Fujitsu Lifebooks U904 and S904 look pretty awesome

Thanks for the info! I figured it didn't come with it.

 

Now that at least one person has had the U904 apart, I can ask - will it hold more than one storage device?

My P770's optical drive was removed and replaced with a second hard drive. It currently runs two 480Gb SSDs, and that is very, very nice.

Using one 1Tb SSD is acceptable, but if the U904 could also host an mSATA drive, that would be better.

Thanks!

 

FWIW, I've placed an order for Fujitsu U904 (T904 is nowhere to be expected yet, it seems) non-touch. Apparently, they were ready to take my order on December 18th 2013, but they "misplaced it due to the holidays" :/

I was actually positively surprised by the total cost. I've ordered it with:
- non touch screen (better brightness, and when it comes to touch, I'd either have a full digitizer or no touch at all — better brightness, more battery life, what's not to like?)
- i7-4600u
- 10GB RAM
- 500GB HDD + SSD cache (I'll replace it with an SSD on my own: since my last high-end laptop [Sony Vaio VGN-Z 2009] had SSD die 18 months in, I've decided to get my own SSDs since)
- LTE (Siera Wireless EM7305)
- Fingerprint sensor, TPM
- Serbian keyboard (not sure if it's backlit, but I don't care since I am a touch typist: never could understand the hype )
- Port replicator (a must have for me to be able to attach my Dell U2711 over displayport to it)
- Two power adapters (65W slim & light, 90W) with two EU cables
- No operating system (Ubuntu will be going on it: I am happy to finally be able to order a high-end laptop with no Microsoft-tax included)

It all came down to 1505€ including VAT (20% in Serbia) — I first enquired about the variant with one power adapter and 6GB of RAM (expecting outrageous prices) and that was 1445€. They gave me an extra 50€ discount for the delay. Surely, no OS and non-touch screen reduce the cost (I'd be willing to pay extra for non-touch, ha ), but there's the high end vPro CPU, max memory and port replicator, so I am very happy with the purchase. (As an example, Asus Zenbook Infinity UX301 goes for over 2000€ here). The only drawback is that it's 4-7 weeks delivery time (I could have had it by now have they not messed up). Warranty is standard 2 years Collect&Return.

I'll re-read the thread to see what width SSDs fit in to see if I can eg. fit in a regular 512GB Samsung 840 Pro in so I can order them right away.

 

Btw, great find for the Polish review on notebookcheck.pl: I only looked at German and English sites hoping for a review.

Unfortunately, they did not follow exactly the same testing procedures for battery life (the thing I am most worried about): they tested at 75% brightness (which is about 225 cd/m2 according to their measurement of 300 cd/m2 average), as opposed to all the other tests they do at ~150cd/m2. So, in my opinion, 5h30m at 225cd/m2 compared really well to 6h25m for Zenbook Infinity at 150cd/m2 or 6h12m for ATIV Book 9 Plus at 150cd/m2.

That's 50% more luminosity, which would amount to (roughly, I know it's not completely linear) 50% more battery use for the screen. If the screen takes up about one third of the power draw (just a guestimate, though I think it's closer to half on average for modern low-voltage laptops), it might mean at least 12.5% more runtime at 150cd/m2 (1/3 is the screen use, out of that savings would be 1/9 since screen would draw 2/9 now; thus, the power draw would be 8/9 of what they had in the review, so assuming the same battery capacity, 9/8 of their runtime is the projected one), or 6h11m for the touch version. Hopefully, that gets me over my desired 7h for the non-touch version

And with wifi/BT off, I'd be more than able to fly long-haul hacking away without worrying about battery life.

 

The Czech review mentioned in this read tells me that the standard HDD is 7mm high in U904: can anyone confirm that? (That would allow any 2.5" SSD to be installed, or at the very least Samsung 840 Pro that I am interested in).

 

yes, I confirmed....I installed Samsung 840 myself

 

When do you expect it now? Please post some photos / reviews when you get it. I haven't even seen a single picture of the non-touch, matte display version. That's the one I'm interested in.

