Give this Notebook the Finger – Fujitsu LifeBook P7010 Ultra Portable Notebook

Hardware Magazine September 2004

The LifeBook P7010 is Fujitsu’s latest of their P series notebooks. The “P” model prefix denotes Fujitsu notebooks that are small and light, built for portability in mind. This doesn’t mean that the P7010 is crippled to favour size and weight, in fact, it as all the bells and whistles you see in much larger notebooks, and a feature you hardly see anywhere else – biometric security.

The P7010 is a fully featured notebook computer. This is essential for the traveller because having a tiny notebook is useless if you need to carry another kilogram of accessories. The swappable optical drive, PCMCIA slot and RJ-11 modem jack can all be found on the left size of the notebook. The P7010 even reads memory cards (CF, SD and Memory Stick and has a wireless LAN toggle switch at the front. The rest of the ports including an S-video connector are found on the right side. The keyboard is as big as the form factor can support. Keys are tactile, but you definitely won’t be typing as fast as you normally can on your regular keyboard.

Dubbed the AuthenTec TruPrint Technology, the biometric sensor between the touchpad buttons allows an authenticated user to use any registered fingerprint to gain quick access to Windows and other forms that require the user to log in. While this may not necessarily make the notebook more secure (you are still able to type in passwords, thereby bypassing the biometric authentication), it certainly makes things more convenient.

The 10.6” display is optimally set at its maximum of WXGA (1280 x 768). The text may be a little small for some but that is partly negated by the fact that the screen is extremely clear. The wide aspect ratio and increased viewing angle also make it great for watching movies. It also helped that the battery lasted just under three hours in our DVD playback (from optical drive) test, good for finishing most movies in one sitting.

The P7010 did well in the MobileMark 2002 test, achieving a performance rating of 159 and battery life of 247 minutes. This asserts its standing as a great productivity tool. Not only is it easy to carry, it will run office software without choking and has great battery life to boot. You can even buy an extra modular bay battery that doubles its battery life. You can probably get a lightweight 12.1” notebook for less, but more likely than not, it will have no optical drive built in. if you can afford the Fujitsu P7010’s $3,988 price tag, it will be the perfect travel companion for the road warrior.

Reproduced courtesy of Hardware Magazine, Singapore