Fujitsu Lifebook P7010D

The keyboard is pretty good: Some keys pull double duty, and the mouse buttons sit on the front edge, but all the keys are big enough to press cleanly, and the layout is solid. Between the mouse buttons sits a scroll button--or, for $50 more, a biometric fingerprint sensor, which we tested. We found setting up the laptop to accept our fingerprints a little more challenging than on other sensor-equipped LifeBooks because this window is so much smaller. We had to practice swiping our fingertips several times before the scan would complete, but after that it was smooth sailing. You can set up the laptop to require your fingerprint every time it boots or recovers from hibernation. You can even use the sensor to log on to Web sites, such as online banking sites, without having to remember multiple user names and passwords.

There are just a few slightly troublesome aspects. One is the inaccessible hard drive. If it fails, you'll have to send in the entire unit for servicing. Another is the wide-aspect, 10.6-inch screen. It adds to the P7010D's value as a portable entertainment device because it can show DVD movies without letterboxing, but the native resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels displays very small text and icons. We found them readable, but you might want to lower the resolution to avoid eyestrain.

Then there's processing speed. The P7010D, with a 1.1-GHz Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage 713 chip, earned a WorldBench 5 score of 58, a below-average speed for notebooks tested with our latest benchmark.

Fujitsu provides a good printed user manual that thoroughly addresses this system's features and how to use them. A downloadable electronic version of the manual is available from the vendor's Web site, but without hyperlinks it's hard to navigate. The P7010D comes with Microsoft Works 7.

Upshot: This full-featured notebook, which lasts forever on a single battery charge and includes a fingerprint reader, should make many a mobile worker happy.

Carla Thornton