Introduction
The Notebook finally arrived after approx 1.5 months of delayed delivery due to shipping of parts to Fujitsu-Siemens. I did receive some compensation from Fujitsu. It was to my liking so there are no hard feelings against them. As I understand Fujitsu is, in Sweden anyway, supposed to be well known for its great screens and good overall quality. I hope this one would not deviate.
NB! If the pictures load slowely thats because they are uploaded inte Swedish server. Sorry in that case. Also one or two cases of bad spelling may occur. Sorry for that if so.

Package



1 Amilo M4438G
1 Carrying-Bag
1 Fujitsu recovery cd
1 AC adapter
1 Manual
1 Modem with jack
1 VGA adapter
1 Cd Worksuite 2005
1 Cd Drivers and utilities
1 Offer with 1 year free music videos to download


So what was in the package!
I start with the extras in the box. The bag was black as on the picture. In sturdy textile. Nothing fancy. Just room for the notebook and the AC-adapter. I think I will need to buy something else later with room for DVD’s and stuff. It will do for now. An easy guide in Swedish with all the necessary information. Software consisted of Fujitsu recovery with Windows XP Home edition. Worksuite 2005 with Microsoft Money, Word, Autoroute 2005, Encarta 2005, Works 8 and Photo premium 10. Drivers and utilities Cd with all manuals and software/drivers you could need. The 1-year free music video I don’t think I will need, maybe second thoughts later. For me a free game and nice program would have been better. But all in all a good software package for home office.


Specification
More info here (http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/Resou.../562938810.pdf)

• Screen: Wide 17 inch, TFT Glare WUXGA = 1920 X 1200
• Motherboard / Chipset: INTEL Centrino 915PM (Alviso) + ICH6-M
• CPU: INTEL Pentium M (2,0GHz, 2MB L2,)
• Memory Bank 1 : 512 MB PC2700 (DDR SDRAM, 333MHz SO-DIMM)
• Memory Bank 2 : 512 MB PC2700 (DDR SDRAM, 333MHz SO-DIMM)
• Harddrive: Supports 2 HDD with RAID 0+1. Installed 80 GB IDE (5400rpm, 2MB cache)
• Graphics: Geforce 6800Go 6800Go - nVIDIA
• Sound: 8-channel 7.1 multichannel Azalia standard support
(Realtek ALC880) S/PDIF support 1 x Subwoofer, 1 x volume regulator (per function key)
• Network: Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g (Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 BG)
• Modem: 56Kb, V.92 Data/Fax
• Optical unit: DUAL DVD-Burner NEC 6500A DVD+R/DVD-R 8x
• Floppy: no
• Card reader: 4-in-1 supports:
1. Multi Media Card
2. Secure Digital Card
3. Sony Memory Stick
4. Sony Memory Stick Pro
• Speakers: Integrated Stereo with subwoofer
• Connection Ports:
1 IEEE 1394, 1 I/II PC Card slot (32 bit CardBus support),
1 S-Video out, 1 RJ-45 LAN,
1 RJ-11 Modem, 1 microphone in,
1 line-in, 1 combined headphone & Digital S/PDIF optical, 1 AC adapter,
4 USB 2, 1 DVI-I for external monitor, 1 IR port for remote control
• Size: WxDxH in cm / Weight in Kg 40.8 x 28.9 x 3.81 cm / 3.7 Kg (measured)
• Battery: approx: 2 hours (Li-Ion battery, 8 cells, 14.8V / 4400mA)
• AC adapter: External 110 – 240 V AC, 50-60HZ, output: 120W 3PIN

The Looks and feels








The outside is shiny smooth silver. It breaths quality. It’s big, but then it’s a 17” so it was expected. But it’s not thick. From what I have seen of other 17”, this is amongst the thinnest. It weighs 3.7Kg with one hard drive. I think also amongst the lightest. Keyboard feels just right, but a normal size keyboard will do for me at home (fat-fingered). Touchpad has scroll zones in vertical direction. Horizontal scroll is at the bottom of the touchpad.
Four buttons in top of the keyboard is for easy access to (from left) PowerCinema InstantOn, Internet Explorer, Mail and Silent Mode. To the right a big power-on button. Can be used to turn computer off because it’s like pressing shut-down in windows.
On top of that is LED’s for Power, Wireless LAN, Suspend Mode, Silent Mode etc.

There is not much noise coming out of it. I’m surprised how quiet it is. The hard drive is very quit. It does get a bit warm as it’s placed on the right side and you feel it with your right hand when using the onboard keyboard (the small hatch on bottom picture). Other than that not very warm overall.
It’s filled with 1024 Mb of RAM in 2 slots. It’s easily upgraded by a couple of screws in the bottom (the big hatch). In the same place you can have S-ATA hard drive number 2 in RAID configuration for performance and/or storage or mirroring. The battery is placed in the top. Easy to take away with a sliding button. To the left the fan outlet and the tiny subwoofer.

Connections
4 USB can be too few for some people. As I will use a USB hub anyway for external keyboard, external hard drive, mouse etc I will not have any problems. Headphone/SPDIF and microphone. (I think the SPDIF can be used with optical cable directly to Home cinema because I see a little lamp inside. However can’t confirm it), Volume control, Fire wire, Card-reader (not compact flash, too bad), tele-modem, LAN, DVI-out and S-video out.

LCD
The WUXGA Crystal View with 1920x1200 is absolutely wonderful. No signs of light leakage or reflections. The Glare coat works great. I have yet to see a better LCD. I think there are but I haven’t seen them yet. I believe Sony’s are maybe it’s equal. It’s clearly better then Dells. Rich colours and very bright. I had to reduce brightness to something that suites me. I have tested it with some games, for example Battlefield 2 and Medal of Honour Pacific assault. No ghosting and crystal sharp picture. DVD’s looks as on a 17” LCD for TV-use. That means very good.


