Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet PC First Look Review (Video)

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Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet PC First Look Review (Video)

When Fujitsu announced the LifeBook U810 mini Tablet PC, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it and guess what, we just got one in our office. This tiny tablet is amazing. I can't say it would be a permanent replacement to a full-size tablet or notebook, but it is a great travel companion. It runs on Intel's A110 processor and has a 40GB hard drive. The 5.6-inch WSVGA display is small, but still up to Fujitsu's standards, meaning it looks great.

Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet PC in all its glory. (view large image)

Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet PC specs as reviewed (price as tested $1,099)

• Intel Processor A110 800MHz
• Intel 945GU Express Chipset
• Windows Vista Business with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• 5.6&quot; WSVGA Crystal View display with passive touch screen
• 1GB DDR2 400MHz SDRAM memory
• 40GB (4200 rpm) hard drive
• 10/100 Ethernet (with included cable)
• Atheros Super AG Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g)
• Integrated Bluetooth wireless
• Integrated Fingerprint Sensor and embedded TPM
• 1 x USB
• SD slot
• Type I/II Compact Flash slot
• Microphone and headphone jack
• Main battery: 4-cell Lithium-Ion (5200 mAh, rated up to 5.5 hours)
• Dimensions: 6.73”(W) x 6”(D) x 1.26”(H)
• Weight: 1.8lbs with 4-cell battery
• One-year International Limited Warranty

Design and Build

The U810 is a solid little tablet. The chassis is sturdy and I didn't notice any flex. The mini-keyboard has a little flex, which reminded me of the LifeBook T2010. After a while though you wouldn't want to type on this keyboard because it really is too small. Fujitsu planned out every inch of this design. There is a pointing stick on the right corner and the mouse buttons on the left, just incase you don't want to use the pen or touchscreen.

The U810 in tablet mode with pen. (view large image)

It takes awhile to get used to the mouse, but the passive touchscreen isn't always as responsive as I wish. Sometimes your finger doesn't register on the screen unless you push hard, so I opted to use the pen, which let me navigate faster. The 5.6&quot; screen isn't that hard to read and the display is great. It has nice bold vivid colors, with little graininess. I wouldn't want to work on this all day, but for those one-day business trips it would be perfect.

The U810 keyboard. (view large image)

Since the keyboard is so small some of the keys are combined like the Home, Tab, Page-up and Page-down. It isn't a problem though. The U810 converts into tablet mode easily thanks to its solid hinge and the screen automatically changes orientation. It really is small enough to put in a purse or small case and since it only weighs around 1.8lbs with the battery, I am sure you won't notice the weight. It has a glossy gunmetal colored lid, which hides dirt well and black suede patches on the bottom to reduce heat, a Fujitsu trademark.

Bottom view of the U810 with nice suede patches. (view large image)

Performance

The U810 sports Intel's A110 800MHz processor. It has 1GB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. Not to bad for such a tiny tablet, but I think I would rather have Windows XP Tablet PC Edition instead of Vista. Don't get me wrong Vista works fine on the U810, but you would gain more performance from Windows XP, which is an option.

Super Pi

In the below results of Super Pi, where the processor is timed in calculating Pi to 2 million digits: The U810 didn't do bad at all considering it's built on a different platform then the rest of the notebooks. Remember it has a different processor, small hard drive and it's running Vista.

Notebook	Time to Calculate Pi to 2 Million Digits
Fujitsu LifeBook U810 (800MHz Intel A110)	6m 22s
Fujitsu T2010 (1.2GHz ULV Core 2 Duo)	1m 40s
Gateway C-140x (2GHz Core 2 Duo)	58s
HP Compaq 2710p (1.2GHz ULV Core 2 Duo)	1m 39s
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 10s
Fujitsu LifeBook T4220 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo)	54s
Gateway E-155C (1.06GHz ULV Core 2 Duo)	1m 58s
LG C1 (1.2GHz Intel Core Duo)	1m 49s
Toshiba R400 (1.2GHz ULV Core Duo)	2m 10s
Asus R1F (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 20s
Lenovo ThinkPad X60t (1.66GHz LV Core Duo)	1m 24s
IBM ThinkPad X41t (1.5GHz LV Pentium M)	2m 02s
HP TC4400 Tablet PC (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 13s
Dell Latitude D420 (1.06GHz Core Solo ULV)	2m 11s

