Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 Review

Fujitsu has always been known as the company to go to if you are looking for a ultraportable notebook with excellent build quality and an amazing screen. The P8010 is a continuation of the ultraportable line with the latest Intel offerings and excellent battery life most have come to expect from Fujitsu. In this review we will see how well this new notebook stacks up against the long line of business notebooks before it.

Specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SL7100 LV (1.2GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
• Windows Vista Business
• 12.1" Crystal View Wide XGA display (1280x800)
• Built-in Webcam for Instant Messaging
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 2GB DDR2 667MHz SDRAM memory (Dual Channel; 1GB x 2)
• 120GB S-ATA 150, 5400 rpm hard drive
• Multinational2 56K3 V.90 modem and Gigabit Ethernet LAN
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11 a/b/g/draft-N)
• Integrated Bluetooth Wireless
• Dual-Layer Multi-Format DVD Writer
• Embedded TPM and Fingerprint Sensor
• U.S Keyboard (Spill-resistant)
• Main battery: Lithium ion (6-cell,7.2v 8700 mAh, 62Whr)
• AC Adapter: 60w (16v, 3.75A)
• Size: 11.1 x 8.25 x 1.1/1.6
• Weight: 2lbs 14.6oz (3lbs 10.1oz travel weight)
• One-year International Limited Warranty

Build and Design

The Fujitsu P8010 follows the same design elements of many other Fujitsu notebooks, in both paint scheme and overall body shape with older notebooks. From first glance it would be easy to tell that it is a Fujitsu notebook, although its feel doesn't seem up to par with older designs.

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The body of the Fujitsu P8010 has a great deal of flex, in the plastic palmrest, keyboard, and alloy bottom cover. The palmrest flexes inward between 3mm and 4mm on each side of the touchpad with moderate fingertip pressure. The keyboard support feels fairly weak, and gives the keyboard some bounce that makes it echo while typing. The bottom cover, while alloy instead of plastic, doesn't provide anywhere near the amount of rigidity you would expect from a business-grade Fujitsu notebook. It really feels as though Fujitsu skimped on many design elements to reduce the amount of material inside the notebook, and thus have a lower weight.

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Display

The LCD found on the P8010 is very bright, but has poor contrast and viewing angles. Colors are bright in a very narrow viewing angle, but quickly wash out if you tilt the screen forward or back by a small amount. Horizontal viewing angles are so shallow that it looks like a privacy screen.

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Screen protection from the thin plastic frame is questionable, as you don't get much distortion from pressing on the back of the screen, but the screen flexes much greater than I would like to see on a business notebook. Light pressure from lifting the screen from one corner instead of the center is enough to flex that side up almost an inch compared to the other side.

Perhaps the most frustrating problem with the screen on our review unit was an unacceptable amount of backlight bleed that made brightness levels vary across the surface of the screen.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the 12" Fujitsu P8010 is a compact style that some users may feel to be cramped the first time they start typing on it. Key size is smaller, and spacing is tighter than you would find with larger notebooks. Keyboard feedback is good, but the keyboard structure seems to float and bounce on the structure beneath it. Depending on areas of the keyboard you type on you will get a hollow tapping sound of the keyboard hitting the body frame.

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The touchpad is almost oddly large, being the same size you would find on a 15" notebook. It is even larger than what is on my ThinkPad T60. Sensitivity is perfect, and has all the customizable options you would ever want through the Synaptics control panel. The touchpad buttons are moderately sized with shallow feedback, and quite easy to trigger.

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Performance

Considering this notebook has a 1.2GHz Intel L7100 processor, it does perform quite well for most tasks. Most notebooks of this size normally have a 1.8" hard drive which really tends to bog a system down, but with a 2.5" drive you see none of this. Overall this system performs quite well considering it doesn't have the advantage of an SSD like the Lenovo X300.

Listed below are benchmarks that give you a better idea of how well this system compares against others in its category:

wPrime comparison results (lower score means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7100 @ 1.20GHz)	69 seconds
LG P300 (Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.4GHz)	32 seconds
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7100 @ 1.20GHz)	98 seconds
Apple MacBook Air (Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 @ 1.6GHz)	68 seconds
Asus Eee PC 701 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz)	200 seconds
Sony VAIO TZ (Intel Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76 seconds
Dell XPS M1330 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.20GHz)	38 seconds

PCMark05 is a benchmark that measures the overall system performance, so it considers the processor, hard drive, memory and OS as part of the mix.

PCMark05 benchmark results (higher scores are better)

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7100, Intel X3100)	3,044 PCMarks
LG P300 (2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	5,767 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7100, Intel X3100)	3,467 PCMarks
Apple MacBook Air (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7500, Intel X3100)	2,478 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

3DMark06 graphics comparison results (higher score meens better performance):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7100, Intel X3100)	544 3DMarks
LG P300 (2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	3,027 3DMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7100, Intel X3100)	475 3DMarks
Apple MacBook Air (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7500, Intel X3100)	502 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Toshiba Tecra M9 (2.20GHz Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA Quadro NVS 130M 128MB)	1,115 3DMarks
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	122 3DMarks
HP dv2500t (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,055 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune measures the storage performance of a PC:

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Speakers and Audio

Sound quality of the small speakers found on top of the keyboard bezel were perfect for a notebook of this size. They were loud enough to make it easy to watch a movie during a flight, or watch Youtube videos with clear audio. While they lacked almost all bass and lower midrange, they were also microscopic in size which is expected on a notebook this small. Headphone jack quality was fine, with clear, static-free audio.

