Why You Can Trust CNET Fujitsu LifeBook S7010 (Pentium M 735 1.7 GHz review: Fujitsu LifeBook S7010 (Pentium M 735 1.7 GHz
If you're looking for a laptop that won't have you drumming your fingers waiting for Windows to boot up but will also leave a few bills in your wallet, the Fujitsu S7010 could be right for you. See how this reasonably priced thin-and-light compares with the competition.
Think of the Fujitsu LifeBook S7010 as the Toyota Corolla of laptops. It won't turn heads like Acer's cherry-red Ferrari or Sony's eye-catching X505, but if you're looking for a well-rounded, reasonably priced thin-and-light, this one just might do the trick. But before you reach for your wallet, check out the better-performing IBM ThinkPad T42, too.
The S7010's sturdy, silver, magnesium-alloy case complements the laptop's trim dimensions: it measures 12 by 9.7 by 1.3 inches and has a portable 4.3-pound base weight. Open the lid, and a comfy keyboard greets you, with a pointing stick between the G and H keys, a touch pad, and two handy Page Up and Down keys that double as Home and End in Fn mode. The two mouse buttons and a third scroll button are dome shaped, which helps your finger find where the buttons start and the wrist rest ends.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The swappable modular bay, which accommodates CD, DVD/CD-RW, and DVD+/-RW drives as well as a second battery, lies on the right edge between ports for a 56Kbps modem and USB 2.0. Two more USB 2.0 ports, IrDA, and Gigabit Ethernet bring up the rear, while the VGA port is nestled on the left. Also on the left are FireWire, audio-in, headphone, and microphone ports, plus two Type II (or one Type III) PC Card slots, one of which features an embedded smart-card reader. Finally, the front edge features a handy wireless on/off switch.
The LifeBook S7010 offers fairly fulfilling features for a thin-and-light notebook. It has a Pentium M 735 Dothan chip at 1.7GHz, 512MB of speedy 333MHz memory, an 80GB 4,200rpm hard drive, and a one DVD/CD-RW drive. The S7010's lackluster graphics chip, the Intel 855GM, borrows up to 64MB of video RAM from the main memory.
Fujitsu offers three operating systems for the S7010--Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional, and the aging Windows 2000. The company includes only the Microsoft Works 7.0 minisuite and Intuit Quicken 2003 New User Edition. Systems that include DVD/CD-RW or DVD+/-RW drives come with InterVideo WinDVD for DVD viewing, along with two disc-burning programs: WinDVD Creator Plus and Sonic RecordNow DX and DLA.
The Fujitsu S7010 holds its own in terms of performance against top thin-and-lights, such as the IBM ThinkPad T42, it and delivers noticeably better battery life than some of its competitors, such as the Sony VAIO VGN-A190.
Fujitsu offers the same one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the S series that most laptop manufacturers provide for their systems. That term includes mail-in service and 24/7, toll-free phone support. For an extra hundred bucks, you can up the term to three years. The system ships with an extensive user manual that includes plenty of operating and troubleshooting tips. In addition, Fujitsu's site includes the ability to chat in real time with a tech-support rep.
To find out more about how this product's warranty really stacks up and what you should look for in terms of service and support, take a look at CNET's hardware warranty explainer.
 | BAPCo MobileMark 2002 performance rating |
| BAPCo MobileMark 2002 battery life in minutes |
System configurations:
Fujitsu LifeBook S7010
Windows XP Professional; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; Intel 855GM (up to 64MB); Hitachi DK23FA-80 80GB 4,200rpm
IBM ThinkPad T42
Windows XP Professional; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32MB; Fujitsu MHT2040AH 40GB 5,400rpm
Sony VAIO VGN-A190
Windows XP Home; 1.7GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 64MB; Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 80GB 4,200rpm