Following in the footsteps of rivals Apple and HP, the Japanese PC maker unveiled on Thursday a lineup of Lifebook laptops refreshed with Intel’s Sandybridge CPU and chipset, along with a new gaming notebook boasting a generous 17.3-inch screen.
But while the souped-up hardware promises to be less power-hungry and run faster at the same time, notebook fans will be disappointed that Fujitsu has kept to the shiny and somewhat unattractive design for its top-end SH761 laptop.
Since the phasing out of the older, better S series, which featured all the bells and whistles like a near-borderless screen (and which I am using to type this article), Fujitsu’s premium models have, in my opinion, not managed to liven up things with new features or retain the good stuff that made the old S series so good.
Sure, the new model, the S$3,488 SH761 shipping in April 2011, is no slouch. Within that light 1.6kg frame is a speedy Core i7 2620M CPU, 4GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics chip and a 640GB hard disk.
More importantly, on this 13.3-inch model, is a battery that packs no less than 6,200mAH of juice, and promises 5 hours of usage when run at the most taxing, maximum performance mode (under the Bapco MobileMark benchmark test). There’s also a screen that promises a “SuperFine” 1,366 x 768 pixels.
Yet, there is something missing here. The Fujitsu design looks a little dated these days when chiclet keyboards and large touchpads are the rage among new laptops like the Apple MacBook Pro, one of this Fujitsu laptop’s main rivals.
Even Lenovo Thinkpad laptops, which feature a decades-old and hardy design loved by corporate travellers, now come with chiclet keyboards. Fujitsu’s latest S (or SH) series is less than three years old and should have incorporated the newer designs favoured by users who now compare every new laptop with the MacBook series.
I’m afraid I’m not upgrading to the new Lifebooks from my existing S-series Lifebook, which I recently souped up with a solid state drive, and is running fast as lightning despite almost three years into the game.
Among the other Fujitsu releases today, what’s perhaps more interesting is the S$2,988 Lifebook NH751, which signals the company’s foray into gaming notebooks.
With a quad-core i7-2630QM CPU, 8GB of RAM, an Nvidia Gefore GT525M graphics chip and a 640GB hard disk under the hood, it should give gamers a powerful alternative to gaming notebooks such as Toshiba’s flashy Qosmio. Also, like its Toshiba counterpart, the Fujitsu machine is not really a laptop, as in you probably won’t like 3.7kg sitting on your lap for long.
Hey guys, I’m a Fujitsu fan as well – love my S6520, which I am typing on now and which is one excellent machine. I’m trying to find another 14-incher with a near-borderless screen and weighs like a 13-inch… but no one makes that any more, unfortunately.
I am a fujitsu fan. I bought the laptop from funan and their service is very good. I find it convenient and useful because the battery last for very long. Everytime I do my project with friends and their battery dies off fast but mine is runs for long. After I graduate, I will still use a fujitsu. Design is normal but I need a reliable machine. So far, it did not give me any problem.
Sadly, my next laptop most probably won’t be a Fujitsu as well. I’m using the same model as you, I think (S6520), and even without an SSD it runs like a champ. But Fujitsu laptops are really expensive, and lacking in the looks department.
They’re not even as durable as Fujitsu makes it out to be – already replaced my fan and the cover, which cracked on its own… I’m also starting to suspect that there’s something wrong with my speakers.