Fujitsu Lifebook P7230

A new year has begun, yet today we will be taking a look at the Fujitsu Lifebook P7230 which was introduced last year. For quite some time the Lifebook P-series aka the Loox T-series (Japanese version) has been Fujitsu’s weapon against the likes of Sony’s Vaio T-series, Panasonic’s Let’s Note series and other ultraportables in the 10”-11” segment.

The P7230 which was launched almost a year ago, comes with a 10.6” LED backlit widescreen, fingerprint reader, webcam and weighs less than 3 lbs. To appeal to a broader crowd it is available in 3 colors – Black, White and a limited Pink Edition. In addition, the Japanese version comes with the option of many different colors for the lid. While most business people will probably choose the black version due to its more professional and subtle looks, I’m sure the white version makes the P7230 more attractive to the non-professionals. And the likely target group for the limited Pink Edition? I’ll leave that up to your imagination.

Despite the size, just like the Sony Vaio TX and TZ, the Lifebook P7230 also features a built-in DVD burner. Having a built-in optical drive in a notebook this size is an achievement in itself, but what is truly remarkable, not to mention useful, is the fact that the drive sits in a modular bay. This is usually only featured in larger business type notebooks. So what does this mean in practical terms? It means that you at will can swap the DVD burner with an extra battery instead and hence enjoy significantly longer battery life. Or, should you just want to make the notebook as light as possible, you can simply remove the extra battery or the optical drive, and instead slot in a blank plastic insert in the modular bay.

Even with some impressive features, the P7230 is a bit of a let down when it comes to performance. Naturally, depending on the need of the user, performance is not necessarily a vital point when it comes to ultraportables. However, compared to many of its competitors, the P7230 is not quite on the same level. It originally came with a Core Solo U1400 1.2 GHz processor and even with the latest CPU refresh for the P7230, the Core Duo U2500 1.2 GHz is still no match for the U7600 Core 2 Duo found in the Sony Vaio TZ and Panasonic Let’s Note R7. Interestingly, the aforementioned U7600 is available in the Japanese version of the Lifebook P7230, called Fujitsu Loox T70X. This levels the playing field, but unfortunately the Japanese version is only available in Japan.

Setting CPU speed aside, the real Achilles heel is the 1.8” 4.200 RPM hard drives offered. Even if this notebook is not meant for major multimedia tasks or heavy use, the combination of a slow hard drive and Windows Vista can be annoying at times.

However, depending on your needs, the P7230 may be just right for you. All in all it is a nice, small and light ultraportable notebook which offers a lot of useful features such as the LED lit screen and modular bay.

More on the Fujitsu Lifebook P7230:
Notebookreview review
Laptopmag review
ZDNet review
Geek review