Fujitsu LifeBook P1510D Review by LAPTOP Magazine

We admit falling in love with the first Fujitsu P1510D when we tried it last summer, and this update only deepens our admiration for its blend of portability and usability. Now with a bit more internal memory (512MB) a lower price ($1,599), and the Tablet PC version of Windows XP built-in, the most portable micro-PC gets a smidgeon better. Excellent performance for the size, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi support, and an exceptionally well-designed compact keyboard layout make this our favorite ultra-ultra-light. Unfortunately, some earlier flaws remain unchanged.

Power up this 2.2-pound metallic gray clamshell and you're greeted with performance. The 1.2-GHz Pentium M and 4,200-rpm 30GB hard drive work quite well together to deliver snappy performance for program loading, processing, and window repositioning. You won't be crunching massive spreadsheets with this system, but all of the standard browsing and media playback operations run very comparable to machines with faster innards.

The unit runs warm on the underside, but not uncomfortably so. Hardcore road warriors will appreciate the 3.5 hours of rated life on the standard three-cell battery, but may want to invest in the $116 six-cell battery, which will provide up to seven hours of unplugged computing.

We're fairly impressed with Fujitsu's keyboard design for this small form factor. Shrunken, but not too cramped, the layout is comfortable, with large key faces; extended typing sessions are possible once your fingers get accustomed to the smaller scale. Space denies the presence of a keypad, but the pointing stick is more responsive than most. Fujitsu wisely includes click sensitivity on the pointing stick, so that you can activate a button, move the cursor, or even double click an icon without having to coordinate with the three action keys that sit below the keyboard.

The paperback design requires a more squashed display resolution of 1024 x 600, which is usable, but still a bit too fine for the 8.9-inch screen size. We prefer a lower, non-native resolution, and this screen scales down to these settings fairly well. As with earlier iterations, the P1510D's screen contrast and brightness are usable, but not impressive. The LCD tends to wash out in daylight and when viewed at an angle, but it is otherwise usable.

This convertible unit is not a fully compliant Tablet design, because the screen is touch sensitive. Standard Tablets actually uses a more complex arrangement of sensors planted in both the stylus and behind the LCD to provide a wide range of functions.

For the sake of weight and compactness, the P1510D offers a reasonable compromise. When you twist the LCD around on itself, a reversible latch secures it over the keyboard and the screen snaps automatically into Portrait orientation. The five Tablet launch keys on the lower right quadrant are generous and programmable.

The slim stylus fits into a pop-up receptacle on the side of the base. The P1510D records penstrokes as images, but it does have the components necessary to convert ink to text. Because this isn't a typical Tablet screen, it does not recognize stylus hovering. Nevertheless, the stylus works well for all drawing and inking tasks, and it handles the usual interface interactions without issue. As long as buyers don't expect the full range of Tablet functionality, the P1510D succeeds in making keyboardless computing viable in a tiny package. One of the advantages of a classic touchscreen over a standard Tablet is that this display responds to the touch of a finger, so that you don't even need to pop out the stylus to open and close programs or click on a Web link.

On top of its strong Tablet features, P1510D is also enterprise savvy. The fingerprint reader offers optimal security, and it recognizes finger swipes easily. The Atheros Wi-Fi chipset offers 802.11a/b/g connectivity, which makes the unit compatible with most wireless networks it will encounter, and the Atheros connectivity utility, while more complicated than the Windows XP wireless manager, handles multiple profiles and configurations very well.

Unfortunately, because the P1510D lacks a PC Card slot, you can't plug in a modem to tap into high-speed cellular networks available from Cingular, Sprint, or Verizon Wireless. However, some phones like the new BlackBerry 7130 can double as a broadband modem using a USB cable.

Overall, the P1510D packs a lot of punch in a versatile convertible you can toss it into a briefcase without a second thought. The necessarily small keyboard will challenge fast typers, but for moderate stretches of input, this model is a marvelous bargain.

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Fujitsu LifeBook P1510D

Now with the Tablet OS included, this already excellent convertible is the most usable tiny traveler you can buy.

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