The sub-2kg LifeBook S6130 makes a great companion for road warriors with its improved security options and hot-swappable drive options. However, it lacks the battery life or graphics capabilities to be truly portable.Fujitsu packs its LifeBook S61xx series notebooks with all the features a mobile professional can expect: Good connectivity, enhanced security and multiple drive options, all in an attractive-looking thin-and-light form factor. Its latest iteration, the LifeBook S6130, is no exception. Equipped with a Pentium M 1.6GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, the S6130 also ranks among the fastest laptops we have tested. Unfortunately, the Centrino notebook is let down once again by its mediocre 3D graphics performance and middling battery life.
The S6130 is clearly built with the mobile executive user in mind. Its clean uncluttered design and relatively small footprint, combined with Fujitsu's trademark streamlined style and eye-catching silver-grey tones, make for a great business notebook to tote around. Then there's its 2kg weight (1.75kg when used with a weight saver), which makes the LifeBook very portable for a thin-and-light machine. Unfortunately, the laptop's sturdy build does not extend to its casing, which is perhaps the reason Fujitsu bundled it with a soft notebook pouch.
On the interior, Fujitsu has pretty much retained the look and feel of the earlier S6120 model, on the new S6130. It comes with a well-designed keyboard that's comfortable to type as well as a two-button touchpad with toggle scroll. Users can also customize the shortcut buttons located above the keyboard. We found the 13.3-inch LCD relatively bright, providing just about the best compromise between screen size and portability.
The LifeBook S6130 is currently available in two configurations: The higher-end model (denoted by an extra "B" as in S6130B) offers a Pentium M 1.6GHz processor, 512MB of DDR memory and Bluetooth, while the standard machine comes with a 1.4GHz chip, 256MB RAM and no Bluetooth. The rest of the features such as 40GB hard drive, 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN and DVD/CD-RW combo drive are identical. We were surprised not to find a 1.7GHz option available, though.
What we like most about the S6130 is still its hot-swappable drive options. The bundled combo drive can be replaced with an optional extra battery (which Fujitsu claims can boost the battery life to almost 8.5 hours) or a weight-saver module which can help lighten the load by almost 15 percent. However, we were disappointed that DVD writer drives are still not available, considering their widespread use these days.
Where connectivity is concerned, the S6130 will not disappoint. Ports found onboard the notebook include two USB2.0, FireWire, RJ11 (modem), RJ45 (Ethernet), PC Card slot and VGA (for connection to external monitors). And in addition to Bluetooth, the LifeBook supports wireless connectivity in terms of 802.11b as well as infrared. A bundled port replicator adds serial, parallel and PS/2 ports.
Fujitsu has included quite a comprehensive set of security options on this notebook. On top of the physical notebook lock, users can choose to password protect the BIOS, hard disk and the notebook itself. It also comes with a smart card access key for added security. The only catch is if the password is lost, customers will have to bear the cost of sending the notebook back to Japan for a system refresh.
Powered by a Pentium M 1.6GHz processor and 512MB of the faster DDR333 SDRAM, it came as no surprise that the S6130 produced good results in our MobileMark tests. Its average score of 186 ranked highly among the faster Centrino machines. That said, the S6130 was let down by the lack of a dedicated 3D graphics card. Although its 3DMark2001SE score of 2,394 was an improvement over the earlier S6120 model, this was hardly sufficient for handling graphics-intensive apps and 3D games.
Though Fujitsu claims an estimated 4.5 hours of battery life for the LifeBook, we were able to obtain only slightly more than 3 hours of usage in our tests. This might have been considered relatively long for thin-and-light systems a year ago, but with other Centrino offerings now hitting around 4 to 5 hours per full charge, the S6130 looks lacking in the battery life aspect.
The S6130 may not have the brightest screen we have seen so far, but it offers a good viewing angle even when watching DVDs. As always, the volume range is limited by the tiny onboard speakers. Therefore it is advisable to hook up to external speakers if sound quality and volume are among your priorities.
Our test system came preinstalled with Windows XP Professional which is slowly becoming a standard among notebook makers these days. Other utilities onboard included Norman Virus Control and Norman Personal Firewall.
Mobile users will be happy with Fujitsu's extensive three-year warranty which covers the first year for parts and labor internationally and the second and third year for parts locally. The product coverage also includes a customer support hotline which is open six days a week. The Fujitsu Web site offers a comprehensive collection of manual and driver downloads as well as common FAQs.
Fujitsu LifeBook S6130B
Company: Fujitsu Australia
Price: AU$ 4599
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 288 283
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