For Advanced User Only
Written: Apr 21 '05
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Pros: Compact size. Touchscreen. Widescreen. Quickpoint mouse, like IBM. Seperate battery display.
Cons: Runs hot. Main battery duration. No LCD display. Quickpoint mouse. Lousy speakers. Needs all accessories.
The Bottom Line: I would get it if you have the money and necessity for it, compactness, lightness, and touchscreen with no CD-ROM: good as a 2nd laptop.
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| psychoart's Full Review: Fujitsu LifeBook P1120 (FPCM20101) PC Notebook |
If you are looking for performance, this is not the laptop to get. You might think that 800 Mhz is sufficient. You might be right, but you are wrong if you compare it to a regular Intel chip such as a Pentium III. I got a Compaq Presario running 766 Mhz, and it feels even faster than the P1120. As you may already know, the P1120 has a Crusoe chip.
If you want something compact, very compact with a quickpoint mouse, light, as light as 2.1 lbs, and with a touchscreen, look no further because this is the only laptop in the market that has one.
How well is the laptop? It runs, and it's adequate. What is adequate? It just works, but it's no muscle in speed. Since the laptop is slow, don't expect quick response when you tap in the touchscreen that is running on Window Xp with 256 RAM. In fact, Window XP only detects 245 RAM. That is REAL trouble when you have to boot up from CD-ROM that requires a minimum of 256 RAM. How problematic is it? Let's just say that even Partition Magic 8.0 will not boot up from CD-ROM!!! You'll have to go back to floppy drive setup. Vive DOS again.
Why do I say that this laptop is for advanced user? Well, if something goes wrong with Window XP, you'll have to either reinstall Windows XP fresh, or reinstall Windows as it has been previously. However, if somehow you mess up the C drive, made it unhidden and not NTFS, or that your D drive is not FAT16 and you've lost the original copy of the system, or that you may have another drive beside C and D, there is no way you can make the computer works unless you've already clone your hard-drive via an external usb hard-drive or any other mean! Of course, you can boot up from CD-ROM, but not all CD-ROM are detectable through the USB. Any original Windows XP install Cds or floppy disks will not work because it can detect 256 RAM properly. Even if you have Partition Magic 8.0 boot CD-ROM, it won't work because you have the problem of the RAM detection as previously explained. Fujitsu can repair it for you, but for about half the price of an new unit. The safe way for protection is to clone the hard-drive before use. But that's another $120 for a laptop hard-drive, and an external enclosure, if you can find it that cheap with the appropriate software for cloning.
Furthermore, this unit (i.e. P1120) runs quasi-hot. Well, not really hot to a point where you can cook an egg, but so warm that you don't want to put it near your body = no lap top. To add to it, the keyboard also feels hot/warm = annoying. There are solutions, and you'll need to get Fujitsu accessories, of course. You'll need a case anyway to protect your investment (if that really is one, please let me know). For the hot keyboard, you can get Fujitsu skin keyboard that will also protect from dirts and small spills. You will also need an extra stylus because the case will block the stylus that comes out on the top right of the screen. You will need the extra stylus anyway since the stylus that comes originally with the P1120 is too thin and light for confortable prolonged usage.
There's a display underneath the screen that shows the battery level, if there's a direct power supply plugged in, and if the hard-drive is working or not. It's pretty neat, but it's not LCD and no light.
The integrated speakers are just plain lousy. It's just not made for listening music. It's just good for error sounds from the computer system. Even my Gameboy SP has much better sound, and I mean literally 10 times better. So don't expect much out of it, period.
The graphics are sometimes astounding: no vertical or horizontal lines. I play some anime episode straight out from the net, and the colors are sublime. However, speed sucks. If you really have to work with it, make sure that you don't multitask while watching your episode on the P1120.
The main battery that comes with the P1120 doesn't have enough duration, about 3 hours or less. You'll need (again) to spend extra money on the extended battery that should double the time of the regular battery, about 6 hours, which is much better. Trust me, when you are busy, 3 hours is just not enough. For instance, you do something for 20 minutes, you got back to your laptop for 10 minutes, and you go back to do the thing that you've done before: 1 hour has already passed, and you might have about 60% of battery left! Yes, you can start scratching your head.
Another recommendation is to get a USB trackball. I wish that some company made retractable micro trackball, but that doesn't exist yet. I recommend it because the quickpoint mouse that is integrated in the keyboard is not as smooth as you would expect it to be like an IBM. It will scratch your finger skin to a point that you don't want to use it. Even with the skin keyboard, it's just merely adequate to protect yourself from scratching your skin. I recommend trackball because I think it's better than regular mouse, no arthritis.
In all, if you want to run this computer safely and confortably, it will cost you $1100 for the laptop new, plus $80 for the case, $40 for the keyboard skin, $10 for the extra stylus, $120 for the high capacity battery, $120 for external USB backup hard-drive, and possibly $70 for cloning software: a total of approximately $1500 with no tax and shipping included, low side. For newbie???
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1100
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
RAM: 256
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
psychoart
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Reviews written: 2
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