Opinions on Asus S5N/M5N, and Fuji S7010D

[Nudicles]

Title says it all.

From what I hear, Fuji makes great screens. The extra screen size is definately a plus, as is the battery life over the S5N.

But size is a factor. I only wonder if the S5N is worth the loss of that extra pound. I saw a clip of Call For Help on TechTV, good god that thing is light, thin as a childen's picture book. The way it is configured, S5N does have a slight advantage in memory and harddisk space though.

Opinions? Hows the Asus screen? Anyone know the speed of the fuji HDs? 256mb too little for the Fuji? 2.9 pound S5N significantly lighter? (about 30% lighter...)

[bloke]

Weren't we discussing these a week or two ago?

Personally, I wouldn't want to ever have to carry that external optical drive around. From what I remember, that's not a big deal for you, so it might be better to lose the pound and go for the lighter S5N.

Advantages of the Asus: lighter
Con: not the greatest battery life with the standard battery, external optical drive

Advantages of the Fujitsu: better screen, multibay (which allows you to swap the optical drive for a battery or put a weight-saver in) and better name for reputation and quality

For either machine I would upgrade to at least 512MB RAM.

For you, that S5N seems to be the best choice, since it's lighter and you don't mind the external drive. The screen is probably fine for general use.

nice pics of the S5N / S5200N
Asus S5200N: Almost Too Pretty to Use (THG Review)
Notebook Review Asus forum
ASUS S5200N & S5200NE on LeoG
Asus M5N Great UltraPortable on LeoG

(You can find opinions from M5N and M5200N owners in those last 3 links.)

I would also be interested to hear from anyone else who acutally owns one of these Asus models or has seen one in person.

[Nudicles]

hehe sorry, I really just wanted to see what you guys thought of the S7010D. Thanks.

[bloke]

Originally Posted by Nudicles

hehe sorry, I really just wanted to see what you guys thought of the S7010D. Thanks.

Honestly, I don't think you'd be disappointed by either one.

Oops, when I wrote my post above, I think I had the P-series on the brain instead of the S-series. In the case of the S-series vs. S5N, they offer the same CPU options and the same screen size. It's much tougher to call in that case. Basically, lightness is the only advantage of the S5N, while the Fujitsu should have a better screen and the flexibility of the multi-bay (which is especially good for extending battery life).

Product Review: Fujitsu LifeBook S7000 Series

There are some new user reviews of the S7000 on LeoG as more people are getting them:

LeoG Other Fujitsu section
Fujitsu S7010 versus IBM Thinkpad T41

[abcheng]

I'm also looking for a small laptop. I'm trying to sell my Compaq R3060US which is a beast (~9lbs). I've looked into the ASUS S5N AND the M5N and I'm leaning towards the M5N because it doesnt' make the laptop much bigger and I don't mind the extra 6 oz. or however much the drive weighs. My only concern is how well it plays Counter-Strike, which is the most intensive thing I'll do on the M5N. So, I'd say go either for the Fuji or the M5N.

[Nudicles]

Just to let you guys know, I'll probably end up with the Fuji, less I find something much cheaper/lighter 14 inch. Just going to look at some 12 inchers vs. 14 inchers made up my mind. The extra real estate really makes a difference when ur doing basic things like surfing the internet and crunching out some docs.