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Ports and Features

Port selection on the Fujitsu P8010 was very nice, but in some ways felt outdated. The expansion card slot on this model is the older PC Card slot, instead of the newer Expresscard/54 or 34. Here is a quick tour of the ports:

Front: SD Card Reader, Wireless ON/OFF

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Back: CPU Exhaust

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Left: Kensington Lock Slot, AC Power, VGA, LAN, 2 USB, Firewire, Headphone/Mic

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Right: PC Card Slot, Optical Drive, 1 USB, Modem

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Heat and Noise

When operating under non-stressing conditions, the notebook operates very cool and quietly. Fans are either completely off or so quiet you have to stick your ear to the vent to realize it is on. Under more stressful activities like running the array of benchmarks, the fan noise is a bit louder, but still very quiet compared to many fullsize notebooks with fans at low speed.

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This notebook ranks at the top of the list for cool notebooks. Cool as in temperature, that is. Half of the time the keyboard and palmrest feel the same temperature as desk surface that it is sitting on. Even after the notebook has been left on for hours and ran a few benchmarks the surface barely warms up at all. Now compare this to other ultraportables like the MacBook Air, and it makes you wonder where all that battery juice is going (hand warmer or system life).

Battery

Battery life on the Fujitsu P8010 is near perfect with the included battery that does not even stick out the back of the notebook. With the notebook set to 60 percent brightness, power profile on "balanced," the system manages an easy 6 hours. This gives the user more than enough life for watching a full length movie on a flight using the internal DVD drive.

Conclusion

The Fujitsu P8010 is a great performer when it comes to battery life, system performance, and cool temperatures. When you look at the build quality and design, it's a completely different picture, that doesn't stack up against older Fujitsu business notebooks. Body and chassis flex is greater than we would expect from a notebook in this price range. If you can look past the build quality, it is an excellent notebook in terms of its capabilities.

Pros

• Decent system performance from a low voltage processor
• Internal DVD drive
• Operates very cool and quietly

Cons

• Build quality doesn't match the price
• Screen has poor contrast and viewing angles, as well as moderate backlight bleed

 

Hmm, seems Fujitsu isn't that concerned with build quality at all, what with these new models just reviewed?

 

Wow, those are really low temperatures. That's great. Does Fujitsu offer any type of WWAN on the P8010?

 

Thanks for the review.

Any idea what the size and weight are? Also the travel weight including PSU and power cables. From the photos the P8010 doesn't look very thin.

I deduce that the display has a standard (ie non-LED) backlight. Correct?

Fujitsu must be commended in getting over 6 hours out of the battery (which does have above-average capacity). The low voltage CPU must be a factor. The Samsung Q45 with a standard CPU can deliver over 5 hours.

Overall, this looks to be a model built down to a price with the CPU being the main feature which sets it aside from the crowd of 12.1" widescreen models.

John

 

Added the notebook weight and travel weight, and sizing.

About the display, I am not really sure on backlighting, although it could go either way. I really hope that a screen this bad is not LED backlit though.

 

My slightly older Fujitsu T2010 has a IPS screen, and it has great viewing angles. It is also the same size as the P8010 yet it has a full size keyboard. I wonder why they don't use them in the P8010. I was excited by this laptop when I first heard about it but have been let down by the reviews so far. It seems like it's been outclassed by the Thinkpad X300

 

Its a LED backlit screen, as were its predecessors, the P7120 and P7230.
Its a shame they removed the modular bay that was in their previous P series, swap out the DVD drive for another battery for even more battery life.

And still using PC-Card slots?

 

The T2010 is LED lit too but it's also pretty even backlit. I did expect much better quality screen on the P8010. Here are photos of the T2010 screen for comparison, as it may be a deciding factor for some people.

 

nice review, thx

 

I have been using a Lifebook P8010 for one week. It is my only computer at work. Just wish to add a few comments from my experience:

- Perhaps I am lucky but my notebook doesn't have any of the build quality issues mentioned in your review at all. The palmrest certainy doesn't flex 3mm or 4mm! In fact, I think the quality of my notebook is very good compared to my previous notebooks (Compaq, Sony and ThinkPad). Anyway, clearly Fujitsu should do something about the patchy quality.

- To me, the most disappointing aspect of the P8010 is that it is very, very thick by modern standards. I wouldn't want to be seen using this notebook next to Macbook Air and ThinkPad X300 users! On the other hand, it is probably thanks to this thickness that Fujitsu has managed to put in a huge battery and a 2.5-inch HDD.

 

I had been on the Fujitsu P series platform for 5 years before switching to a Sony TZ. About two years ago, I really think Fuitsu lost their way. Their design has been pitiful and they refuse to add options for leading-edge technology. It makes me sad, I really enjoyed the three or four Ps I had.

