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 Fujitsu LifeBook N6010Supersized TV and PC in one. Price:
$2,399
The Fujitsu LifeBook N6010 features a huge black, silver, and gray frame that measures 15.9 x 11.6 inches, stands over 2 inches thick, and weighs more than 10 pounds, but Fujitsu has used every cubic inch of that frame to house an extremely impressive array of components.
First, there's the built-in TV tuner. You can use the S-Video input, composite audio/video inputs, or the coaxial cable TV dongle to route a TV signal into the system. Then you can use either the included wireless remote control or the TV/DVD activation buttons, DVD playback controls, and TV channel toggle buttons situated just above the keyboard to control the audio/video experience. TV and DVD playback were both excellent, and recording straight to the 100GB hard drive through the included copy of InterVideo WinDVR 5 was very easy. We loved kicking back to watch television on the system's bright 17-inch widescreen display. Its WXGA+ resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels pales in comparison to the WUXGA panels of other 17-inch laptop displays, but it still yields very crisp images. We edited digital photos on the system using Photoshop and each image looked terrific. Thanks to the N6010's high-powered 3.2-GHz Intel desktop Pentium 4 processor, it was able to rotate, crop, and otherwise edit our 4-megapixel test images without blinking. With a full gigabyte of DDR memory, the system also had no trouble multitasking. We were easily able to edit our digital photos while the N6010 simultaneously encoded a CD into high-bit-rate MP3s. PCMark04 was equally impressed with the system's performance, giving it a high score of 4339. However, applications loaded a bit slowly because of the slow hard drive: 4,200 rpm. If you can spare some capacity, you can opt for the 60GB 5,400-rpm drive Fujitsu offers as an option, a "downgrade" that cuts $120 off the price of the system. When it came to 3D gaming, the LifeBook N6010 didn't disappoint at all. After loading up Painkiller on the system, we were immediately impressed by the smooth motion of the gameplay at high detail levels. The system's 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor can take most of the credit for that. We weren't surprised to see this Fujitsu return a high 3DMark2001 score of 10998. Unlike most laptops, the LifeBook N6010's integrated stereo speakers didn't drag down the gaming experience. Embedded into the front panel of the base, the speakers offer surprisingly good sound. The 2-inch subwoofer pumps out much more bass than the average laptop can generate. Unfortunately, the sound system is forced to compete against the constant high-pitched wail of the two bottom-mounted fans, which run through a perpetual cycle of 1 minute on and 10 seconds off. They'd be less annoying if they just stayed on all the time. We have no complaints on the connectivity front, as the system offers a Gigabit Ethernet adapter and a tri-mode 802.11a/b/g wireless networking card. The LifeBook N6010 also features a Secure Digital/Memory Stick reader, a FireWire port, and four USB 2.0 ports. As a miniature movie studio, the N6010 should do just fine, thanks to its speedy 8X DVD burner, although it can't write to double-layer DVD+Rs. The system was able to play a movie for 1 hour and 44 minutes on battery power, which is a good runtime for a desktop replacement laptop. In all, the Fujitsu LifeBook N6010 makes a great entertainment system and has more than enough power to replace your desktop PC. Once you take Fujitsu up on its offer to extend the basic warranty to 2 years for $99 or to 3 years for $179, you should be very happy with your purchase as long as you can ignore those annoying fans. Compare Prices | Fujitsu LifeBook N6010 Specifications
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