Fujitsu LifeBook P7230 (Limited Pink Edition)

Fujitsu's LifeBook P7230 combines style, portability, and compactness. We tested the pink special edition model, but it also comes in black, which costs $30 less for the same configuration. At $1,679, this three-pound looker costs significantly less than competitors like the Sony VAIO TZ15ON but offers many of the same features, including a DVD burner and built-in webcam. However, you'll have to make some tradeoffs if you want to snatch up this affordable ultraportable. 

 

Light enough to carry around all day (and night), the 10.7 x 7.9 x 1.2-inch LifeBook P7230 is perfectly sized for an airline tray table or a cramped bus or train seat. It's also cute, thanks to the pink LCD cover and white base. The cramped 18mm keyboard (that's about 90 percent size) might not bother women with slimmer hands and fingers, but it may annoy those with bigger hands. Likewise, the touchpad is tiny, and the pinky-sized mouse buttons are not all that responsive. We would definitely recommend hooking up an external mouse for long computing sessions.

 

The P7230 features a 10.6-inch LED-lit Crystal View widescreen, which offered 1280 x 768-pixel resolution and a vibrant viewing experience. We weren't thrilled with the 3/4-inch bezel, which eats up too much screen real estate-a precious commodity for such a small system. Some users will have trouble with the tiny text and icons.

 

Centered on the upper rim of the screen is an improved 1.3-megapixel webcam and two built-in microphones. The videoconferencing quality was remarkably good through Skype, and under ambient office lighting, we appeared clear; although like most webcams, this one had a slight delay in registering movement.

 

Above the keyboard, the LifeBook P7230 has two stereo speakers. Our test unit's sound didn't work when we tried to play audio through a number of programs. After some troubleshooting with Fujitsu, we got it to work. The company explained that a default sound setting wasn't correct with the initial batch of production-level systems but that the issue had been fixed. Once we got the sound working, the speakers were just as we'd expect from an ultraportable: tinny with enough volume for personal use but not anything you'd want to listen to for long periods of time.

 

To the upper right of the keyboard are two quick-launch buttons: a programmable shortcut button that launches Internet Explorer as the default, and an Eco button that activates a special battery-saving mode. It reduces the screen's brightness and disables the optical drive, modem, wireless LAN, and FireWire port and promises to buy you at least an hour more life.

 

You get one FireWire and three USB 2.0 jacks well spaced around the chassis. A VGA output, PC Card slot, and a 3-in-1 media card reader are also on board. While we appreciate having a DVD burner in such a small system, the power jack is inconveniently located above the drive, so you'll have to be careful not to block the tray with the cord.

 

The P7230 LifeBook protects your data in a few ways: there's a fingerprint reader nestled between the mouse controls, as well as a shock-mounted hard drive and a TPM module. Too bad the hard drive itself is so small; you get only 40GB of storage at this price, when the $1,300 Averatec 1579 offers a 120GB drive.

 

Our pink limited edition model has similar components to the standard P7230, including a 1.2-GHz Intel Core Solo U1400 ultra-low-voltage processor. The system's PCMark05 score of 1,232 was a bit higher than its predecessor, but it's still about 500 points lower than competing ultraportables. If you want the same performance as the VAIO TZ series (starting at $2,199) and Portege R500 (starting at $1,999), you'll have to step up to a high configuration.

 

The P7230 can handle most productivity tasks but lacks the processing muscle to manage numerous Vista applications simultaneously. Clicking through NYTimes.com while running Skype, we noticed that the notebook had to work so hard that the fan seemed to have trouble keeping up, and the system got uncomfortably warm on our lap.

 

We don't expect much in the way of graphics on an ultraportable, and Intel's Graphics Media Accelerator 950 managed only 723 on 3DMark03. The 2.0 Windows Experience Index score is nothing to write home about, either.   

 

The standard six-cell battery lasted a solid 3 hours and 30 minutes on our DVD drain test, which should mean closer to five hours for regular productivity. And that's without engaging Eco mode. You also can opt for a six-cell modular bay battery ($129), which can keep the system running for three of four more hours.

 

Wireless performance was also strong, although we'd like to see 802.11n as an option. The LifeBook 7230's 802.11a/b/g radio managed 15.5 Mbps at 15 feet from our access point and 16.5 Mbps at 50 feet. Unfortunately, Fujitsu doesn't offer mobile broadband as an option, but you can always add a PC Card modem or use the built-in Bluetooth connection with your cell phone to get online. 

 

Fujitsu includes trial versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and CyberLink's media center for multimedia playback. The P7230 is backed with a one-year international limited warranty, which includes 24/7 technical support and unlimited online chat support. 

 

The pink edition of the Fujitsu P7230 offers a lot of endurance and features for the price, but power users will prefer the higher-end black model because of its speedier processor. Fujitsu inlcudes trial versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and Cyberlink's media center for multimedia playback. The P7230 is backed with a one-year international limited warranty, which includes 24/7 technical support and unlimited online chat support. 

 

The pink edition of the Fujitsu P7230 certainly offers a lot of endurance and features for the price, but power users will prefer a higher-end model.

 

NOTE: This is an updated review of the Fujitsu LifeBook P7230. Read the previous review here, and be sure to check out its photo gallery.

 

 

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