Fujitsu Lifebook U820 promises the charge – and yet functional result. Unfortunately, it needs to have a better interface and to make smarter use of scarce resources. It looks like the U820 falters as a Tablet PC. This 6.0 by 6.7 by 1.0 inches, the U820 is not the smallest machine on the block, but it is a fighter. The Convertible Tablet features a swiveling 5.6-inch touch screen and weighs a paltry 1.32. Despite its size, it appears to be robust: Although stress tests are ill-advised, the chassis feels solid, and the neck is smooth and offers just enough resistance.
Fujitsu includes a 1.6 GHz Atom Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive – not bad in theory. But then Windows Vista Home Premium climbs on board, and the U820 shudder. If you are a bit light as Web or word processing, it is good. Toss in a bit of heavy lifting (say, with a bit more complex than a YouTube clip), however, and one can almost hear grab the poor thing. It deserves a mark of just under 24.6 to World Bench Here is a machine that could have really benefited from Windows XP (like nearly every netbook with an Atom processor) or more of RAM. Fujitsu offers this laptop with XP – your better bet. On the bright side, the U820 lasted just over seven hours in our battery life tests.
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While smaller is generally better to give at some point something has. In this case it is running a 5.6-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1200 by 800th Initial work can be an exercise in frustration, because even the toughest road warriors will find their minds and their vision tense. Tweaking the resolution, or simply increase the font size can help on all your web pages and documents, but multitasking is almost impossible. At least the U820 has a zoom feature (as is often the case with small screen computers).
The keyboard suffers. With a little practice (or microscopic hands), you should be able to tap water from prose, without too many mistakes, but extended work sessions may be a close and nerve-racking experience. Thumb-typing is technically an option, but the device is to do a bit too far to comfortably for long periods. For navigation, the netbook has a reference nub and buttons on the “shoulders”, hinged just below the screen. The layout takes a little getting used to, and the core can be hypersensitive, but it works.
Although the U820 design has a lot to like most of the questions turn into award when the screen down on the keyboard fold and use the device as a tablet. In portrait mode, the screen is a near-perfect facsimile of a small notebook. It is a still a bit hard to read, but Vista Tablet PC support provides excellent handwriting recognition, so note is a breeze. The small size and light weight make the operation of U820 for a long time quite easily, and the screen is just large enough to be comfortable, without too much space in your hand. Spend an hour or so learning to deal with Vista with a pen and a factor in the U820 the long battery life, and you have yourself a respectable digital notebook.
A microphone and headphone jack, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a single USB connection and a webcam round out the standard feature list. Along the front of the device, you will also find a fingerprint sensor, an SD card slot, a Compact Flash slot and an expansion port, the last of which a dongle that ports created for an Ethernet cable and a VGA monitor supports. Overall, it is not bad, really: a few extra USB ports would be nice, but denied slapping on a whole range of peripherals, most of the benefits of an ultra portable. Bluetooth support should have covered you if you are willing to settle and proper use of mouse and keyboard, but the U820 simply do not have the chops to serve as the primary machine.
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The U820 also enabled a mobile broadband modem on AT & T’s EDGE service (a subscription-hop). And then there are the integrated GPS functionality, support for Garmin. It is not indeed replace your standard GPS device, it works – most of the time. Once I found myself cruising down the street at 14 miles per hour, while sitting on the couch. Connect the optional external antenna (the film to the microphone jack of all places) cleared that issue up.
With a narrow screen and keyboard, mobile broadband, GPS, and unbearably tinny sound from a single speaker underpowered on paper, the Lifebook U820 is more of a smartphone as an undersized excess computer equipment. While significant deficiencies (and a $ 1,200 price tag) Moor ultimately this machine down, it could be something close to a real contender. Drop the mobile broadband and GPS, the user receives the same time, an additional inch margin, and – performance issues aside – the U820 could become a more palatable PC into a nice little package.
