Fujitsu U820 Loaded!

[the_oak]

I just bought one of these, and I have to say I am quite pleased with it. Check out Lisa Gade's review:

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/Fujitsu-U820.htm

She only gave it 3 out of 5 stars, but that was when it was over $1,000.00.  Also, it originally came with Vista, which ran kind of slow (resource hog that it is) and Service Pack 2 helped to speed it up. Many downgraded to XP Tablet, and were very happy with performance. Myself? I upgraded to Windows 7 and I am really happy with it. I hope to investigate some Linux distros as well, but haven't had time yet.

This thing is loaded with features:

1.6 Ghz Intel Atom Z530 processor
1 GB RAM (well that's a little too minimalist)
5.6" screen 1280 X 800 resolution
Intel GMA 530 video
60 GB hard drive
1.3 MegaPixel webcam
a,b,g,draftn WIFI
Bluetooth
GPS and Garmin Mobile PC Software
convertable to tablet mode
touchscreen
1 USB port
CF slot Type I and II
SD card slot
Fingerprint sensor
VGA out and Ethernet using supplied dongle
4 cell battery gets about 7 or 8 hours
Mono speaker and audio jacks

Got mine for $416.00 plus (exorbitant) shipping charge ($457.00 total) from ubid.com. You won't find a more feature packed portable for the price.

[merlin1]

$416.00 is an awesome price for that little beast.  $39.00 for shipping is a bit steep but if considering the very low price for the device itself it's not too bad IMHO. I considered getting one too but they are very hard to find where I live and if they show up they cost a fortune. So did this replace your C1000 and netbook?

As for the performance, on my Eee PC (1.33GHz Atom Z520, 1GB RAM, 32GB SSD) I found Windows 7 to be acceptable but a bit slow, sometimes annoyingly slow. On the other hand, my UMPC runs XP on the same CPU/RAM/SSD and it's very snappy, much snappier than 7.

[TheWalt]

I picked one up off Ebay before knowing about the Ubid deals for $488 shipped (after bing cash back) and have been pleased.  For me it came down to either this or the Netwalker.  Not haivng to deal with ARM was the decision maker ... been there, done that.

The device runs Windows 7 ok, considering one gig ram and the slow stock hard drive.  A little laggy at times but I'm not in any rush, mostly running business apps, and love the 6+ hour battery life (brightness 50%, wifi on, rest off via Fujitsu power saving tool).

[the_oak]

@ merlin1:

It replaced my 6000L (Tosa). I had a C1000 for a few months, and went back to my Tosa because of the larger screen size mostly. I have not missed my Tosa as much as I thought I would, I guess because I can do all it did and more with this little device.

The netbook I had (Sylvania G) was a dud from the start. It came pre-installed with a Linux distro that did not support the built-in WIFI or video acceleration. It was an Ubuntu derivative (GOS), but if I updated anything, packages broke. A succession of Distros were tried, and would lock up after a few hours. VIA's Linux support was practically non-existent.

@ TheWalt:

I considered the Netwalker too, as well as the Umid M1. I decided against the Netwalker because it is far easier to find up-to-date software for X86 processors than ARM processors. Since I do not really have programming skills, I do not have to depend on the wonderful programmers that kept our Zauruses alive so long. The Umid M1 only came with 8 GB storage. Since I had bought an Mtron 32 GB SSD (originally for the unworthy Sylvania G), I put that in the U820, and it is rather snappy. I can even watch youtubes if I select medium quality. (I can't tell the difference on a 5.6" screen anyway.)