Fujitsu Lifebook T900 review

You could forgive PC manufacturers for giving up on touchscreens altogether following the launch of the Apple iPad, but it would appear that the technology is all the rage right now. We’ve reviewed two all-in-one desktops – the Samsung U250 and Asus Eee Top ET2010PNT) – in recent weeks, and now Fujitsu’s Lifebook T900 laptop is attempting to draw the attention of corporate buyers.

Let’s get one thing straight right from the start, this tablet PC is no glamour puss. The T900 is as drab and businesslike as they come, with a chassis full of stark angles, and a dull silver-black colour scheme. It isn’t slim (at 38mm thick), it isn’t light (at 2.36kg), and it certainly isn’t sexy.

But it is solid and straightforward in a way only business laptops can be. The keyboard looks old-fashioned, but it feels comfortable under the fingers with a light but positive action. The touchpad is responsive and set a comfortable distance from the keyboard and its buttons are similarly competent.

And the chassis’ no-nonsense build quality lends the whole thing a reassuringly knock-resistant feel. The hinge that allows the T900’s touchscreen to rotate and fold flat against its body is particularly beefy, and incorporates an ingenious reversible latch that allows the screen to be locked securely in place in tablet mode.

Under the hood, the T900 is powered by one of Intel’s latest mobile processors – a 2.4GHz Core i5-M520 – which means fast performance in any application you care to mention. This is backed up by 4GB of RAM, giving a seriously good overall performance figure of 1.58 in our application based benchmarks.

The hard disk is 320GB in capacity, and there’s little to complain about connectivity-wise. Scattered around the edges of the T900 you’ll find three USB 2 ports, a smartcard reader, a D-SUB video output, memory card reader, smartcard and Express card 54 slots, plus – on the rear under a plastic flap – a slot for a SIM card, revealing the presence of a 3G modem.