 

It takes over a minute to boot-up. I almost forgot I turned it on until I heard it beep. I haven't ran any benchmark tests yet except Super Pi and probably won't run to many since we know this isn't made to be some high-performance gaming tablet. There will be a few tests covered in the full review to come next week, so stay tuned for those results. I will be testing out Fujitsu's battery claim of 5.5 hours also. I hope it lasts that long and so far it seems pretty close.

First Impressions

Overall I am impressed with the U810. It has a nice array of features including one USB 2.0, docking connector, headphone jack, microphone jack, a Type I/II Compact Flash slot and Smart Card slot. It also has the option of External monitor/VGA and Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45) on the included cable. All of this is packed into such a small tablet. Although I do wish it had just one more USB port. It even has nice wireless options including Atheros Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g and BlueTooth 2.0.

Front view of the U810. (view large image)

Right side view of the ports. (view large image)

Left side view of the ports. (view large image)

Back view of the U810. (view large image)

View of the U810 lid. (view large image)

The U810 connected to the Internet with no problems, but it does have poor signal strength in some areas. The Bluetooth comes in handy if you want to connect a mouse, which some users will because this tablet is so small. It also has an included VGA plug, so you can connect it to another monitor as well. The U810 is a great travel companion and could be used for those important presentations. The battery life seems good so far, but I will be testing it under other conditions in my full review. So check back next week to see more pictures and benchmarks on this tiny wonder. It has been a big hit in our office so far!

Video

Check out our hands-on video of the LifeBook U810 in action.

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Thanks for this review.

I love the SuperPi result. It puts the results for other notebooks into context.

Is the power supply small as well, or have they provided a big brick?

John

 

The power brick is actually normal size. It looks like your standard notebook power supply. It is funny because it is almost bigger then the U810.

 

I'd love to hear what the battery life is like on this thing for usage as web surfing. I like the idea of this better than the Samsung Q1 to be honest, even if that keyboard is tiny, you can still peck and type pretty easily.

 

Talk about MINI ME. Interesting little toy.

 

Battery life has been good so far. Fujitsu claims 5.5 hours, but I haven't seen those results yet. I am going to do further testing and see how the battery life changes in different performance modes. It only took a little less than 2 hours to charge the battery to 100 percent, but it still had 10 percent remaining. On balanced settings it looks as though you could pull 5 hours from this tablet.

 

Really, 6 mins 22 secs? Wow!

Anyway, nice hands-on!

 

Such a cool little device. I don't know if I'd be more interested in this or the little Sony UX for a potable secondary device, but the tablet function and lower price of the Fujitsu are great.

 

great review.

btw, I got rid of my tx1000 because it was disappointing to use as a tablet and got u810 instead

 

Nice Preview

I vision these Ultra mobile notebooks being as common as the Cell phones in the Future. Eventually RIM will have to launch an Ultra Mobile Blackberry PC, and I'm sure Apple is already working on a sleek super sexy model of its own (hopefully with a Walcom screen!).

 

I really want one. I use my Quad Core desktop 90% of the time. This would be nice for at school, and at work You could even load on some old RTS games. Starcraft FTW!!! Red Alert 2, ect...

 

Those would be microscopic units moving around.

 

Fujitsu could have utililized the available space and put a bigger screen. I would have liked to see handwriting recognition and ease of writing on a non-digitized screen in the video instead of physical descriptions.

 

two questions:
does anyone know where to get the dongle to be able to hook this to a land internet connection in case there is no wireless service available?

also, has anyone played POKER on it, like poker stars or full tilt??

 

Great!!
I really wanna get this!!