Fujitsu's lifebook marries a stylish look with some unique features not found elsewhere in the high end notebook market.
Fujitsu's LifeBook C2110 sticks to a modest configuration, although this doesn't translate to a entirely budget system. The laptop carries the slower 1.6GHz processor, and its 256MB of RAM is enough to handle a full load of office apps. The 20GB, 4,200rpm hard drive and the 8MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chip are adequate for their respective tasks.
Despite these mostly average specs, the LifeBook performed well in CNET Labs' benchmarks.Most impressively, the Fujitsu beat the Dell Inspiron 8200 by 2 percent in SysMark2001's Internet-content-creation test--an impressive feat, considering that the Dell's powerful Nvidia GeForce4 440 Go graphics chip has eight times the Fujitsu's video memory.
The LifeBook C2110's battery life also earned our respect. The system's 10.8V, 4,500mAh battery endured 154 minutes in our Labs' drain tests, which is a little less than the 161 minutes from the Dell's 10.8V, 4,460mAh power pack.
The right design stuff
The LifeBook C2110's thoughtful design makes working pleasant. The roomy, 4.5-by-32.5-by-28.1-centimeter, 3.3-pound chassis accommodates both floppy and combo DVD/CD-RW drives. The notebook features a wide keyboard, but the thin keys feel less solid. The spacious wrist rest houses a smooth-moving touchpad. Two standard mouse buttons beneath it flank Fujitsu's unique CoolScroll, an oval-shaped, rockerlike navigation button. You scroll by pressing the upper or lower part of the button, and you can press the middle of the CoolScroll to call up a three-item launch menu for your screensaver, calculator, or notepad. Four application quick-launch buttons frame a narrow monochrome display in the center of the laptop's front edge. You can hit the switch on the left side of the buttons to turn them into CD controls so that you can play CDs without booting up.
Where connectivity is concerned, Fujitsu focused on the latest technologies. The LifeBook C2110's four USB ports make it a veritable hub. It also includes IEEE 1394, S-Video-out, digital audio-out, Ethernet, 56K modem, parallel, and two Type II (one Type III) PC Card slots.
Only a few aspects of the design left us wanting. The 15-inch, active-matrix screen is bright, but its native resolution of 1,024x768 pixels is low for its size. Text is still readable, but graphics will lose some detail. Also, there's no wireless networking built in. And if you're hoping the Fujitsu will pass as a stereo, forget it; the one-inch-long speakers on the front corners sound barely passable at lower volumes and distort at higher ones.
Fujitsu LifeBook C2110
Company: Fujitsu
Price: AU$7,499
Distributor: Selected Resellers
Phone: 1800 288 283
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