The good: Snazzy pearl-white finish; shock sensor utility protects hard drive.

The bad: Woeful battery life; not configurable.

The bottom line: If you want that white MacBook look without buying a Mac, the Fujitsu LifeBook A3110 is pretty much the only game in town, as long as you're happy with the set-in-stone default specs and poor battery life.

Read full review of the Fujitsu LifeBook A3110 »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Dec 12, 2006

Fujitsu's new LifeBook A3110 has one trait that's particularly rare in the world of mobile computing: It's white. Outside of Apple's MacBook line, most laptops still hew to the gray/black end of the color spectrum (and even the MacBook also comes in black). Aside from its pearl-white finish, the US$1,399 (S$2,155.22) LifeBook A3110 is notable for its unique hard drive-protecting shock sensor. While we like the overall design and appreciate the added security for the hard drive, a poor showing on our battery drain test proves that a four-cell battery is too small for a system that features an AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor and a 15.4-inch widescreen display. Unless you're crazy about the unique look or are an ardent AMD partisan, it's hard not to suggest a similarly priced Intel Core Duo, like the Compaq Presario V6100, which is highly configurable and provides more power for less.

	The A3110 comes in white or corporate grey. (Click for larger image)

Design
Unlike the glossy, bright white of the MacBook, the LifeBook A3110 has a pearl-white finish. The lid, keyboard and touchpad are all white, but there are some silver accents on the front edge, and the system's bottom is traditional gray. Measuring 360mm wide, 265mm deep, and 37.8mm thick, the system falls firmly into the mainstream laptop category. Weighing 2.75kg (3.13kg with the AC adapter), it's on par than some other 15-inch laptops we've seen, such as the HP Compaq Presario V6100. Still, like any 15-inch laptop, it's a bit bulky for carrying around on a daily basis.

Battery, power and hard drive icons on the front edge are a nice touch, although the stereo speakers sit along the same edge and can be blocked by your hands as you're typing or using the touchpad. One feature we liked was the shock sensor utility, which stops the hard drive in response to a sudden jolt. You can launch a widget-like interface that keeps track of vibrations on a seismograph-like meter, and you can set the sensitivity of the shock utility in case you're a heavy-handed typist. Bear in mind this isn't a rugged laptop, and we wouldn't suggest knocking it off your desk just to test out this feature.

The 15-inch Crystal View screen makes for rich and bright images. (Click for larger image)

Features
The 15.4-inch display has a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels, standard for a display this size. Fujitsu calls its screen treatment Crystal View, which basically means the screen has a glossy coating. This makes for rich, bright images, especially when watching video files, but some users prefer a glare-free matte finish (not an option on this model) for heavy office use or when working in brightly lit rooms.

The full-size keyboard is comfortable, and the touchpad has the standard two mouse buttons below it--separated by a fingerprint reader. Above the keyboard, you'll find volume control buttons and two quick-launch keys, set by default to Google and the Fujitsu homepage. The LifeBook A3110 has three USB 2.0 ports, a mini-FireWire connection, S-video and VGA outputs, a media card reader, a PC card slot and an ExpressCard slot, which is enough for most users' expansion needs. Standard connectivity options include Gigabit Ethernet and modem jacks and integrated 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth.

Rate It Now

Rating guidelines

Fujitsu LifeBook A3110 (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50 Processor 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM)

Rate this product:
1 - Abysmal 2 - Terrible 3 - Poor 4 - Mediocre 5 - Average 6 - Good 7 - Very good 8 - Excellent 9 - Spectacular 10 - Perfect

Need help? Read our guidelines for what each number rating represents.

Submit your opinion

User Reviews

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

Latest Downloads

 

What's Hot