Fujitsu LifeBook P1610

Proud road warriors aren't used to having their mobile gear called "cute" by passersby. Yet that is exactly what we heard when we took the new Fujitsu LifeBook P1610 out for a spin. As with any super ultraportable, this itsy-bitsy Tablet makes some sacrifices for the size, but it's so small and light, the tradeoffs are worth it. Even the AC power brick is only slightly larger than your palm. The P1610 is the most versatile and refined Fujitsu munchkin-esque notebook we have used.
 
When you pop the top of the 2.2-pound P1610, you see a black-and-silver interior with an 8.9-inch swiveling screen. Our configuration came loaded with a Core Solo CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive, all of which launched everything quickly while supplying enough horsepower to allow for multiple open windows without much of a slowdown. It also included Windows XP Professional, but Fujitsu now offers this system with Vista Business preinstalled.
 
We were disappointed with the clamshell mechanics of the unit, however. The reversible latch seems only to sit, rather than lock into, its slot, so there is a looseness and a shimmy to the lid in both closed and Tablet modes.
 
What the P1610 lacks in the latch department, though, it makes up for with its keyboard. Making the most of its 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.5-inch footprint with large key faces and very good feedback, the P1610 has a remarkably usable layout for its size. The directional keys are nicely offset to the lower right, and even the right-hand Shift key is oversized. There is no touchpad, but the pointing stick was very responsive to movement and registered taps as mouse clicks. A rocker button beneath the keyboard registered left and right clicks, and when you depress a center key it enables the point stick to control scrolling.
 
Unlike with most LCDs from Fujitsu, we found this display brighter and more resistant to washouts from ambient light. The widescreen didn't feel too squashed, but we wish the native resolution were lower than the eye-straining 1280 x 768 pixels. The panel scales down fairly well to 1024 x 768 pixels, but it wasn't as sharp as the native resolution. The bottom line is that you may find yourself squinting a lot and bending forward to discern what is on this display.
 
We would normally complain when a convertible doesn't use an RF stylus and display. The P1620 has a passive touchscreen display that recognizes the press of the small plastic stylus, but since there is no active communication between the stylus and the screen users will not see hovering, gestures, and so forth. Nevertheless, the P1610 switches nicely to Tablet mode when you reverse the LCD, and you can use the stylus to activate buttons and navigate Web sites. Our configuration didn't support ink input, but we appreciated the scrolling buttons in Tablet mode, which facilitated one-handed Web browsing and document viewing.
 
We were impressed with the built-in microphone, which some Tablet owners use for oral notes or voice-recognition interfaces; it worked well at isolating nearby speakers. Of course, the tinny speaker will not play back that voice with great clarity, but this is one of the expected compromises made when shrinking a PC down to this scale. The microphone has dedicated software for controlling sensitivity and filtering. Fujitsu also includes a fingerprint scanner for security, and it read our enrolled digit easily and without frustrating errors.
 
The P1610's three-cell battery is rated for 3.25 hours of battery life. We saw about that in normal day-to-day use but would recommend opting for the $45 six-cell battery, which should give you about 7 hours of life while adding only 5 ounces to the weight. We were impressed with the P1610's wireless performance, as it delivered a very good throughput of 18.9 and 17.7 Mbps from 15 and 50 feet, respectively. If you want to add a mobile-broadband modem, you can use the integrated PC Card slot. 
 
To be sure, this design is not for everyone. But there is so much functionality and usability packed into the Fujitsu LifeBook P1610 that it should make anyone shopping for an Ultra-Mobile PC think twice. Road warriors won't hesitate tossing it into their bags and taking it with them everywhere. And so what if fellow passengers call it "cute?"

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