Benchmarking/Test
In 3Dmark 2003 I got 8673p. In 3DMark 2005 I got 3563p. That’s with Forceware 72.50 with factory settings. I’m really happy with these scores. I think Fujitsu beat Dell’s 9300. Also the Games tested (Battlefield 2 and Medal of Honour Pacific assault), I don’t have any scores or FPS, but I’m very happy with the gaming experiences. Beats the heck out of my over clocked ATI 9800Pro with new cooling in my desktop (5600p in 3DMark 2003).
The built-in speakers and subwoofer delivers very good quality sound but a little more volume would have been nice.
The S-ATA hard drive does the job quick and quietly. The S-ATA does seem to give it a little boost compared to P-ATA. One again, no scores from any test, only my humble opinion.
DVD-burner NEC-6500A I think also is quiet. I’m sure it’s the standard DVD for many other brands.
Battery dries out fast when using heavy load. Also it’s slows down very much when using battery. I went from 8700p to 1500p in 3DMark. Battery use is only for writing and internet surfing. But I could go on for over 2 hours when using the Silent Mode.

Power Cinema Instant On Linux

This includes a built-in remote control and a program installed in windows, but it is a Linux program. You boot the notebook with the remote into Linux Power Cinema. A very easy interface shows. You can play your Divx, DVD, MP3, WMA or whatever sitting in your sofa and the notebook connected to your TV. From hard drive, USB or DVD-player. I find it very useful and I no longer have an urge to buy me a HTPC (home theatre PC). If I could equip it with a TV-card and record my programs, I would be king of the hill. Since its Linux (open source), people will improve it and in time, hopefully, have more goodies. The battery will also last longer since no need to boot into Windows. How long I can’t say right know. Haven’t got the time to test battery capacity there yet.

Conclusion
This is a high quality product. Well built, excellent LCD, very good gaming performance and it got the looks. Not that punk-ass LAN look as the Dell XPS2 . A Machine with added extras as the Instant On and additional hard drive in RAID. On the bad side is of course the Battery. Not better nor worse then other notebooks with this performance. Also it gets slightly warm on the right side and the bottom. If you can get it at a reasonable price, it’s a highly recommendable notebook for replacing your desktop. Also you don’t have to drag it. 3.7Kg is possible to carry. It will be great when I have it in my backpack and take it with my motorcycle to next LAN

Where did you bought it? Thats the only question i got i want one 2

Very nice review. Thank you.

I wonder how your screen compares to my Gateway m680. It would be interesting to know.

Hope you have someone with the m680 to compare to screen.

The M4438G is available in stores for ex in Sweden http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.asp?sku=308384&cks=PRL

Approx 2500US$ I think elsewhere in Europe is cheaper for instance Germany

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this computer will be coming to Canada soon...

Do you have any pictures showing the awesome screen in use?

Nice review! I've been considering the M3438, as that's the only one out in the UK at the moment, but hopefully in 2 months they'll have this one out... I'm hoping with the same pricetag.

Indeed a good review. I'm definately going to buy that, but not sure whether I'm going to get 2GHz or 2,13GHz; I guess it all depends on how much the price is. I'm glad you found the screen to be good. My main worry has been that the high resolution is too much for games, but as HDTV is nearing I think WUXGA is the best bet when looking at the future.

I've heard these rumours that the GPU might be MXM as in exchangeable (in the future). Is this right? I know there's not too many notebooks out there that have exchangeable GPUs inside, but I've heard that Amilo M3438/4438 might have that ability.

Belch, I might be wrong but you did not mention the fact that Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 should be included in the program package. Am I right? I need that program (the full Photoshop is WAY too expensive) and I've read the data sheet which mentions that Elements 3.0 should be included.

It's good to know that a carrying bag is included because this notebook wouldn't have fit in my leather Targus bag. However, that carrying bag looks a bit cheap so I don't think it's very durable.

The price is amazingly low. I checked that Swedish online shop and the price for M4438 model with 1,86GHz Pentium-M (M750), WUXGA screen and 512 MB RAM was under 2000 euros. That's insanely low although my notebook is going to be more expensive as I need either M760 (2GHz) or M770 (2,13GHz) and 1 GB RAM. But the good news is that I don't think that even with those specs the total price won't be over 2500 euros.

Lastly, I want to ask you, Belch, about updating this notebook. Does Fujitsu-Siemens have a site from which you can download updates for example for the GPU or what? I know that Ati lets you download updates to GPUs from its site but I don't know whether nVIDIA does the same. Also, there's been some talk that people should right away re-install their OS, Windows, to get better performance. Did you re-install Windows?

there are Fujitsu in my school, their screen's are amazing..
with the 6800go.. thats a sweet notebook

That's bad-ass. I'm very jealous. I don't think these will even be available in the US, ever.

Can you be more specific about the battery time? How long can you watch a DVD for unplugged at medium brightness?

First: No pics from screen. Sorry for that. I will be busy for some time now so I have only time for answering some questions from work. Maybe pics will come up soon from other source.
Second: Dont know of exchangable graphics. Would be great though! Adobe elements 3.0 is otional (as seen on the datasheet). Mine was delivered with elements. The bag looks and feels indeed cheap. But it will hold together. You will need extra space. Drivers are released on fujitsu homepage. But Forceware not very often. Not very easy to install the standard nVidia driver yourself but possible.
I have not reinstalled Windows yet. I will when I got me the extra harddrive.

when will this laptop be available in canada?
or
where can i buy this laptop online? is there an english website?