 

In 4 to 7 weeks. I'll post as much as I can when it gets here (at least a few photos of the screen next to my Dell U2711 for brightness and colour comparison).

 

I see. Interested to see the comparison.

 

Finally the notebookcheck investigation is here: Test Fujitsu Lifebook U904 Ultrabook | notebookcheck.com
English translation will mostly likely appear in a couplke of days on www.notebookcheck.net

 

They did one already on their Polish section, but it wasn't as in depth. What's weird is how different their measurements were like on the display uniformity.

Recenzja Fujitsu LifeBook U904 - Notebookcheck.pl

The German review you posted though makes the display appear better. It doesn't have the issue with the lower left corner being too dim.

The 81% average score is pretty low. The Asus UX301LA and the Samsung ATIV 9 Plus I think get around 88-89%.

 

The german review is a mixed bag i think. They spent time with it and there are lots of great pictures. The unit they had might have been a lemon though. The gap between display and bezel looks bad and also the keys and touchpad seem uneven.

things criticised are:
- subpar buildquality (gaps, trackpad)
- sticker alignment not perfect
- sim card too accessible (could be removed by someone else if you are not looking) and hard to insert (undocumented remove a flap and then pull tray mechanism),
- flimsy lan connector could break easily
- no defined key stroke makes it hard for touch typists
- cpu throttles almost immediatly under load
- screen resolution too high for some applications, reducing resolution to 1600*900 looks washed out and worse than screens with native 1600*900
- screen very reflective
- hdmi instead of mini-dp on the laptop itself
- fujitsu does not want you to self-service it, threatens with voiding warranty


The author liked the design and materials used, good components (wifi, wwan) and that it has a docking option but ultimatly recommends it only to those that can live with the glare screen, bad keyboard and need the high resolution.

Edit: They mentioned the upcoming hp folio 1040 as competitor and a quick look seems to confirm it, too bad hp only offers it with a full-hd display.

 

It looks like Fujitsu spent too much time copying Apple.

 

Another question to those who have had the U904 apart - do you think the CPU can be switched?

The i7-4600 might be nice, but there are similar units that offer similar power draw but improved graphics.

 

Could anyone who has the laptop comment on what the screen is like at 1600 x 900 resolution. Is the screen washed out as reported in one of the reviews?

 

Interesting to see the German notebookcheck review as well.

Now, after they have confirmed my calculations for the battery life (it's even better than I estimated), I am only worried about two things: keyboard and size. Being used to 12.5-13.1 inch laptops, I wonder how will I like the 14" size. As for keyboard, I naturally expected to have a worse typing experience than with my current 2009 Sony Vaio Z (which has a brillian keyboard), but I hope it won't be as abysmal as the review makes it out to be.

Glare and outdoor use should not be a problem for me since I'm getting the non-touch version.

I personally don't get the entire deal with viewing angles either: I will be the sole person looking at my laptop screen, and 20-30 degrees of viewing angles is good enough. Actually, I want as few people as possible next to me to be able to look at my screen.

As for CPU throttling, one should be able to either modify ACPI tables to configure it, or simply not use ACPI/cpu throttling at all on GNU/Linux. There seems to be enough thermal "room" for that since the laptop is pretty cool and quiet in notebookcheck testing.

 

The cpu is soldered, so no. Almost all ultrabooks come with cpu soldered, so get one with the cpu/gpu you need.
If you want a socketed cpu, you could check out some offerings based on clevo barebones, but build quality may be an issue there and these are not exactly thin & light.


@ Данило:
I'm also concerned about size, coming from a 12" lenovo x61 (god why does noone build 4:3 laptops anymore.) The bezels on the u904 are rather slim, so it should be ok.

 

I replaced my ssd last night and took a few pictures. Thought I share with you guys and see if you have any questions

 

one more...42mm m.2?

 

Cool! 'Specially since the 1Tb mSATA EVO is now up for preorder.....

Does it have two batteries? One photo seems to show two, one with 3150mAh rating and the other battery with a 2900mAh rating.

