First Look By Garnet R. Chaney. Review prepared on the U810
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The Fujitsu U810 Lifebook Ultra Mobile Personal Computer is one of the smallest UMPC's to include a reasonably useful built-in keyboard. The machine can be used like a small clamshell style notebook, or the screen can swivel so it can be used like a tablet pc. The touch sensitive screen responds reasonable well to finger pointing, and also includes a stylus. |
This is the first windows compatible computer that I am able to put in the front pocket of my kaki pants. My neighbor was quite impressed when I said to him very seriously, "I think I need to get a concealed carry permit", and then pulled this machine out of my pocket. |
Some first look comments:
- 40GB hard drive. Machine ships with Vista, and includes real restore CD roms, instead of the horrible restore partition that most laptops are now shipping with. After installing Microsoft Office Word, Excel, OneNote, Dreamweaver, there will still be about 13gb of free disk space.
- hard drive is easily accessible from four screws on the bottom of the unit. The Lifebook U810 often ships with a Toshiba MK4009GAL drive, which has a ZIF connector.
- The machine ships with 1GB of ram, which is not easily accessible and does not appear to be upgradeable.
- Includes Atheros wifi
- Includes ethernet and vga ports only on a supplied dongle
- No preinstalled choice of trial anti-virus software
- Includes slots for both SD memory and compact flash memory.
- An SD card can be used to expand memory for use with Vista's ReadyBoost technology. At this time it is not obvious how much of an improvement this gives. Since there is no cover for the SD slot, and no dummy SD card is supplied, it is good to at least buy a cheap SD card to put in the slot to keep any foreign objects from finding their way into the machine from an empty slot.
- Battery life seems impressive. After a few minutes of use, the machine reports that it may have up to 5 hours of life available. I have not yet tried to use it totally portable for a long period of time.
- Alps touch point is mounted on the right, just below the screen when the machine is used in clamshell mode. The buttons for the mouse are on the opposite side, at the left just below the screen. Using the machine in bed, with the screen at a 90 degree angle causes the screen to be a bit in the way of the mouse buttons.
Notable omissions:
- no soft carrying case included. A thin leather fitted soft slip case would have been a very nice addition.
- No built in cdrom drive. Is not shipped with an external cdrom drive.
Keyboard
The biggest area of compromise in the UMPC space is the keyboard, and the Fujitsu U810 is no exception. The smallest machine to support a no compromise keyboard seems to have been the Toshiba Libretto U105, but that machine was only in production for about 4 brief months at the start of 2006. That Libretto is occassionally available on ebay for about $1000 in January 2008, compared with an original selling price of about $1400. So used Librettos are currently more expensive than the Fujitsu UMPC.
The Lifebook U810 keyboard follows qwerty layout with real keys, but some keys are rearranged, and several keys such as tab, cursor keys, caps lock, function keys, insert, and delete, are only available as a FN+ another key combination. Page Up and Page Down are not directly available on the keyboard. The machine does not appear to ship with any key reassignment software. The keyboard only has a shift key on the left hand side. The keys appear to be mounted on a very thin and flexible material, there is considerable flexing of the keyboard while typing.
Having the ESC key to the immediate left of the 1 key has caused a lot of problems typing in the text area of this wiki page. Attempts to type things like model numbers, U810, is frequently resulting in accidentally pressing the escape key instead of the 1 key, even while typing this paragraph about the problem. If you hit the escape key while typing in a text area, IE erases your edits. It is then necessary to stop and right click and select undo from the popup menu.
In practice it is also hard to remember to always press the FN key at the same time as the cursor keys. The FN key does not appear able to lock. I am a two-four finger touch typist, but I'm also having to spend a lot of time looking for the punctuation that is not above the numerals.
Earlier tonight I wrote a simple BASH script to monitor this confluence wiki, and restart it if the JVM crashes. It wasnt too frustrating to do that, but writing this longer article has been more frustrating. You probably don't want to depend on this lifebook as your main computing and writing platform.
