Anyone Familiar with Fujitsu Laptops?

[Dan Hine]

Everyone,
I have seen these around a lot lately and after perusing their site it seems like I can get TON of performance and features for a relatively low cost. But are they worth it? Will they break on me in a week and give me headache after headache? Or do they rock!? Any input is greatly appreciated.
Dan Hine

 

[Kelley_B]

Fujitsu was(might still be) an outsource builder for Dell. So if Dell chooses them, then they can't be *that* bad. Hve you tried looking for consumer reviews at Cnet? or another consumer review website?

 

[Dan Hine]

Kelley,
Thanks for the input about Fujitsu's relationship (previous relationship?) with Dell. I tried CNET and consumerreview.com and found very little about these laptops. Anyone else have any ideas/opinions?
Dan Hine

 

[Kelley_B]

I remembered the exact model last night that Fujitsu made, it was Dell's ultra thin Latitude LT. They were nice Laptops as I deployed about 200 of them at a company I worked for. I would not hesitate to buy one, if the price is right of coarse.

 

[Dan Hine]

Thanks Kelley,
I'm currently looking at their Lifebook C series with the following specs...
Basics:
14.1" XGA TFT display
900mhz PIII
256MB RAM
8x DVD
Windows 2000 Pro
Extras:
ATI® RAGE Mobility™-P high-performance, low-power graphics controller and no-compromise performance in 3D acceleration
8MB integrated SDRAM for true color support at maximum display resolution
Simultaneous support for external monitor and internal display
Optical digital (SPDIF) out
Built-in 10/100 Base-Tx Ethernet
Four USB, IEEE 1394, S-video out, infrared (IrDA-compatible, 4 Mbps), enhanced parallel, external monitor, modem (RJ-11), line-in
All for the price of $1674. Anyone know of someone else that can match (beat?) that? If so, shoot it my way!

Thanks in advance,
Dan Hine

 

[John Chow]

dammit, just lost my really long detailed post.
Anyways gist of the matter is: what do you plan on using your computer for? Exclusive dvd player? Any gaming? Just internet stuff? How important is weight/size to you?
The main weakness in the Fujitsu laptop you posted the specs on is the video chipset. If you do want to play games and such, i recommend picking a laptop with either the ATI Mobility Radeon(much better than the one you mentioned), or perhaps a system with a nvidia chipset(i assume these are good, have no experience with).
Compaq 1700 might be something to consider. You do lose the IRDA (would you use this?), the S/PDIF out, and it only has 2 USB ports. It does use the ATI Radeon though. You could get a port replicator to gain S/PDIF functionality. The price is comparable, but not sure about the hard drive size in the Fujitsu system you mentioned.
It all depends on what you plan on using your laptop for. Mine is the only computer I use, so I like having the best video chipset available since I do like to play games on it.

 

[Dan Hine]

John,
It will mostly be for work. Running programs like autocad, LD Assistant, Flash, Swish, Excel, Outlook, etc. would be it's primary function. Of course I'll use it for web browsing as well and maybe a game or 2, but I am by no means a hardcore gamer and if I become one I'll be using my home PC for that.
I travel a lot for work and being without a computer on the road has just made certain things a big hassle. I also often have some downtime which is why I wanted a dvd player so I could watch the occasional movie.
Sound like I'll be ok?
Dan Hine

 

[John Chow]

Hmm, have you looked at this notebook in person? If you're going to be watching movies on it, you may want to check out the speakers on this model, although you probably plan on using headphones. I know some fujitsu notebooks i messed with in the past sounded pretty icky. Since this is a different series, it's probably totally different.
One thing I'd consider is if you do a lot of CAD style work on it, you may want to get a unit with an SXGA+ LCD panel. The resolution is 1400x1050 instead of 1024x768. They are more expensive of course

Also since you travel a lot, you may want a lighter machine. It looks like the C series is around 7 lbs, making it a bit heavier. I might as well pimp the 1700 series notebook again, since it is around 5 lbs and does have support for 1400x1050 resolution.
Anyways, if you're interested, you can find more info http://athome.compaq.com/default.asp...&page=families
Basically since you don't require the most powerful of computers or any specific capabilities, you should be pretty much ok with whatever you end up with.
Oh, and yes, maybe i'm biased, i work in laptop design for Compaq, but that also means i'm very familiar with them :p

 

[Dan Hine]

John,
Well, you're right about one thing. I didn't even think about it but yes, an SXGA display would be MUCH better. That will also help in my quest. Thanks a lot!
Dan Hine