It also looks like s small card, to the left of the larger battery and attached to a bright yellow connector, is attached to wires. I would guess this is the Wifi/Bluetooth card. I wonder if it could be swapped out, for AC or later versions of BlueTooth, or even LTE?

Now, where are my lottery tickets.....

 

not sure about the battery but definitely there is a separation in the middle

 

@rfielder:

Please read this thread a few posts back, it was already discussed which ssd's fit into the m.2 slot (hint: the samsung mSata won't fit). For 1tb ssd space i'd go with the 2.5" samsung, if you need more space, you could try 2 mSata sticks in a 2.5" raid adapter. The only one i found is listed as sata II though, so you'd sacrifice sequential read performance for space and 2 1TB mSata ssd come at a high price.

Great find on the batteries though. One is labeled as li po (product number fpcbp412) , the other one as li ion (product number? fpb0305s). I'm not sure why they combine the 2, maybe both have advantages (charging time, charging cycles, cost) and they wanted to optimize it. (Edit: technically li-po is also li-ion, maybe both packs are lipo and just labeled differently. The datasheet says the battery is a 4-cell li-po).



I also wonder if those moose dampers on the speakers are the reason for the abysmal sound. Is there any reason for them to put those directly on the output side of the speakers or are the speakers facing directly onto the palmrest?

 

Yep, it looks like Type3042-xx-B card ( 30x 42mm key B M.2 Socket 2):
Zoom in the notebookcheck pic: http://www.notebookcheck.com/fileadmin/Notebooks/Fujitsu/Lifebook_U904/unten_mobil.jpg

 

There has been little talk about the S904. I find this machine more attractive because of the battery. A colleague got his on Friday and he sent me this capture:



I really want the same batterylife (25 hours 34 minutes)...

1.6kg and 13" screen, second battery in the bay.

*Edit: corrected typo

 

No wonder the speakers are so bad - there's no where for the output to go!

 

Finally, the English translation of the German review was posted on NotebookCheck.

Review Fujitsu Lifebook U904 Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

I think I'm going to hold off on this model for now. It doesn't seem like much of an upgrade and is actually worse in a lot of areas to my Samsung Series 9 Ivy Bridge model. Sad that there aren't many matte display notebooks these days.

 

URBANGLOWCAM, we seem to be looking for a lot of the same things in a notebook. Battery life, thin and a good keyboard are most important to me. Heavily prefer a dedicated docking solution so I don't have to go the USB route, which I understand can be buggy. Matte screen would be nice, but if not an option, as long as it's bright enough to reduce most glare, that's fine with me. With that in mind, what are you looking at now? (I'd have gone with the X1 despite the issues here and there but that battery life is a killer.)

 

Yup, looking for the same thing. I had the new X1 Carbon Haswell. It was great until it showed an issue with the display that would keep going off. This was within 2 hours of owning it. Since I had all three iterations with the X1 Carbon with issues, I am avoiding Lenovo as much as I can.

The Fujitsu looks great but the fact that it gets a lot of criticism for the keyboard and speakers, and only got an 81% while its competitors get an 88-89% on notebookcheck, I feel like it'd be wrong to get one. The Samsung Series 9 I have now is pretty great too so I don't know if it would be much of an upgrade. Yet I keep looking at reviews for the U904 lol.

 

I agree. I don't want an Ultrabook. While slim is sexy, I want a workhorse that is sub 14" diagonal while retaining an ODD (optional) and providing massive battery life. Any chance you can get him to share some more feedback? How does he like it so far?

 

Chris Ball » Fujitsu Lifebook U904 review - doesn't seem like the keyboard is that bad after all. Like you, I currently own a Samsung Series 9 and am really leaning towards the U904.

 

Yeah that is a bit more reassuring even though I've heard more cases of the keyboard being pretty weak. I do like the sound of it improving though with use.

I'm still worried about the speakers. I've noticed I've used mine without speakers more often than I thought on the Samsung, and these speakers sound great for an ultrabook. Either way, I'm still waiting for that matte display to at least be available on the Fujitsu and/or the price to come down a bit. I wonder if the matte panel will even be available in the states anymore.

