After comparing the Fujitsu P5010 and the IBM X31 side by side, I have finally decided on the P5010. The screen, although it is a reflective one as opposed to the X31’s defused matt surface, it is much brighter as well as much better image quality than the X31’s. At special student discounted price of HKD$14,888, it also cost much less than the X31 with the same setup.
The only things that are missing is a built-in IrDA/Bluetooth and a built-in microphone. It has PCMCIA, Wireless IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 1934, USB 2.0 x 2, SD/MMC/MS slot, CF slot, Modem, Ethernet 10/100 LAN. VGA via a supplied adapter cable, S-Video via optional adapter cable, SPDIF digital, phone jack, and microphone jack. A built-in swappable DVD/CD-RW dual drive.
The touch pad is the first one I have ever used. The added vertical as well as horizontal scroll function on the touch pad is much more convenient than the touch button on other notebooks such as the X31 and my older Fujitsu B-2548 and B-110. It even made the scroll button between the left and right mouse button on the P5010 redundant. I would rather have a center mouse button in lure of the scroll button for Avant background tab browsing.
The built-in Wireless LAN works seamlessly with Linksys Wireless-G Router. Sony Ericsson’s GPRS PC Card Modem GC75 also works fine on analog dial-up. I have yet to try its GPRS function.
One problem I ran into so far is USB-IrDA adapters. I have tried two so far and neither of them work. I’ll be testing a few more soon.
All in all, the P5010 is, for the first time in my life, a truly mobile PC for me.
WhaUSay?!