Fujitsu Laptops and Windows XP

I received a notice from Fujitsu yesterday that we are fast approaching the point where you won’t be able to buy some Fujitsu laptops and Tablet PC/convertibles with Microsoft Windows XP anymore.

Affected laptops:
- Fujitsu LifeBook T4220 Tablet PC
- Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 Tablet PC
- Fujitsu LifeBook P7230 Notebook

On a sidenote, and it’s unrelated to Fujitsu dropping Windows XP from these models, from the online retailers that I looked at, these particular models could be reaching End-Of-Life (EOL) status. All three have pretty steep discounts (the T2010 can be found at Amazon.com for $1383 for instance, which is several hundred dollars off the original price).

It would make sense - the T4220 could be replaced by the Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 and the P7230 has the Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 as a replacement.

Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 Leaked

More and more information is being found about the Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (which was apparently leaked through a Virginia Tech bookstore website).

It’s a “convertible” Tablet PC / laptop (the LED-backlist display swivels around and lays down on the keyboard, turning it into a Tablet PC). Although it has a 13.3-inch widescreen display, it looks like it’s positioned to replace the Fujitsu LifeBook T4220 as the measurements and weight are fairly close.

Features:
- LED-Backlit Display
- Active Digitizer
- Intel Core 2 Duo 45nm CPU
- 2GB of DDR3 Memory running at 1066MHz
- Wireless - 802.11n functionality
- Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR

Measurements:
Width: 12.5 inches / 317.5 mm
Depth: 9.6 inches / 243.8 mm
Height: 1.4 inches / 35.6 mm
Weight: 4.4 pounds / 2 kg

Based on the bookstore website, it looks to be available sometime in July or August and at least for educational students, is priced at around $2000 USD.

Sources: - Virginia Tech Bookstore
- GottaBeMobile.com also has some information.
Thanks to Dan and Khanj for e-mailing this.

Triple Booting the Fujitsu U810

Well, somebody has managed to install and triple boot three very different operating systems on their 5.6-inch convertible Fujitsu LifeBook U810 (which is being replaced later this year by the Fujitsu LifeBook U2010).

Yes, three separate operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows Vista
- Linux (Ubuntu)
- Mac OS X

They mention getting the touchscreen working wit Linux (as well as Mac OS X) as well as issues such as wireless drivers.

They’ve also posted a video of the U810 in action.

Read: GottaBeMobile Forums
Video: YouTube

Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 Review (TabletPCReview.com)

TabletPCReview.com’s Tiffany Boggs published their official review of the Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 earlier today (they’ve published a user review in the past).

The Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 is a “convertible” 12.1-inch laptop that came out early last fall. It’s convertible in that the touchscreen display rotates around so that it can lay down flat on the keyboard, converting it into a Tablet PC form factor. The touchscreen display is an active digitizer.

The model reviewed is actually a newer model with integrated AT&T Broadband Connect HSPA mobile broadband. Outside of the integrated mobile broadband, it’s still the same (down to the Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7500 (1.06GHz) CPU.

Curiously, it is still running Windows XP Tablet Edition (although Vista options are available).

Tiffany did benchmark the AT&T mobile broadband if you are curious about the quality of service (obviously it varies depending on your area, but you can still get a feel for it).

Read: TabletPCReview.com

Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 and Hibernation / Battery Life

If you were wondering why your Fujitsu LifeBook P80180 was seeing a fairly rapid drain in battery life while it was hibernating (where your laptop writes everything to the hard drive and then powers everything else off - should be using little to no power whatosever), or at least the battery life when you turned it back on/resumed didn’t seem right, there are a couple of things you can do.

Craig over at GearBits called Fujitsu tech support and even went through the trouble of getting the systemboard replaced by Fujitsu before he tracked it down on his own.

Turns out it’s a couple of toggles set inside of Windows XP and the BIOS involving the ethernet port that was causing the problems.

Chances are this could be affecting other laptops (not just Fujitu’s) so you may want to head over to GearBits and read up on it.

The Solution: GearBits

Fujitsu U2010 Announced

Following several weeks where it seemed like the Fujitsu U810 / U1010 was being discontinued (which it turns out it was), the sequel to the 5.6-inch “convertible” (touchscreen that rotates and folds down to form a tablet) UMPC/netbook has been announced. It’s referred to, at least in Asian markets, as the Fujitsu U2010 (which could mean it will be branded the U820 or U910 in the US).

Among the updates over the U810 / U1010:
- Using Intel Atom CPU
- Change in keyboard - 6 rows instead of 5
- Built-in 3.5G and GPS Modules

It’s going to be launched in July, in Taiwan, with a price of NT$40,000 ($1295.34 - USD).

Not much else is known at this time. It’s clearly not going to be competing with the netbook / sub-notebook style devices because of the price.

Read: DigiTimes

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