 

I contacted fujitsu germany regarding their terms of warranty and customer replacing harddrive.
First answer:

I continued and asked what would happen if a customer would install an existing drive nontheless (they only offer up to 512GB as custom options and buying an additional drive if you already have one is pointless) and the response was

So there's that. I don't like doing business with people who don't trust my skills and their products durability enough that undoing some simple screws and plugging in another standard drive is a risk so high that it voids the warranty.

Back to square one for me...

 

I got my own yesterday! After a full day at work I still have 78% of battery left. Guess the computer has been used for at least 5 hours today, mostly remote desktop, but also web/mail.

The multibay is occupied by the 2nd battery, but you could use this for an ODD or a space-/weight saver. It is weighing 1.6kg and easy to move around. My edition came with a port replicator, the 2nd battery and 4G/LTE (VFY:S9040MXP11NC).

I have previously used Lenovos (X201 and T440) and must say that the keyboard on the Fujitsu is not that bad. I'm a touch typist and have not had any problems adjusting to this keyboard.

Great computer so far.

There is one feature/option that I do not understand. In the top back corner of the screen (backside), there is a small "screen" looking almost like an IR-transmitter. Have not found any info about it. Could be a design feature, but it keeps me wondering what it is ...?

 

Yes, it is in my humble opinion unusable at that resolution.
Hopefully more and more developers will have high res displays in mind when updating their software..

 

Maybe the s904 has a better keyboard than the u904? It's not as slim and could have more keytravel. Do you know if the internal hdd is accessible via the service-flap at the bottom (looks like it's just ram, but maybe not *fingers crossed*).

The plastic corner is likely to improve wifi and/or wwan reception.

 

I own/have owned both the Fujitsu U904 and an ASUS UX301 infinity (U4558/Iris), the latter was returned due to a noisy fan present when I received it, and "exchanged" for the Fujitsu.
It seems a lot of people here are split between the two - and this still applies for me - so for any future buyers - my thoughts on the two..

Design is a very subjective thing. Both are very nice, but in different ways. Fujitsu being a bit more conservative and business like - which is of course also the segment that the U904 is meant for..
Both have a (to me) rather annoying issue - they have sharp edges on the front - the Fujitsu is acceptable, but the ASUS actually was in that aspect poorly designed - of course not sharp as a knife , but felt uncomfortable.

Build quality: Both are quality products. The ceramic surface of the ASUS however, was very impressive, and the Gorilla glass lid also very nice, but overall I still find Fujitsu slightly better.

The specs of the ASUS are better, but that does not always come through in reality - unfortunately in this case - it does. The UX301 (the U4558 version..) feels a lot more responsive even with simple tasks as opening office. No benchmarks - just the subjective feeling of it. (same antivirus, office etc installed, Win8.1 vs Win8.1 Pro however - but still pretty comparable setup). It might be due to the combination of the U4558 CPU and a better SSD disk setup in the ASUS.
This leads me to battery..
The U4558 has a much higher wattage than the U4600 because of the lower basic CPU speed (same max speed)- but the battery in the ASUS actually lasted longer than the Fujitsu. With the Fujitsu I have not been able to pass 5 hours even using Eco power plan.. This is the single most disappointing thing with the Fujitsu - I actually bought it because of the lower CPU wattage, hoping that the 10 hours Fujitsu theoretically promises, would at least be 7.5.

