Fujitsu LifeBook T4020 user reviews

Pros Very solid quality, Fast. Light. Wifi has great range.

Cons Outdoor screen not so bright. 1 corner gets hot. Cheap pen. Tinny speakers.

Summary Overall I love this little machine. Made in Japan by Fujitsu (not farmed out). Consequently you can see the attention to detail. Some people complain that it gets hot, but its not really something that bothers me - just move your hand a bit and its fine (we all love to accentuate the negative don't we?).

I get about 4 hours battery with the wifi on.

Wifi is very sensitive - better than any other laptop I've used.

Pressure sensitive pen/screen works nicely with Photoshop CS2 (as long as you update the drivers from the Wacom site).

Didn't get the CD/DVD so I could save some weight (any money). I use a small external USB2 drive bought for $30 on ebay.

Perhaps I wouldn't have spent the extra money on the outdoor screen as it seems no brighter than my old Dell Latitude X200. The pen is a little cheap. Will probably buy the Cross Penabled pen to replace the OEM.

Overall nicer than the Toshiba M200 in my opinion.

Pros very impressive convertible tablet on paper

Cons does not work properly and service cannot fix

Summary Bought the T4020 laptop one month ago, mainly due to its impressive set of features. Another reason was Fujitsu's good reputation for quality. Maybe I was childish, but I thought that it makes sense to pay some extra for good quality and supposedly excellent service. However, this turned to be not true at least in my case...

Although I briefly tried out the laptop at the shop, there turned out to be an immediate problem, which became evident after 2 hours usage the first night. The pointer on the screen started to move wildly, click all by itself in the corners and it was not possible to control it. After checking for viruses etc. and trying myself to understand the problem, I took it to Fujitsu's service center. They checked it out and called me in two days to pick it up. Impressive, I thought. Unfortunately, the problem was still there. All they had done was to update the mouse driver and test it a few minutes and then gave it back. So the next day I took it back again and this time they kept it for 2 weeks. After that, they called me to say that they cannot find anything wrong. I insisted that they should do at least something, and thus they reinstalled all the software and gave it back to me. According to the service, it had been thoroughly tested for 3 days and was ok. So I started working on it again, and yes, the problem was back after 1 hour. This time I made a nice movie of the problem, and took the laptop to the service the next day, played the movie and all. The service worked 30 mins with the laptop and informed me that they had found the problem and I could take it home with me. So back home I go again and - bloody hell - after 1.5 hour usage the problem was back. And that's where we are now. So tomorrow, I will take the laptop back to the service center again in what looks horrifyingly like an eternal loop... Let's see if there is an out somewhere. Will keep you posted. So while the laptop is probably pretty good if it works properly, I cannot say that I'm so far very impressive with it.

Pros Service, build quality, performance, versatility, included optical drive, great battery life

Cons No volume control other than onscreen and fn+f8/f9 keys, would like there to be an eraser on the standard pen

Summary I've had this tablet for about a month now and I love it! When I bought my first notebook I thought "I'll never buy another desktop," now I'm thinking the same thing about the tablet functionality.

I researched tablets (all convertibles--I type alot) for about three weeks before deciding on this one. The other three I seriously considered were the HP TC1100, the Lenovo X41, and the Toshiba M400.
The HP and the Lenovo did not have optical drives (and the Lenovo got slammed on performance--particularly the HDD)
I also own a Toshiba laptop and have had several problems with it so that knocked the M400 out. Since then a couple of reviews have been posted and it looks pretty iffy sadly. Toshiba's perform great when they work :P

(Note: this is long because I tried to include everything I worried about when ordering--I'd love to see more tablets in stores so you can put your hands on them before buying)

Advantages:
Unobtrusive--I can lay it flat on the desk and it isn't a barrier that makes me feel like I'm hiding behind the computer.
Great for taking notes, especially in math/finance/econ classes where there are alot of charts and graphs.
I can use it in tablet mode on the train without trying to balance it on my lap.
Battery life is spectacular, with the extra battery I get just shy of 9 hours. I don't even carry my charger to school.
Lightweight, (I'm guesstimating on these weights) 4 lbs with nothing (Fujitsu includes a plastic insert), 4.5 with cd/rw, 5 lbs with extra battery.
Great keyboard, full size, nice feel. Same with the touchpad, I ordered mine with the scroll button (a rocker switch between the two buttons under the touchpad) instead of the fingerprint reader.
Sturdy feeling construction, the single hinge doesn't feel loose and the screen doesn't shake at all in notebook mode (unlike every other convertible I looked at-- but keeping in mind that all of my prime canidates when shopping weren't available in stores so I'm comparing the screen wobble of the gateway, and older, and larger screen (14.1 I believe) Toshibas).
Great customer service. I have called Fujitsu 4 times (3 times pre- during- and post- ordering) and haven't been on hold at all. I called tech support onec, I didn't actually have a real problems-- just that loading a Logitech mouse driver that screwed up my touchpad scroll button--the tech was very helpful in getting it fixed and even answered my unrelated non-techical questions about other bluetooth products. I never felt rushed and the tech was very knowlegable.
I ordered the indoor-only screen because I read that the indoor-outdoor was grainy. My screen is very nice, clear, and not as glare-prone as my Toshiba's Tru-Brite. Writing on the screen has a nice feel, akin to writing on paper. Also when in tablet mode the screen sits solidly on the base--it doesn't wobble at all when writing or tapping on it.
This comp does run warmer than my other laptop--but it isn't scorching, there are some pads on the bottom where your hand goes that help with grip and keeps your hand away from the bare metal.
Great performance--very quick to load and boot up. I don't game or do any graphics-intensive work though, so YMMV.
Wi-fi: unlike my Toshi and my brother's Dell, internet runs full speed under battery power. On my Toshi using Wi-fi on battery is torturously slow--no problem like that on the Fujitsu.
Student discount of 5% is available but you have to call to get it. They will ask you for your student ID number to verify.

I use this mainly for note taking in class, the long battery life, light weight, small size, full keyboard, and tablet features all work well for that. I could see using this in a business setting also where note taking with a screen up would be frowned upon. All in all a great machine, well built and well supported by great service from Fujitsu.

Pros Pentium m, good Speed, 2GiGs of Ram! unlike Apple this unit runs Flash and Java. touchscreen is so great '! Tablet is awesome For reading the paper!!

Cons Price! the unit Cost-the $2,350.98 With Shipping !

Summary Thad an I Pad and the Fujitsu kicks but!t! IPAD = Bad web Windows = full WEB