Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 Review

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 is the latest release by Fujitsu in its Lifebook Tablet PC series. Fujitsu has been very low key about most of its laptop offerings, and so is not as popular as Dell or HP, nevertheless they make great notebooks and tablets with nice hardware and superb designs. The Fujitsu T2020 is an improvement over the Fujitsu T2010 and has better specs with a new processor and chipset. In this review, we check out the Fujitsu T2020 and see if it can compete with the likes of the Dell Latitude XT tablets and HP’s business tablet laptops.

Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 Specs:

• Dimensions: 11.9 inch x 8.8 inch x 1.4 inch
• Weight: 1.6 kgs
• Display: 12.1 inch SuperFine WXGA TFT Display with active digitiser, 1280 x 800 pixels, 300 nits brightness
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo U9300 at 1.2 GHz, 800 Mhz, 3 MB L2 cache
• Chipset: Intel GS45 chipset
• Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD
• RAM: 2 GB 800 Mhz DDR3 RAM
• Hard Drive: 250 GB SATA HDD, 5400 RPM
• Operating System: Windows Vista Business
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• Ports: 2 USB 2.0, VGA out, Firewire, PCMCIA slot, Smart Card slot, Memory card reader, Microphone and Headphone, Ethernet
• Battery: 6 cell Lithium Ion 5800 mAh Battery High Capacity

Design and Build Quality:

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 sports a very nice design which is very attractive, despite being simple. It is very compact and portable at dimensions of just 11.9 inch x 8.8 inch x 1.4 inches and weighs just around 1.6 kgs, add or subtract a 100 gms. It is the perfect choice for business professionals who need a light weight companion tablet which is not underpowered as the current generation of netbooks. It is also a great option for architects, students and others who need to use the active digitizer display. The tablet looks sleek in black, and the build quality is also pretty nice. The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 feels very sturdy and durable. Tablets are known to be slightly weak at the central hinge connecting the rotatable display to the other part, but the Lifebook T2020 manages that quite well. The chassis is very solid and there is a minimal flex in the display. The main hinge feels very sturdy and should function properly for a nice period of time. The overall design and build quality are very nice and get a thumbs up from us. There are a few unconventional design elements, which we will cover soon.

Display and Speakers:

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 sports a 12.1 inch WXGA TFT display with an active digitiser and has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It has nice brightness levels – 300 nits and offers great contrast. The picture quality is just as good as any other tablet PC available. The viewing angles are wide enough, both vertical and horizontal. The display is slightly glossy, but the sunlight legibility is still pretty good. Below the display, you will find a line of controls to customize your screen orientation and other settings.

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 sports built in speakers which have decent sound quality and good volumes. The speakers will surely suffice for casual video viewing etc, but if you are a music or movie aficionado, we will definitely recommend that you use external headphones using the built in headphone jack for better sound quality.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 sports a nice standard keyboard which has a nice feel. It is superb for touch typing with adequate key spacing and a standard layout. The keys also offer nice feedback. It doesn’t feel cramped at all. The T2020 doesn’t have a touchpad but comes with a Quick Point situated right in the middle of the keyboard for fast navigation, as in many other notebooks and tablets. The Quick Point is very sensitive and I prefer it more than any touchpad. The T2020 comes with a pen stylus which is very easy to use. It is very responsive and makes it very easy to take fast notes. It is one of the better tablet pens available. It also comes with an eraser.

Performance, Battery and Other Aspects:

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 sports a nice range of specs – it comes with a Intel Core 2 Duo U9300 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz with 800 Mhzb FSB and 3 MB L2 cache. It has the new Intel GS45 chipset and comes with the Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics. It also has 2 GB 800 Mhz DDR3 RAM which is much faster than standard DDR2 RAM. For the storage aspect, you have a 250 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM. The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 is powered by Microsoft Windows Vista Business. The hardware configuration is very capable and can run the resource hungry Vista operating system with ease. You can also easily multitask some apps with it. The processor is clocked at just 1.2 Ghz which may seem low, but it also consumes much less power which results in higher battery life. Add to it the power efficiency of the integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics and you get even better endurance. It does basic stuff like web browsing, office document reading and editing, chatting etc pretty well. The Lifebook T2020 comes with a range of external ports – 2 USB 2.0, VGA out, Firewire, PCMCIA slot, Smart Card slot, Memory card reader, Microphone and Headphone, built in Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR as well as an Ethernet slot, which is pretty decent for a tablet of its size. The running temperatures are also very cool, even under heavy operating conditions.

It also comes with a built in Wi-Fi adapter. The Wi-Fi reception is very nice and offers a nice range and data transfer speeds. The Lifebook T2020 comes with a bundled 6 cell Lithium Ion Battery rated at 5800 mAh. It offers about 6 hours of battery life with moderate usage and some power conserving efforts like switching off Wi-Fi when not in use, lowering the display brightness etc. For even more battery life, you can go for the optional 9 cell battery which is supposed to offer more than 10-11 hrs of battery life.

Pros:

• Nice Simple Light Design
• Great Build Quality
• Superb Display
• Good Performance and Battery life

Cons:

• No optical drive
• Average Speakers

Final Words:

The Fujitsu Lifebook T2020 is a superb deal for all those who want an able and powerful little tablet PC which is not exorbitantly priced. There are a lot of things in which the Lifebook T2020 excels and has only some shortcomings. We would definitely recommend it to our readers. In case, you want a cheap, equally portable notebook with great battery life and not a tablet, we would recommend the Samsung NC10.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.