Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 Review

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 is the latest release by Fujitsu in its Lifebook ultraportable Notebook series. Fujitsu has not been very aggressive in marketing most of its portable offerings and is not as popular as Dell or HP, but they do make nice notebooks with good designs, great build and nice hardware specs. A living example would be the Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 – a superb ultraportable with a nice design and superior build quality. It has superb hardware specs and is aimed at those who like ultraportables but want better performance and style than the common place netbooks flooding the market, and are capable of paying more than others. Hardware and performance wise, it can defeat any netbook available but cost a bomb compared to the relatively super cheap netbooks. It competes mainly with the HP Elitebook series of ultraportable notebooks. In this review, we check out the Fujitsu P8020 and see if the extra performance and style can match up to the huge price tag.

Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 Specs:

• Size: 11.2 x 8.3 x 1.6 inches
• Weight: 2.92 pounds
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 at 1.4 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB
• Operating System: Windows Vista Business with SP1
• Display: 12.1 inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) Glossy Crystal View Display with built in Webcam
• Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA X4500
• Memory: 2 GB DDR3 800 MHz RAM, 2 GB Intel Turbo Memory
• Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 5400 RPM
• Wireless: Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Integrated Bluetooth
• Optical Drive: DVD + / – RW DL
• Battery: 6 Cell Lithium ion Battery, 8700 mAh
• Ports: 3 USB v2.0 ports, Ethernet port, VGA out, Firewire, SD card reader, Headphone and Mic jacks, a PCMCIA slot
• Price (Approx): $2,200

Design and Build Quality:

The Fujitsu Lifebook series has been known to have a stylish design and the Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 is no exception, it sports a superb design with a glossy lid with the Fujitsu logo elegantly inscribed on it and an all black body with a matte finish. The design stands out from the scores of normal business notebooks and has an exclusive feel to it. The build quality is also very good and the notebook offers a good grip. There is slight flex in the keyboard area but the display area feels solid. The chassis is very sturdy and feels reliable. The notebook should last for about a couple of years easily with decent usage. While the build quality isn’t as great as the stellar HP Elitebook series, it is still very near to the top. At dimensions of 11.2 x 8.3 x 1.6 inches, it is very compact and with a weight of just about 2.92 pounds, it is truly ultraportable. There is not much to complain about in this department. It features a wide range of expansion ports – On the front, the SD card reader and the Wi-Fi switch. On the left, the Kensington lock slot, the power slot, a VGA out, an Ethernet port, 2 USB ports, a Firewire port and the headphone and mic jacks. On the right is the PCMCIA slot, the optical drive and a lone USB port.

Display and Speakers:

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 sports a 12.1 inch WXGA display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It is a glossy display and has superb brightness and contrast. The picture quality is very nice with vibrant colors. It has decent viewing angles, both vertical and horizontal and the direct light legibility is also pretty nice considering that it is a glossy display. It is perfect for multimedia usage and watching movies. It is definitely one of the best displays in its category. It also features a built in webcam for video conferencing.

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 sports its speakers just above the keyboard. The speakers have good sound quality but average volume. It is decent enough for some light music and an occasional movie, but if you want good overall multimedia playback we would recommend you to plug in and use a set of good headphones. For casual use, the speakers should suffice.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 sports a standard keyboard which is slightly compressed to fit it in the small chassis. The layout of the keys is standard and the key spacing and travel is almost the same. It is very comfortable to type on, perfect for touch typing. It should take just some time to get used to. The keys offer good feedback and have a very nice feel. There is some slight flex in the keyboard area, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Just below the keyboard, the touchpad is located slightly aligned to the left. The touchpad is adequately sized to allow for easier scrolling and is very responsive and has good sensitivity. It is a Synaptics touchpad and so supports some basic Multi Touch functionality with the latest drivers – which is a very nice addition. The touchpad has a slightly textured feel which offers a good grip and helps in mouse navigation. Below the touchpad are the two touchpad buttons with the built in fingerprint sensor located in between.

Performance, Battery and Other Features:

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 sports superb hardware specs – Intel Core 2 Duo Processor U9400 clocked at 1.4 GHz with 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB, Integrated Intel GMA X4500, 2 GB DDR3 800 MHz RAM as well as 2 GB Intel Turbo Memory. The storage part is handled by a 160 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM. The processor is very power efficient and hence results in longer battery life. Add to it the Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics and you optimise your endurance levels. The configuration is quite capable and can run the bundled resource hungry Windows Vista Business operating system quite easily. The ample 2 GB of DDR3 RAM and the Intel Turbo memory also help a lot and increase multitasking performance greatly. It can handle most applications and some light gaming easily.

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 is powered by a 8700 mAh, 6 Cell Lithium ion Battery. It can last for about 6 hrs with moderate usage and Wi-Fi turned off. You can also lower the display brightness and speaker volume for better results. The Wi-Fi reception is pretty decent and offers good speeds.

Final Words:

The Fujitsu Lifebook P8020 is a very nice deal and offers a nice mix of portability, style, good build quality and performance. However we would still prefer the HP Elitebook 2530P in this category over it.

Pros:

• Nice Display quality
• Very Portable
• Nice Battery Life

Cons:

• Slightly overpriced

Our Rating: 3 / 5.