The good: Good performance; high-quality keyboard; sizeable screen for a tablet PC; modular bay supports second battery.

The bad: Battery life could be longer; touchscreen requires use of stylus; relatively large and heavy.

The bottom line: The Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 is rather weighty for extended use in tablet mode, but it offers a sizeable 13.3-inch screen and decent performance, as well as robust build quality and a comfortable keyboard.

Read full review of the Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 »

By Sandra Vogel
May 26, 2009

Fujitsu's LifeBook T5010 comes from the same stable as the T1010. Like the latter, it's a relatively large and heavy 13.3-inch convertible tablet PC. Unlike the T1010, the T5010 includes an active touchscreen rather than a passive unit and a wider range of processors. The T5010 is available for S$3,188 (US$2,295.51).

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

With its black lid, the T5010 looks more business-like than the white-clad T1010, although there's still plenty of white surrounding the keyboard and on the wrist rest.

The 2kg T5010 isn't exactly a featherweight, but its 13.3-inch display does provide plenty of working space. The 1,200 x 800-pixel resolution is par for the course and viewing angles are good, both vertically and horizontally. The screen uses an active digitizer, so you'll have to take out the stylus for touch-based navigation and handwriting recognition. The stylus lives in a housing on the front right edge of the T5010.



Measuring 319 x 39 x 244mm, the T5010 is the same size as the T1010, and their casings are also very similar in design. Both share a solid clasp that holds the lid and base sections together when in tablet PC mode and in transit. Build quality is generally robust and there's very little flex in the lid section.

Fujitsu has done a good job with the keyboard, which is spillproof exhibits almost no flex and has large keys with good travel and audible feedback. Typing at speed is not a problem. The two-button touchpad on the wrist rest incorporates vertical scrolling.

As with the T1010, the horizontal scroller is on the screen bezel. This makes scrolling tasks feel rather disjointed. We can see why Fujitsu wants to put a touch-controlled scroller on side of the screen, but we think vertical and horizontal scrolling should be available on both the touchpad and on the screen surround.

Blue status LEDs sit on the very front edge of the wrist rest where they are visible when the T5010 is closed, in tablet PC orientation and in laptop mode.



Controls embedded in the lid section provide access to plenty of functions in tablet PC mode. The power switch is here, as is the fingerprint sensor. Two microphones sit on the bottom edge of the screen, while the top edge houses the very small lens of a 1.3-megapixel Webcam. A bank of five buttons access features such as screen rotation and the Windows Mobility Center.

Features

Fujitsu offers a wide range of Intel Core 2 Duo processors to power the T5010, from the 2.26GHz P8400 to the 2.8GHz T9600. Our review sample had the midrange 2.4GHz P8600 and 2GB of RAM. The maximum RAM capacity is currently 4GB, although 8GB is in the pipeline with future 4GB memory modules. Graphics are handled by the GMA 4500MHD module integrated in the Intel GM45 Express chipset.

Windows Vista Business was preinstalled on our review system, but in some markets, there's a downgrade option to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 if required.

Wireless connectivity comes in the shape of Intel's Wi-Fi Link 5300 (802.11a/b/g and Draft-N) and Bluetooth 2.1. Gigabit Ethernet is available for wired connection.

The optical drive sits in a modular bay on the right side of the system. This can be used to accommodate a second hard drive, a second battery or a space-saver.

The front edge is clear of ports and connectors, while the right side houses just the optical drive. On the back are two USB 2.0 ports, the Ethernet port and, under a hinged flap, a VGA connector for an external monitor. If you choose the mobile broadband option, the SIM card slot is also under this flap.

The left edge has a third USB 2.0 port, a FireWire port, a pair of audio jacks, an ExpressCard slot, a SmartCard reader and a reader for SD/MMC media.

Performance And Battery Life

The Windows Experience Index (WEI) score for the T5010 was 3.7 out of 5.9. In general, its performance was impressive and it consistently outperformed or equaled the last laptop we reviewed with the same processor, HP's EliteBook 6930p.

The top score of 5.6 was for RAM (memory operations per second), while processor (calculations per second) and primary harddisk (disk data-transfer rate) both did well, with ratings of 5.3. The bottleneck, as usual, was the graphics sub-system: Graphics (desktop performance for Windows Aero) scored 3.9, and gaming graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance) brought up the rear (and provided the overall WEI rating) at 3.7.

Fujitsu claims the provided six-cell battery will keep the T5010 going for 6 hours, or 9 hours if you add a second battery in the modular bay. We chose the balanced power plan and asked the T5010 to play a DVD movie for as long as possible from the standard battery. Under these conditions, we got just 2.5 hours of video playback from a full battery charge. When using the T5010 for everyday working, we got closer to 4 hours of battery life.

The Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 is a well-made convertible tablet PC with a sturdy casing and a comfortable keyboard. It's rather heavy for extended use in tablet mode, but benefits from a 13.3-inch screen and decent performance.

Service And Support

Fujitsu LifeBook has a one-year international warranty with second-year and third-year local warranty. At Fujitsu's support Web site, LifeBook owners can register their warranty online as well as download the latest drivers. For simple problems, the company offers a helpline and email address for troubleshooting. Should the unit require further diagnosis or repair, the customer will have to send the unit to any service center worldwide during the first year. Subsequently, Fujitsu will honor the notebook's warranty only for the subsequent two years at the original country of purchase. For users who deploy their laptops for time-critical work with no margin for downtime, it must be noted that most Fujitsu service centers in Asia Pacific operate only during office hours. There is no option to upgrade the warranty terms.

Tags: Laptop Computer, Fujitsu LifeBook, Fujitsu Ltd., tablet, Fujitsu LifeBook T5010

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