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Artwork: Rick Rizner, Chris Manners
Fujitsu LifeBook P7120 Notebook
- Spec Navigator
- Processor
- Memory
- Display
- Storage
- Battery
- Dimensions
- Other Features
- Networking
- Multimedia
- Software
- Interface Connections
- Included Devices
Storage
| Total HD Size | 60 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | DVD+R DL/DVD±RW |
| Optical Drive Speed | 2.4 |
| Removable Optical Drive | Yes |
| Slots |
|
| Number of Media Slots | 3 |
| PC Card Slots | Yes |
Battery
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Standard Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Type of Batteries | Lithium ion |
| Vendor Rated Battery life | 626 |
Networking
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Included network card | Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) |
| Modem Type | V.90 |
| Wireless LAN Type | 802.11a/g |
Software
| Included Software |
|
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Laptops »
Pros
Two-battery option
Power-savings button
Cons
Small screen
Slow CPU and hard drive
Bottom Line
Cleverly designed, stylish laptop makes a fine ultraportable package. A high price is its only significant drawback.
Fujitsu LifeBook P7120
LifeBook P7120 Notebook Review, by Carla Thornton March 7, 2006
If you liked the LifeBook P7000, Fujitsu's stylish 3-pound laptop, you'll likely be equally enamored of the new and improved LifeBook P7120. This highly desirable and cleverly designed little black and charcoal machine has a handy two-battery option and a good keyboard.
It isn't any cheaper at $2149 (as of 2/16/06), but consider its improvements over its predecessor: The 60GB hard drive, sealed before, is now user-replaceable so you don't have to leave your notebook at the repair shop. The optical drive has been moved from the left side of the case to the right, which should suit most users, and which I personally prefer. Gone is the LCD status window with hard-to-read pale-green icons, replaced by a row of standard LEDs in the screen hinge.
There are a few minor drawbacks. The dedicated CompactFlash slot has been ditched, leaving the notebook equipped with only a three-in-one SD Card/Memory Stick/xD-Picture Card reader. Another small setback is that one of the memory slots is now inaccessible, relocated beneath the keyboard. Also, none of the connections or jacks has a protective cover now.
But that's it for the bad news. The speakers, previously in the screen hinge, now stylishly flank the rear-mounted battery, so they--and all the buttons and status lights in the screen hinge--remain exposed when you close the lid. Some users might find the Wi-Fi switch's new location in the screen hinge more convenient than on the front of the notebook, too.
With its high-capacity six-cell battery (6800 mAh), our test P7120 unit lasted 6 hours, 26 minutes, the longest period among our current ultraportables. (The four-cell battery costs $50 less.) With two batteries, including a $115 second six-cell battery in the modular bay instead of the optical drive, your estimated operation time could be almost 13 hours. The new Eco button saves battery life by switching to lower power settings. Before the system makes the switch, you get a nice on-screen reminder of what will change (the display will darken, Wi-Fi will stop working, and so on).
The P7120 performs in line with the ultra-low-voltage processor it uses, a 1.2-GHz Pentium M ULV 753. With 512MB of RAM, it earned a WorldBench 5 score of 60, which is the slowest speed among current ultraportables we've tested. I wouldn't rely on any low-voltage ultraportable, including this one, for heavy-duty work or multimedia, as such systems are still about 30 percent slower than a standard notebook equipped with a top-of-the-line, full-voltage Pentium M chip.
The 10.6-inch wide-aspect screen and keyboard are small but not cumbersome. If you tire of the small icons at the native resolution of 1280 by 760 pixels, either of the two lower resolutions, 1024 by 768 or 800 by 600, looks great with no jaggies. The keyboard's touchpad and mouse buttons crowd close to the front edge, but they're comfortable to use because they sit flush with the case. For $50 more, you can order the notebook with a fingerprint reader instead of the scroll button that normally sits between the mouse buttons. My only serious beef with the keyboard is that combination keystrokes are required to page up and page down.
The bottom of the notebook is covered in a smooth felt material, and includes removable screw covers. For cable management, Fujitsu sells a simple bottom snap-on port replicator for $134.
Round it all out with an excellent manual, and you have a pretty attractive candidate for your ultraportable dollars.
Carla Thornton
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
-
73
-
82
-
82
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance
| ACD Systems ACDSee | 1042 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 547 |
| Adobe Premiere | 749 |
| Ahead Nero | 1258 |
| Battery Life (Office Applications) | 6:26 |
| Discreet 3ds Max DirectX | 561 |
| Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL | 1010 |
| Doom 3, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 3.1 |
| Far Cry, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 4.69 |
| Microsoft Office XP | 638 |
| Mozilla | 606 |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | 917 |
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit | 32.9 |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 32.13 |
| Roxio VideoWave | 626 |
| Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit | 54.93 |
| Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 41.22 |
| Windows Media Encoder | 724 |
| WinZip | 659 |
| World Bench 5 Score | 60 |
| World Bench 5 Word Score | Poor |
WorldBench Tests
| Multitasking | 1200 |
User Reviews
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
-
Reviewed by: sandina
Strengths: small, light, fast
Weaknesses: hot, hot, hot--beware of burns (or worse, your hard drive melting down your keyboard and other parts)
Overall: I have been undergoing an excruciating repair process with Fujitsu since Aug 2006 (it's mid-Oct now). What happened? 1) I got my brand new baby, and after a week, I accidentally left it on for 12 hr straight and when I woke up, the keyboard had melted. Upon waking and discovering this, I immediately tried to cool down the computer, and I literally could not touch it! Once cooled, I found that the keys had warped, and the processor seemed to have slowed to a crawl, among other things. 2) I bought the computer in the US, but I live overseas. I contacted local customer service. No response. I called so many times, I finally gave up. I emailed international customer service. I got the UK office. They said that I could only obtain customer service by calling a certain toll-free #. Good if you live in the UK, but I don't. I asked that they call me or contact me by other means. They said no. After much back and forth and recommendation from a friend who also had problems in getting her computer fixed via the Fujitsu UK Customer Service, I contacted the US office. They were very friendly and nice. 3) We agreed that I would wait until end of Aug when I happened to be in the US to send the computer in. I won't get into the story about how long it took to get the right shipping box and label in order to ship it back, or the lack of follow-up and the number of phone calls I made to Fujitsu. 4) Finally, returned! Wait, there's a problem. The cover and hand rest was scratched during repair. The bottom right corner looks so very old, despite my having used the computer a week prior to repair. Keys on the keyboard have buckled and warped again. Can't say for the processor, as I don't have the proper machines to test speed, but it seems OK. CONCLUSION: this fanless model (yes, I know all about the liquid cooling systems being more efficient. My previous job was to import power supplies and other computer components from China and Taiwan) does not cool down the computer properly. Now, whenever I use it at home, I have a laptop cooler with two fans running under it constantly. Makes it more manageable, but really, it makes it no longer portable. Previous laptop: Sony Vaio--worked for me for 4 years until I bought this one. That one still works. This one doesn't. Next time, I guess I'll have to put up the extra $700 for their comparable laptop. Wish I had done it in the first place. Also: if you have any tips about getting better customer service and computer repair, then I would be happy to exchange tips.
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