My new Fujitsu N6010: pics (LARGE), initial thoughts - Page 4

ur gonna return it just coz the fan noise?? i would think that a minor thing compared to all its good points - anyway ive just ordered one and i dont think it'll bother me so much (always playing music)

I think depends what power mode you are in, I am usually in the Portable/notebook mode. It doesnt run that much. But when I am in Desktop/Home mode, the fan is always on - but with some kinda music running, it is unnoticable.

I've been lurking watching the N6010, Travelmate 8104, and Dell 9300. After seeing these pics of the N6010 it's going to be really hard to not buy one, but I'm going to try and wait until the 9300 comes out to compare or March. Absolutely gorgeous! Much better than the old Sony GRZ630 I had.

One question. Is there a optical/digital audio output for digital surround?

Sorry to hear you're sending her back....have to say my fan noise is very unobtrusive. Is yours perhaps abnormal? In a completely silent room mine is a very faint whir. Maybe yours can be fixed.....seems like a shame to give up on such a great lappy.

There is an SPDIF out with the line out. I have not used it, so I am not certain. I wonder if there are any SPDIF speakers. lol

Can someone one tell me if its worth it to go w/the TV tuner that comes w/the machine or would it be more economical to just go w/external TV tuner? Portability is not a factor, however the features are - being able to record TV [tivo like ability] and the quality of the image, etc. Thank you!

Well, after reading this thread, I went to my local Fry's Electronics and took a good, long look at this machine.

The upside:

The LCD screen is incredible - stunning really. I've been to CompUSA, Best Buy, Office Depot, Ultimate Electronics to name just a few places in preparation for replacing an OLD AMD based 1 Gig desk top.

No laptop of any I've seen can even begin to compare with the brightness and sharpness the LCD on the N6010 provides. I'd guess you spend 6 hours working on this machine and walk away with your eyeballs feeling just fine.

The keyboard is rock solid and without flex. Hopefully Sony takes a look at the Fujitsu keyboard. The overall build quality seems first rate. I have a feeling this laptop will withstand some heavy use/abuse.

This laptop is FAST. When you clink an icon, things happen very quickly, as they should.

The built in speakers are pretty good for laptop. You won't toss away your surround sound speakers but when you move this computer away from its usual residence, the onboard speakers will do the job for you.

The downside:

Just a few, really... The dimensions of this notebook are larger than some other 17" widescreens. I doubt this notebook will fit on a airliner tray table and be opened to its best viewing angle.

This baby is heavy @10.1 pounds, but I this is to be expected, at least for now. A time will come when a 17" notebook will weigh in at 6-7 pounds (aside from the Apple, whose screens looked dark and dull to me at every location I've been to), but that time is not now, it seems.

Screen resolution could be higher than its native 1440X900... but if I buy this notebook, I'll gladly accept a few scrollbars in favor of an LCD screen absolutely unmatched in brightness and sharpness.

Probably the biggest downside is its reported dismal battery life of 90 mins to 2 hours. All things considered, this probably my biggest complaint, but must be taken in context.

If one uses this as an easily transportable computer which will be hooked up to an AC adapter most of the time, this is probably not too great an issue either... but this is NOT a road warriors notebook. An extra battery will weigh at least a pound, if not more... combine that with the weight of the computer itself and its carrying case, and you might be looking at lugging around 14-15 pounds, which is something to consider for frequent travelers.

Aside from ease of transport and battery life issues, if you want a fast and powerful desktop replacement with an amazing screen, this is the notebook for you.

Am I going to buy the Fujitsu? Well... I'm still considering a Uniwill based, 15.4" WXSGA equipped laptop as I was looking for a lighter machine... and should I decide to go that way, I'll still drool when I see a Fujitsu N6010 - its that nice a machine. If weight and battery life are not huge considerations for your particular circumstance, buy this notebook. You won't regrete it.

A very well thought out and reasoned critique, Jack. I agree with you 100%. I wouldn't want to be hustling this thing between gates in Atlanta on a regular basis, but as a DTR I really can't say enough about how pleased I am with her. Solid as a rock, great keyboard, screen to die for, and plays HL2 with visuals cranked up. Something else I've noticed is how well balanced the weight distribution is... a minor point, but compared to my Dell I8600 it's quite a bit more even

Went back to Fry's to take another look at the 6010 after closely inspecting a friend's Vicious PC Shogun.

While the WSXGA screen (1680X1050 resolution) of the Vicious PC was very nice, it just really didn't compare with the sharpness and brightness of the Fujitsu (1440X900 resolution) screen. 1440X900 is close enough to 1680X1050 for my needs. I already knew that WUXGA screens produce fonts too small for my liking and that this issue can't be remedied easily in all applications. So... the 240X150 resolution difference between the Fujitsu and the Vicious PV Shogun quickly became something of a non-issue for me.

Since the N6010 will spend most of its time on my desktop, and occasionally, like some lucky women, come to bed with me, its size and weight (unlike the lucky women coming to bed with me) was not much of an issue either.

So, bottom line: I'm taking my some of my tax return and am dropping the hammer on an N6010 from portableone.com and the balance is going to a Panasonic plasma screen.

I made a few tweaks to the "full on" version of the 6010. I substituted the memory to a single 1 gig DDR memory chip leaving the extra slot open for a later upgrade to a total of 2GB ... and I changed the HDD to 80GB at 5400 rpm from the 100 GB 4200 rpm HDD. This seemed to be the best tradeoff between size and speed. Total price: US$2319.00... far less than the Toshiba Quasimoto (or however its pronounced).

