Fujitsu caused no small amount of head-scratching when they labelled their LifeBook T1010 Tablet PC as “entry-level”, not least because of its $1,775 price tag. The 13.3-inch convertible has a choice of either Intel’s 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU or a 2.16 Celeron-M, together with 1GB or 2GB of RAM; CNET Australia have been playing with the faster processor and larger chunk of memory, but even then they’re not entirely convinced by the T1010.
Fujitsu’s ST6010/ST6012 Tablet PC has reached the FCC for the usual round of wireless testing and mediocre photography. The pen-enabled slate at least got a room with a view, as opposed to other pictures we’ve seen. As well as certification, we now have access to the ST6010’s user manual, revealing that the PC is more of an evolution of the previous model than a revolution.
With Western Digital tipped to be negotiating with Fujitsu over acquiring the latter’s hard-drive business, Toshiba has thrown its hat into the fray. A Toshiba executive has told the Wall Street Journal that, if Fujitsu approached the company, they would consider putting in a bid of their own.
Fujitsu and Western Digital are in the midst of negotiating a deal that would see the former hand over its entire hard-drive business as part of a ¥70 billion to ¥100 billion (US$661 million to US$944 million) buy-out. According to the Chinese-language Nikkei business daily, talks between the two companies have been in progress for some time now, with an agreement expected by the end of the year.
Multitouch isn’t a total stranger to notebooks – Dell’s Latitude XT shipped with a capacitive touchscreen that, in July, got a firmware update to enable pinch-zooming and other gestures, while Synaptics’ latest touchpads have multitouch-style gestures - but it’s been a harder sell than in, say, Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. Windows 7 will ship with support for multitouch, but manufacturers are more cautious; according to a Fujitsu spokesperson, touch-sensitivity on a notebook “is not intuitive”.
Details of a new Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PC have emerged, in the shape of the ST6012. A slate-format tablet (i.e. no keyboard or convertible hinge), the ST6012 has quietly appeared on Fujitsu’s site complete with a PDF of system specs. Running a 1.40GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ULV SU9400 (3MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) processor with a 12.1-inch WXGA active touchscreen, the ST6012 has optional integrated 3G UMTS WWAN.
It’s been almost two months since Fujitsu’s U820 UMPC (aka U2010) cleared the FCC, and it’s still yet to show up for sale in the US. Now at least a small sign of the compact touchscreen convertible has turned up, in the support section of Fujitsu’s US site.
From big boxes do small gadgets come, and Fujitsu’s U820 (aka U2010, aka U/B50N) UMPC certainly doesn’t disappoint on either of those counts. The U820’s 5.6-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 touchscreen might not be ideal for everyone’s eyes, but the tech packed into such a small device surely has to earn Fujitsu some kudos. jkkmobile has one of the first video unboxings we’ve seen so far.
The Fujitsu L1010 appears to be a great introductory notebook for students, those on a budget or those looking for something with a bit more style. This middle of the road laptop is fully capable of performing whatever tasks you need it to do from running Office programs to some gaming.
The biggest news this week has been coming out of IFA 2008, with SlashGear’s roving reporter there, Milena Glimbovski, sending back all the details of the hottest new hardware. The netbook train shows no sign of slowing, with LG’s X110 and Fujitsu’s AMILO Mini Ui 3620 finally stepping out of the shadows and getting full announcements. There’s too much good stuff to mention it all individually, so check out the IFA 2008 tag for SlashGear’s full coverage.
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