But.. one good thing about the low wattage CPU is heat production is low - and hence fan noise from the U904 is incredibly low - lower than the ASUS. Actually only noticeable when placing an ear right next to the fan outlet (standard use, Word, surfing etc)

Keyboard: DId not have much time with the ASUS to compare writing long texts, but the quality of the Fujitsu keybard seems a bit better, it is a bit more noisy but also a bit more firm. I make a lot of typing errors because of the short travel keys (pretty good excuse right?) + I'm used to a keyboard with very little space between keys, the Fujitsu feels like it is stretched out with 2-3 mms space between keys. I still believe (hope..?) that this is just a matter of adjustment from my part. The ASUS had a lot of "light bleed" from the backlit keys - this actually annoyed me when sitting i in a certain angle of the keyboard, the U904 is better in this aspect although it is still there (nitpicking yes.. but never the less we are talking about quite expensive hardware)

U904 touchpad: I hate it - it is not responsive when I want it to respond, and hyper responsive when accidentially activated, even with a lot of tweaking in the Synaptics driver. Honestly cannot remember that the ASUS annoyed me as much, but like the keyboard, I cant't say that I tested it thoroughly enough for the short period of time that I had it..Tried updating the latest Synaptics driver, in hope of a better experience, but this proved impossible due to missing driver signatures.

Screen: Both are great color and light wise - in my subjective view the Fujitsu screen is slightly better. Of course they both suffer from the highly annoying scaling issues with high DPI displays. I optimistically thought that the 3200x1800 on the U904 could be run at 1600x900 and be just as great - but this is not the case - it is washed out. Some programs are downright unusable og these ultrabooks..

So the winner of the two? Honestly I don't know. I would love to have the battery and speed of the ASUS, and the 512 gigabyte SSD (2x256). But all other aspects of the Fujitsu (including the docking station) appeals more to me. It annoys me that Fujitsu says that changing the SSD yourself voids warranty (not quite sure if they actually can do that in the EU from a legal perspective) - because with 3 years warranty - who would want to void that simply to change the disk..

 

I don't think Fujitsu will know if you replaced the HD to SSD (and/or memory). You can always replace the SSD to HD again if warranty repair needs to be done as long as the swap is carefully done (and the right tool). I already swap hard drive/SSD 3-4 times without any problem. I am not a techie myself btw

 

Hi everyone, I'm also looking into getting a S904 soonish.

I spoke with Fujitsu Support here in Portugal and they confirmed me that the HDD on the S904 ( S, not U, that one I didn't ask about ) is user replaceble without voiding the warranty of the machine.

Is the 1920x1080 panel available anywhere? I'm a bit wary of the IGZO resolution for everyday work.

How is your experience with RDP, email, etc?

 

Thank you very much for the insight.

So you have the Glare / Touch Version?! - Any concerns about the reflections?
How do you deal with the Screen Resolution? Scaling? To what percentage?
Particularly with RDP, as RDP doesn't scale (or does it?)
Still a concern to me. I have a 27" WQHD Display... Not certain how to deal with that res on 13" (and whether Windows will mess up my multi-monitor setup when scaling).

How's the Fan-Noise (if any)?

As far as the "screen" is concerned, on Fujitsu Lifebook S904 in a short Hands On - YouTube the guy thought it would light up (so did I) - Any LED in There?

I want to order the same device but am still negotiating around IT Policies (Dell or Apple only).

 

On this bit I can tell you Windows 8.1 lets you define different scalling on each monitor.

See here for ex: Windows 8.1 DPI Scaling Enhancements

 

btw... non-touch/non-glare option is now available:
Fujitsu Lifebook U904, Core i7-4600U, 10GB RAM, 256GB SSD (U9040MXPA1DE) Preisvergleich | Geizhals Deutschland

 

I wish...

It doesn't allow you to configure monitors individually / manually.
When I tested it with my existing Setup (27" WQHD = 108.79 PPI + 2x 24" FHD = 91.79 PPI + 12.5" WXGA = 125.37 PPI), it would mess up. Rather than "normalizing" the DPI, it would scale all of them, even if I just wanted the 27" to reflect the DPI of the 24" Screens. Hence my concern - if I was to scale the Laptop's Display to, for example 150%, it would probably do the same to my bigger screens...
In reality, I would like to set the Fujitsu to 150%, all other Monitors to 100%.

Commenter "tboggs13" also got it, from the comments of your link:

 

The service-flap seems to be RAM only. It's only a few screws to remove the back cover. I'll try to remove it and take som pictures.

 

I do not think you can get the S904 with a lower resolution display.