When several competing computers are all fast, powerful and reliable, I guess it comes down to how good the display looks... and the Fujitsu's just could not be beaten by any other manufacturer.

I'll post a few pix, as well as an excruciatingly detailed review, when this baby comes to me.

Jack did you go w/the Internel TV Tuner. If yes what made you decide to pick this option when you could've easily purchased an externel tv tuner for a cheaper price! thank you

aitebar82: Well, this was a pretty easy decision to me to come to, but I did consider an external tuner. Then I thought "hell, I'm getting a great machine and already spending better than 2 grand... screw it, why not get the internal tuner"? Its built-in and therefor one less item to carry in the notebook bag. The internal tuner costs an additional $150 (if memory serves)... and an extra $150 wasn't going to break the bank, so I'm going this route. Probably not the best decision making process, but there you have it.

As you correctly pointed out though, several USB2 external tuners are available and can be had for under $100.

I guess this is just one of those personal choice things... neither decision being "right" or "wrong", just what works best for the buyer.

Michael: Congrats on a great picture and a great BBS thread (I'd have never considered Fujitsu were it not for yours).

One question though... did you copyright your picture?

Here's a smaller version of the the wallpaper going up on my 6010 when she comes.

shouldn;t they be paying you? lol

I'm delighted to be a new member of the Fujitsu family. I recall the horrible, odd "rubber" mousepads on Fujitsu laptops many years ago... and I relegated Fujitsu as "no way, no how, not interested" laptop manufacturer.. that is, until I saw your 6010 thread. Then I saw this laptop/display... and the rest is history.

Regarding your picture: If you didn't copyright your flower image, under Title 17, U.S. Code, it is considered a "public" image and Fujitsu is free to use it in any way they see fit...so while no money is "due" to you, you might still be able to recoup a small percentage of the image's "commercial worth" from Fujitsu should you decide to take this issue up with them. Do NOT tell Fujitsu that the image is NOT copyrighted under any circumstances... simply refer them to your legal counsel.

hehe yes, maybe they'll hire you for more photo's and they'll give you free lappy's

Hello,

I have been following this thread and really appreciate the information that folks have made available on it. The comments and reviews have been outstanding. I apologize for "butting in" out of the blue.

A while back I was interested in purchasing the N5010 and asked a few questions on this forum. Everyone was very helpful, but I held off on that purchase, primarily because of not being able to see the Fujitsu on display before buying it.

However, now, from the reviews I've read on this forum (with the screenshots!) and CNET, I'm leaning toward the N6010, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the four laptops below compare in terms of (1) build quality, (2) keyboard, and most of all (3) screen brightness and clarity.

Sony A290 (@1900x1200)
HP ZD8000 (@6850x1050)
Qosmio G15 (@1440x900)
Fujitsu N6010 (@1440x900)

I do alot of spreadsheeting, photo editing, DVD watching, and surfing. Sharpness of text and quality keyboard and touch pad are important to me.

I have heard the Qosmio screen is brighter and clearer than the Fujitsu (but at a substantially higher cost), that the Fujitsu and Sony are about even (factoring in the WXGA and WUXGA difference), and that the HP is close but slightly darker and less sharp than the others.

Can anyone help me? If this is the wrong place to ask this, please forgive me and point me to the right place.

Thanks for any help you can give!!

Frodo

Frodo,

Below is just my personal opinion... take it for what its worth.

A 1900X1200 screen resolution provides fonts that can be very small and addressing this issue is not easily accomplished in all applications. That said, this level of resolution might work well for image manipulation. By this I mean that in working with high megapixel images, you frequently have to zoom in many times to use a clone bush to make very minor/careful changes.

AT a 1900X1200 resolution working with spreadsheets might be problematic.

General web surfing at 1900X1200 will yield few scroll bars, but then the small font size problem raises its head... and I've yet to see a hi-res laptop that can really "resize" fonts without ghosting. I'm not saying this can't be done... just that I haven't seen it done well in all applications.

For the above reasons, I've ruled out getting a laptop with 1900X1200 resolution (although it looks terrific on really LARGE screen LCDs, like the 30-32" versions).

The resolution difference between the HP and the Fujitsu/Toshiba is really fairly minimal...its there, but its not much and not a deal breaker.

The display quality of the HP is inferior to either the Fujitsu or the Toshiba. Of course this is subjective statement, but I've yet to meet anyone that has seen the 17" display of the Fujitsu or Toshiba and the 17" HP display that says the HP is better.

The display quality of the Fujitsu 6010 is superior to that of the Toshiba, which, in my opinion, is better than the HP, so we are left with the Fujitsu as the best compilation of power, speed, screen beauty/resolution.

So, there you have it... my take on the laptops you mentioned.

Am I biased in favor of the Fujitsu?

Yes, I am.

I'm biased by the above information I've come to by looking at many, many laptops...and this is what made me decide to purchase the Fujitsu N6010.

Hope this helps.

I just came back from looking at all the screens you mention and I generally agree with Jack_L, except that I would have to say the Toshiba screen is the best of the bunch. Why?

Well, it "seems" to have the least amount of glare and highest amount of brightness. I would then say that the Fujitsu and Sony are tied for second, and for some reason the HP clearly doesn't look as good - highest amount of glare and least amount of brightness.

Therefore, since my perfect screen would have no glare and high brightness and colour accuracy, the Toshiba wins. As far as resolution goes, it is really up to you, as the only benefits you get are as Jack described, and I personally find it a negative on such a small screen.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that I would still get a Fujitsu due to the following:

1. Number keys
2. Qosmio priced poorly
3. Made in Japan

Good Luck