Fujitsu T4020D

More and more laptop manufacturers are adding the Tablet OS and hinged swivel screen to thin-and-light systems. Fujitsu 's latest offering is a 12.1-inch convertible tablet that weighs just 4.6 pounds and has an internal optical drive. If you're looking for a laptop that has some tablet functionality, the Fujitsu LifeBook T4020D ($2,149 direct) hits the mark.

The gray exterior is business casual, neither too flashy nor too plain. The 12.1-inch screen is equipped with Fujitsu's indoor/outdoor display. The screen seems a little grainy indoors because of the special screen. Fujitsu uses what it calls a "casual outdoor" screen, a glass screen with a special coating that lets light pass through more uniformly in outdoor situations. A true outdoor screen uses a mirror, which replaces the fluorescent backlight normally found on indoor screens, to maximize the reflection of sunlight. (Of course, true outdoor screens are much harder to see indoors.)

The swivel screen reveals a full-size keyboard and a very responsive touchpad. The 4.6-pound frame weighs exactly the same as the HP Compaq tc4200's, but includes a built-in optical drive that's lacking in the tc4200.

Using the pen for fast note-taking with Microsoft Windows Journal was smooth, and we didn't see any drag latency using OneNote 2003. The writing experience is on a par with that found on the Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet, our current Editors' Choice. The T4020D's pen is a little thicker and feels more substantial, though both pens are fine for extensive writing.

The T4020D's display has very good viewing angles from all sides, but is not ideal for pictures and movies; it is better suited for reading and writing, especially in outdoor situations. The X41 has a similar screen, but because it lacks an internal optical drive it is over a pound lighter, and its quad metal swivel hinge feels a bit sturdier that the T4020D's. The T4020D has five programmable quick-launch keys on the screen and dual microphone arrays for voice recognition.

The built-in DVD/RW combo drive is a modular drive, so you can swap it out with a weight saver or a DVD±RW drive ($300). The system has two USB ports, an S-Video port, and a three-in-one card reader (SD, Memory Stick, and Memory Stick Pro). Wireless devices include an integrated Bluetooth adapter and an Intel 802.11a/g wireless module. The T4020D comes with a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip and a smart-card reader, but no security software at all.

We weren't able to run our performance and battery tests because of problems running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 on SYSmark 2004 SE and MobileMark 2005. But we ran multiple applications like Acrobat Reader, OneNote 2003, and InterVideo's WinDVD, and thanks to the Pentium M 740 (1.73 GHz), they did not tax the system too much. As for battery life, Fujitsu is claiming as much as five hours with the 56-Wh battery.

There are very few convertible notebooks out there that integrate an optical drive in such a small frame. The Fujitsu LifeBook T4020D manages to do so, making it a fine system for everyday computing.

Company

Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation

http://www.computers.us.fujitsu.com
Spec Data
* Type: General Purpose, Tablet, Business
* Operating System: MS Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
* Processor Name: Intel Pentium M 740
* Processor Speed: 1.73 GHz
* RAM: 512 MB
* Weight: 4.6 lb
* Screen Size: 12.1 inches
* Screen Size Type: standard
* Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 GM
* Storage Capacity: 60 GB
* Networking Options: 802.11a/g
* Primary Optical Drive: DVD-ROM/CD-RW

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