Product Reviews

A notebook PC can get only so small before compromises have to be made. The optical drive is usually the first thing to go, and then the keyboard becomes too small to use comfortably. Fujitsu Siemens' P series Lifebook is just large enough to avoid these compromises. It's a fully featured Centrino notebook in a 261x199x35mm chassis.

This Limited Edition version has a faster 1.2GHz Intel Pentium M 753 Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor and 1GB of RAM. It scored a respectable 67 overall in our Shopper benchmarks, which isn't a huge score but shows that the P7010 can deal with day-to-day tasks such as office work and web browsing. It can also handle light photo-manipulation and video work but not HD video playback. The efficient ULV processor gave it a decent three hours and 42 minutes of battery life.

The Lifebook crams an astounding 13 ports on its diminutive chassis. It has

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a card reader that supports SD, MS, MMC and CF formats, making it an ideal companion for the photographer on the move. There's also a FireWire and two USB2 ports for connecting external devices, plus D-sub and S-video outputs to connect a projector or TV.

Modem and Ethernet ports are provided, and the Centrino chipset provides wireless networking. Finally a PC Card slot will enable you to add a 3G mobile card for web access while you're out of the office or away from home.

The display is only 10.6" but squeezes in 1,280x768 pixels. At native resolution this produces very sharp text, although you'll need to scale it up if you sit further away at an external keyboard. The display performed well in our tests, producing a smooth greyscale and subtle colours. The white test was passably bright and consistently backlit.

The keyboard is excellent for such a small notebook. It flexes a little when pushed, but feels very firm and positive when typing. The keys are big enough to allow a decent typing speed, and you can just about rest your palms on the edge of the chassis. The touch pad is small and the wrong shape for the widescreen display, though. Below the touch pad is a fingerprint reader for the security conscious.

We like the P series Lifebook and gave it a Most Desirable award in Shopper December 2004. It's simply the best small-format notebook we've seen, but at this price you have to ask yourself whether you really need that extra portability.