 

It seems Fujitsu is dropping the ball lately on build quality in an attempt to get more market share. The build quality of my A3130, while good, is not as high quality as my sister's Fujitsu from 4 years ago.

 

I just bought this notebook in Hong-Kong last week. This isn't my 1st Fujitsu that I bought and if you are thinking about buying a portable then don't buy this one. The speakers on this laptop are poor so I don't know how the review said they were good. If you compare these speakers with the speakers on the older Fujitsu P7010 you will see that these speakers sound like CR** compared to the ones in the older P7010 model. The screen while smaller on the P7010 also had better viewing angles and did not wash out like on this new oner. So far two steps back. The older Fujitsu P7010 also had a Compact Flash card reader which this one doesn't along with the SD Card reader so that is another step back on this one. The Keyboard flex on this laptop is by far worse then the older P7010 model. The whole laptop just feels flexible I installed a new Mtron Flash SSD in it and it still takes over 40-45 seconds to boot Windows Vista with 3Gb of RAM installed Programs boot faster with the SSD but computer startup is still slow.

What really ticked me the most about this computer was the flexible keyboard, weak speakers (Not to mention Sound quality ) and battery life isn't anything special. My Macbook lasts just as long if not longer

For $18,800 HKD I think I could have bought another computer which could have been better for me. Fujitsu's quality in this notebook is not like it used to be. If you open up the computer you will also notice that most parts in the computer are now sourced (OEM) where they used to be all made bu Fujitsu in Japan. The HDD in mine was made by Hiatchi in Thailand, Wifi was made in China, Batter was made in Taiwan, etc..

Last but not least the fan on this notebook is not quiet. It has this weird sound like it has a defected fan in it. If you put your ear close to the fan and listen to it you will hear it very well. That fan is not a smooth fan and if you are at home on a quiet now you will hear that sreaky fan which will drive you nuts because it just keeps on running and doesn't stop!. I went back to Fujitsu here in Taiwan and picked up 4 of their newer model laptops and all 4 have this same sound which is really irritating! I think Fujitsu will most likely have a recall one day on these fans. In fact they should recall all of these fans. My Macbook is by far quieter then this new Fujitsu that I just bought. I looked at 3 new P8010 fans at the Fujtsu shop and all of then had the same sound coming from the fans that even the engineers at Fujitsu were puzzeled when I brought this to their attention. They were surprised and also said that these fans were probably made in China and received a bad batch.

 

the older model built quality was much better then most of the newer ones especially the P series models

 

What other computers could you have bought? I think the alternatives are few.

Before buying my Lifebook P8010, my criteria were: (1) weight of 3 pounds or less, (2) "decent" performance, (3) built-in optical drive. Sony VAIO TZ would suffer from very sluggish performance due to ULV CPU and 1.8" HDD. Toshiba Portege woule have a 2.5" hard drive, but from the reviews I've read its performance wouldn't be much better than Sony TZ. ThinkPad X61 didn't have an optical drive. ThinkPad X300 was very attractive but simply way out of my budget. This is how I ended up buying the Lifebook P8010.

 

If weight is not a problem then the Acer 2920 seems like a much better buy for the money. The Fujitsu is about 50% more if not more then the Acer 2920. The Acer has a better screen, better built in Webcam,better processor for better performance, better specs as you can use an express card,better and more sturdy keyboard and by far better speakers for chatting usking Skype, MSN or even listening to music then the Fujitsu. The built quality is better on the new Acer 2920 then teh new P8010 though the Fujitsu looks more sleek and weighs less then the Acer2920 so unless the thing spends time on your lap then it should make no difference as to the weight. Anything less I just use my PDA for the quick stuff.

I bought the Fujtsu last week in Hong-Kong but if I were to be given a second chance I would get the Acer 2920 over this model that I purchased. If I were to spend a few more bucks then I would get the ThinkPad X300

 

abandoning the media bay battery option was a HUGE mistake. come on fujitsu! the p8010 is supposed to be step forward not a step backward.

 

Wow it is really too bad about the build quality and the screen. The notebook looks fabulous otherwise.. with the light weight, great battery life, and especially the cool temps. Maybe in a few years Fujitsu will get it together.

 

Our office has bought two P8010 notebooks and neither of them has any build quality problems. I have used notebook computers for 8 years and I know what quality problems are like.

If you are really interested in the P8010 but only put off by the quality issues, probably the best solution is to physically go into a shop and thoroughly examine the notebook before you pay.

 

lack of media bay on the p8010 is a show stopper for me. better luck next time fujitsu. the lenovo x300 has one and when they release the non-ssd version, i'll be first in line.

 

As far as I know, the ThinkPad X300 doesn't have a "media bay" in the traditional sense either. You need a screwdriver to remove the DVD drive. I read a review somewhere that Lenovo abandoned the media bay in order to make the X300 as thin as it is.

 

its a single screw holding in the module. it's a media bay as far as i'm concerned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bD1qXfmnfg

as soon as they release a non-ssd x300, i'm all over it.