When I use MSTSC I get 2560x1440 resolution from the remote computer. Impossible to use effectively, but quite impressive I use RemoteDesktopConnectionManager, and this program scales the remote computer very good.

I have two co-workers with similar machines, and one of them have set the resolution to 1920x1080 and 100% scaling (in 2560 Windows is scaled to 200%). He is mainly using MSTSC and is very happy with the battery and the resolution.

Remember: IGZO is the technology behind the LED panel. The resolution is QHD (2560x1440).

 

Can hardly hear the fan, but under heavy load it is audible. In a quiet room I guess it would be annoying.

I have the touch/glare-version, but have not tried the computer under direct sun-light. An impressive screen!

There is no LED in the "backside screen window" (do not know what to call this thing, but I'll believe its put in to improve WWAN :- )

 

Thank you for the feedback.

I was going on the Display info on Fuijitsu's spec site:
Display
33.8 cm (13.3-inch), LED backlight, (WQHD), Glare IGZO touch display, magnesium, 2,560 x 1,440 pixel, 1,000:1, 350 cd/m²
33.8 cm (13.3-inch), LED backlight, (WQHD), Anti-glare IGZO non-touch display, magnesium, 2,560 x 1,440 pixel, 1,000:1, 350 cd/m²
33.8 cm (13.3-inch), LED backlight, (Full HD), Glare IGZO touch display, magnesium, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel, 1,000:1, 350 cd/m²
33.8 cm (13.3-inch), LED backlight, (Full HD), Anti-glare IGZO non-touch display, magnesium, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel, 1,000:1, 350 cd/m²

LIFEBOOK S904 - Fujitsu CEMEA&I

So you can run it on 1080p and use it day to day (usually non native always has a terrible blur on LCDs)?

Do you have the non-touch version? How is the glare?

 

I opened the computer for you to see

The backside:


There is a battery cover. This is a bit tricky to put back in place. The manual have directions for assembly:


Battery removed. Please note the SIM-card slot in the upper right corner (I have ejected the SIM-card in this picture)


The service compartment. Gives you access to the SO-DIMM:


The two batteries:

 

continuing:

The screws removed:


Backside of S904 without cover:


Sideview of the SSD-disk (7mm):


Samsung 256GB SSD-disk:

 

Got my first ultrabook last week. After a week of proper use, I'd like to share some of my personal experiance with you guys. First of all, many thanks to all the owner's that posted that reviews in the thread.

Offical website config


My own computer shows


I don't know why is this.....please ignore the lauguage.


Looks premium, but it is a fingerprint collector. Just had to be careful when holding it. Btw, it is pure black and has some shinny materials sticked on top it, looks awesome. The finishing it great, quality stuff.

I never owned a IBM, but the keyboard is definitly very flat, but doesn't bother me at all, although it took me two-three days to get use to it, I can nowl type fast without typo. Liked the backspace button!!!!! (owned a 2010 Macbook pro, no backspace button)

Touchpad: Yet again, you'll have to get use to it. It is huge....and it has a unvisible control boundary, the touchpad won't act "click" if you click on the very right side of this touchpad, and this annoys me for the first few days.

Sreen: glare, responsive, beatiful color!! Scaling is bad, but ok, just had to wait for further Microsoft updates.

WIFI: My mobile and previous old Macbook pro has around 40-60% signal, U904? 80-100%. This is the biggest surprise to me.

Heat and noise: both performed very well. Only gets a bit warm at the bottom. Hardly hear any noise.

Battery life and charging time: around 4-5 hours. charging time: i think it fully charges itself in just over one hour.

Enjoying this light laptop.

 

I see our supplier operates with QHD=2560x1440 and WQHD+ =3200x1800 (for the U904). I have the touch/glare version, but have no problems with it. I have previously only used matte screens, and have had to adjust the angle of the screen one or two times to avoid glare from overhead lamps.

It's my coworker who have resett the resolution to full HD. I have not worked (only tested) with FHD. As I got the RDCMan to scale I have not bothered to reduce the resolution. The ratio should work going from 2560 to 1920.