Specs
| Key Specifications | ||
| Processor | Intel^®^ Ultra Mobile platform 2007 - Intel^®^ Processor A110 (800MHz, 512KB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB) - Intel^®^ 945GU Express Chipset - Intel^®^ ICH7U I/O Controller Hub |
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| Memory | 1GB DDR2 400MHz | |
| Display | LCD | 5.6-inch Crystal View WSVGA, 1024 x 600 pixels, Touch screen |
| Video Controller | Integrated Intel^®^ Graphics with 3D Accelerator | |
| Digitzer | Passive Touch Screen | |
| Hard Drive2 | 40 GB, 1.8-inch PATA Ultra DMA 100 (4200rpm), S.M.A.R.T. support | |
| Audio | RealTek ALC262 HD audio codec with built-in digital microphone | |
| Communication | Realtek 8101L 100Base Ethernet | |
| Wireless Communication |
Bluetooth^®^ v2.0, , Atheros Super AG^®^ 802.11ABG wireless connection with dual antenna | |
| User Interface | Keyboard with Glide Point: 56 key, 14mm key pitch, 1.3mm key stroke; Left click and right click buttons; Fingerprint Sensor; Integrated Camera, 0.3MP (640 x 480 resolution) |
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| Connector Interface | USB 2.0 x 1, VGA (external display) and RJ45 (LAN) via LAN/VGA adapter connector, Audio-in, Audio-out, Power Adapter DC-in, VGA/Lan Adapter External cable for connection to RJ45 (LAN), VGA (external display) |
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| Card Slots | 1 x Type I/II CF Card slot 1 x Secure Digital (SD) Card Reader |
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| Security | User and supervisor BIOS password3, Boot Sector Write Prevention, Fingerprint Sensor, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) | |
| Battery Life1 | Lithium ion; 4-cells, 7.2V, 5200mAh; rated up to 5.5 hours | |
| AC Adapter | Input AC 100~240V, Output DC 16V 40W, 4.22A | |
| Dimensions and Weight | 6.73" (W) x 5.24"~6" (D) x 1.04~1.26" (H) (with the 4-cell battery) Approx. 1.56 lbs. with 4 cell battery |
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| Operating Temperature | 41°F to 95°F/5°C to 35°C (ambient temperature); 20% to 85% relative humidity, non-condensing | |
| Non-operating Temperature | 5°F to 140°F/-15°C to 60°C, 8% to 85% relative humidity, non-condensing |
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| Key Accessories | Docking Cradle Connector Interface: USB 2.0 x 4, VGA (external display), RJ45 (LAN), Power Adapter DC-in |
Accessories for the U810 Lifebook
Unfortunately the fujitsu website doesn't show any accessories yet. The batteries page is blank.
Recommended options include:
- U810 Docking Cradle
- Main Lithium ion Battery
- Digital Battery Charger
- Auto/Air Adapter
- Screen Protectors (6 pack)
Buying the unit from Fujitsu website allows customization to include the docking cradle or battery for an additional $80 each. A later step in the ordering process then offers these items for $99 each. The Fujitsu shopping site doesn't inspire much confidence.
LIFEBOOK U810,GENUINE WINDOWS VISTA BUSINESS,
INTEL A110,5.6 WSVGA CV,WEBCAM,FINGERPRINT SENSOR,1GB,1 YEAR,40GB,10/100 LAN,ATHEROS WLAN(ABG),BLUETOOTH,DOCKING CRADLE,XTRA 4 CELL BATTERY (A3F0H10004810002)
Some special offers include:
Special Offers
Free 4-Month Blockbuster Total Access with the purchase of a New LifeBook Notebook or Tablet PC
Free Creative HS-600 Headset with a new LifeBook Notebook or Tablet PC Purchase
As low as $44 per month* with the Fujitsu leasing program
Summary
After 48 hours of ownership, most spent installing software, and running windows updates...
This Fujitsu Lifebook U810 computer was usable for editing the first drafts of this wiki page. I frequently find myself needing two laptops, it is nice to work with two screens available. So for a long time I have carried a Libretto and a fuller size laptop everywhere. But with over two years of daily travel logged on my Libretto, it is tired and ready for a replacement. I used to use my Libretto as my primary email machine, and also keep it up to date with all the various development software that I use. Since I've migrated all those functions to an HP tablet PC, I don't really see bringing them back to the Fujitsu.
I am still conflicted about whether to keep the Fujitsu, or take advantage of the (just hit the escape key again and lost this last paragraph, had to go for the undo, then mistyped the ending paren due to expecting the right shift which wasn't there) 14 day return policy at Frys. I would like to keep this machine, in order to help encourage the manufacturers to make more machines like this one, and the stores to carry it. I think with a little bit lighter duty, this machine will be fine.
The machine currently represents much less of a compromise compared to the Sony UX, the OQO, the Samsung UMPC, and others. I think keeping this machine as an ebook reader, web browser, todo list keeper, and light duty web editor, and grab to carry everywhere just in case, will be just fine.