pro models in Japan, it was Dynabook's - they had Dynabook Portégé, Dynabook Techra. So, for them it's not new at all - it's just the rest of the world needs to get their head around that name change."

Reflecting on the company's legacy, Tominello was keen to highlight Toshiba's impact on the evolution of laptops and mobile computing. "It's huge," he noted. "From that very first beginning of introducing a commercially viable laptop in 1985, they went through a really exciting time in the PC industry."

He remembered, "By the time I joined, we were just starting to put CD ROMs in machines, and not long before that, colour screens had just come in. Toshiba's been there for, what is it now, 36 odd years?"

Innovation has been at the heart of the business. "We've been through that really exciting part which was the introduction of things that we hadn't had before - Bluetooth, DVD players inside computers, Wi-Fi, mobile broadband. In 2007, we started putting SIMs in machines."

Even today, Dynabook continues to push boundaries. "Last year alone we brought out both the world's lightest 13-inch and 13-inch flip devices," Tominello added. "The first one was about 870 grams, including functional things like LAN ports, or RJ45 as people know them. The flip device, the X30W-J, was only 999 grams and still fully featured."

He is deeply optimistic about what's next. "I think the boundaries are still being pushed, particularly in the miniaturisation area," he explained. "You can write on screens, touch screens, you can do everything now - it's fantastic. You can be connected pretty much anywhere between LAN ports and Wi-Fi and mobile broadband. It's still great, it's exciting, it's new. I love it."

Recent press coverage noted that Dynabook "has a score to settle". When asked about this, Tominello responded, "I'm not sure who wrote that. My interpretation is that we're just looking forward to the next period of growth. When we changed our brand, there was probably some inflammatory press just around, 'oh, Toshiba's gone after all these years', and it's not really gone at all. It's just evolving."

He continued, "If we have some sort of score to settle, I think it would be regaining our market dominance. Through any bit of turmoil or brand change, you do see downturns of sorts, and I suppose we're just really wanting to assert ourselves again back in the market. I think we just want to get back to a position of being...really sought after products that just carry on the tradition of what we've done for the last 36 years. That's our score to settle."

Central to Dynabook's current strategy is the retention of familiar product lines, such as Portégé and Satellite Pro. These sub-brands, Tominello says, are vital. "Under the new Dynabook umbrella, late last year we released all our Portégé series, which is effectively our X series or our premium series if you like. We're always pushing the boundaries in those models."

He went on, "We were coming out first to market with the 11th gen CPUs, and two of those products were actually world-first in terms of being able to miniaturise everything and create form factors that were the lightest in the world yet fully functional."

Not long after, Dynabook reintroduced its Satellite Pro range. "Our sub-branding has been around for almost as long as the top-line brand, some of those brands for 20 or 30 years," said Tominello. The resonance of these names was clear to him: "Saying taglines like 'Satellite Pro is back' - Satellite Pro is actually more recognisable in the market than perhaps Dynabook is in this region, particularly. So using those sub-brands is really, really important from a marketing point of view."

It's about more than just familiarity. "Everyone I speak to remembers those brands - it's important for us to keep those brands, gives people a lot of confidence about our heritage," he explained. "We produce great, reliable products. That's why we're going to continue with those with those brandings - it makes so much sense in the marketing realm, particularly in regions where Dynabook is new. Those sub-brands are just so recognisable and people know what they stand for."

As for customer engagement, Dynabook wants to maintain its open-door approach. "We've always been a company of people you can talk to, people who are well-versed in the topic of mobile computing," Tominello said.

He summed up the Dynabook philosophy succinctly: "We just want to get on with the business of doing business."