Fujitsu Lifebook N7010 Laptop Review

Fujitsu has been known to be, if not at the cutting edge of technology, at least at the forefront of it. The company’s notebooks have been, by and large, good reliable computers with reasonably up to date features and specs. The Lifebook N7010 continues this trend, or at least tries to. In fact, with a unique double display format, it takes a quantum leap over all the other laptops on the market. But what is the double display and does it really work?

Technical specifications:
Ease of use:
Looks:
Build quality:
Overall Rating:

The primary display is a good 16 inch WXGA with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Not exceptional, but as good as you should reasonably expect in a notebook with a $1500 price tag. The secondary display is a 4 inch touch screen that is located on the deck, at the top of the keyboard where you would normally expect to find the multi media controls. What’s it for? Well, it works as an extension to the primary display, but with 16 inches already there, do you really need it? But the small display does serve a purpose- being a touch screen it is a great place to place all the icons you want for quick launch applications.

The secondary display has a screen manager application that allows you to exchange programs and screen images between the two displays and makes a nice change from the usual split screen option. It’s good if you want to use it to monitor a background application while you are focusing on something else in the on the main display.

The secondary display is more than a gimmick but its utility is still open to question. Okay, now let’s look at the rest of the notebook. Specs wise it has all that you would expect of a notebook of this class:

• Intel Core2 Duo processor – 2.26 GHz, 3MB Cache, 1066 MHz.
• 4 GB RAM
• 16 inch display
• 320 GB HDD
• Optical drive : Blu-ray / DVD / CD-R
• 8 cell battery
• ATI mobility Radeon HD 3470 graphics
• Wi-Fi

Pretty much what you would expect. Performance is also in keeping with the specs and there are no serious issues that a buyer will have to contend with.

The downsides of this notebook are really the weight and build quality. Sure it’s meant to be a desktop replacement and will be heavy. But with dimensions of 15.2 x10.9 x1.9 inches the weight of 7 pounds 10 ounces seems excessive. Fujitsu seems to have forgotten that a desktop replacement is not the same as a desktop – it is a big laptop that does more than a small notebook. But that does not mean it should weigh this much.

Okay, so it’s not really meant for traveling. That still does not excuse the build quality. The matte plastic finish on the body looks cheap and the chromed plastic bevel around the keyboard give the notebook a retro look that the designers did not intend and which does not work.

All in all this is not a bad notebook –just a very average one. Fujitsu seems to have gotten so taken up with the double screen idea that they did not pay enough attention to the rest of the computer. The secondary display is nice and useful in a way, but it is not a killer feature which will cause a customer to overlook all the other shortcomings.