The laptop for guys who build their own desktops.
Written: Aug 21 '03 (Updated Aug 22 '03)
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Pros: Perfect size, beautiful appearance, does everything, extremely reliable, no annoying "built in features".
Cons: Relatively few dealers. Screen color can be a little washed out.
The Bottom Line: If you need a laptop that really works, looks good, is lighter, smaller, cheaper, and more reliable than most - then this is your baby.
If not - you're weird.
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| tad29's Full Review: Fujitsu LIFEBOOK E7110 (FPCM70614) PC Notebook |
First let me clarify which computer I'm reviewing here. The specs are: Fujitsu e7110 with 15" screen running 1400 x 1050, ATI Radeon 7500 with 32 MB of RAM, a P4-M 1.8 GHz, 512MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, built in wireless 802.11b, 2 USB1.1 ports, PS/2 connector, NIC, S-Video out, infra-red, monitor out, 1 serial port, 1 parallel port, CD-RW/DVD, mic input, audio out, IEEE1394 (4 pin), 2 PCMCIA slots, a modem, wireless infra-red mouse, and an external USB 3.5" floppy drive.
I purchased this laptop brand new from the Fujitsu web site back in October of 2002 after going through 6 months of eBay PreSale nightmares (plural) trying to get a good deal on other laptops. I finally decided that it was worth the money to buy a laptop that was what I really wanted, not just what was on sale at the time, so I turned to Fujitsu. I configured the computer to my desires instead of purchasing one of the standard builds, so please understand if my specs vary a bit from what this web page is claiming the machine has.
Now a bit of my computer philosophy: I hate pre-built machines. I have never used a computer that came pre-loaded with software and been happy with how it worked. They will invariably end up crashing, running slow, and developing conflicts with all the new software that I try to install. I like a computer that has only the software that I need on it, and this is rarely what the computer vendors decide to install. Unfortunately this situation is impossible to avoid if you purchase a name brand laptop, including Fujitsu.
As a result one of the most important requirements I demand of a laptop is good hardware/software support from the manufacturer. When I got this computer (yes - everything came in the box, was easy to use, etc.) the first thing I did was completely erase the hard drive and install a clean version of WinXP Pro. This can be scary on a laptop because finding drivers for all the weird little bits of hardware laptops invariably have can be difficult or impossible. I was happy to discover that aside from the recovery image that Fujitsu includes on the hard drive (in a seperate partition), they provide a bunch of CDs that have all the drivers necessary to get the laptop up and running. In fact, the CDs even had instructions on the steps necessary for proper driver installation. As a result the WinXP install went smoothly, and when I was done I had a new laptop with absolutely no programs installed and every system device working perfectly. AWESOME!
Perhaps now is a good time to talk about those system devices. A pet peeve of mine is the tendency for laptop builders to include strange hardware devices that are supposed to improve the computer's usability. Stuff like Sony's "Jog Dial", or Toshiba's exposed buttons for power-off CD playing, etc. I personally find that I never use these buttons, and they end up being an ugly addition that requires yet another set of drivers and software that ends up slowing the computer down.
Does the Fujitsu e-series have such hardware? Yes, but very little. It has a rocker button in-between the touch pad "mouse" buttons that acts like a mouse scroll wheel. It also has a row of buttons above the keyboard that can be used for launching programs of your choice and for boot-up security passwords. I have found both of these hardware additions to be useful and unobtrusive.
So what about looks? This laptop looks great. It is mostly silver with a bit of a deep slate blue color. It's very stylish in my opinion - not like a squashed jelly been or an ugly black brick - it has clean edges, sharp lines, and it's very thin. I have had numerous comments about its looks from people who have never seen anything like it. It's unique and very cool.
Yeah, yeah you say - but how does it run? It runs like a champ. I don't have a desktop right now, so this laptop does it all for me - and believe me when I say I use this computer. I use it all day, every day. My work consists of CAD research and software development. This laptop runs some of the heaviest CAD packages without a whimper (UG, and Alias|AutoStudio). It handles Quake III without trouble, but I have found that video card is too slow to run Unreal or Tron 2.0 up to speed (a real bummer for me). But we all know that laptops are not 3D gaming machines anyway, right? I also use this computer for non-linear video editing using Adobe Premier and TMPGenc. It has spent many nights chugging away at a video I'm making without any trouble. It runs any program I send at it without trouble, and with 512 MB of ram I can have all of them open at once and it still reacts with respectable speed.
As for media, I have found that having a CD burner is a necessity these days and this one works well. The USB floppy has been great as well. I don't use it often, but it's a lifesaver when I do. It comes in especially handy when I need to get files on another computer that also doesn't have a floppy. I just yank it out of my computer and plug it into my buddy's. No power cords required. The wireless mouse is one feature that I've never really used. I prefer an optical mouse with a wire and no batteries, so that's what's in my case while the wireless mouse sits at home.
Battery life on this machine is about an average of 2 hours. Of course that varies depending on whether I'm rendering video or typing a word document.
The resolution of 1400 x 1050 is perfect for a 15" screen. I looked at the Sony with a 16" running 1600 x 1200 and found that everything was just too small to read. And if you lower the resolution everything gets blurry. On this laptop, 1400 x 1050 is perfect - I can fit a lot of stuff on the screen, and still read everything too.
I really love this laptop. It does everything I want it to do, it's unique, it looks good, it's not too big, not too heavy, and you can get them for great prices brand new. Did I mention price yet? At the time that I bought this computer a similarly spec'd Dell cost $400 more, weighed 2 lbs. more, and was an inch thicker. Looking at Fujitsu's web site recently they are offering the same machine with the new Intel Pentium-M processor (faster and twice the battery life) at prices around $1600 (much less than what I paid). Amazing!
I have not had any trouble with this machine yet. I have used every feature it offers except the serial port and the modem with great success. (I simply haven't used the serial port or the modem yet). Nothing is broken, it just works great. And this is while I carry it with me everywhere. Truly impressive. I have a friend with an identical machine. He broke one of the "mouse" buttons on his laptop and had to send it away for service. It can back promptly with no issues.
So what are the bad parts? The screen colors are little washed out. I never notice this really. Before I had this machine I was using a small Sony laptop that had a screen with amazing color depth. This screen is not so vivid, but it's certainly good enough. At the bottom of the screen the light level is not constant and has "hot spots" that are brighter than other spots. I only notice this when the screen is black while booting up, but it still annoys me. Another issue is that the speakers will rattle and buzz when the volume is turned up all the way. This has never been an issue for me because I typically use headphones when listening to music or other sounds.
Last but not least I have to address the issue of using this laptop with the software as it comes from the factory. I personally haven't done that, but my friend with the identical machine has and is perfectly content with the results. In fact his machine sometimes runs faster than mine. Hmmm... I can only assume that Fujitsu has done as well at setting up their software as they have their hardware.
So there you have it. A laptop that is fast and runs everything, looks cool, is small and light weight, and currently is reasonable priced. I love it!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2100.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
tad29
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Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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