Fujitsu Lifebooks U904 and S904 look pretty awesome

thanks for the pictures of the s904, really nice. Is the bottom cover made of magnesium alloy or plastic? Also the speakers seem a bit bigger and less cramped than on the u904, how does it sound?

 

Thanks for posting. Is this the first time the non-touch has been made available internationally?

I'm concerned if the US will even release this with retailers.

 

I did contact Fujitsu in UK and they told me it was ok to change hard disk and i would not void the HDD as long as I kept the original one and if I sent for repair I would replace it back.

I kept the email

With regard to the hard drive replacement You are allowed to do this but should you have a fault with the product in the future we would recommend that you remove the hard drive and fit the original. Also if the new hard drive cuases a fault or you damage the product fitting or removing the hard drive then you will invalidate the warranty.


--
Fujitsu (FTS) Limited, Registered No.: 03808613
Registered Office : Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8SN

 

I did contact Fujitsu in UK and they told me it was ok to change hard disk and i would not void the HDD as long as I kept the original one and if I sent for repair I would replace it back.

I kept the email

With regard to the hard drive replacement You are allowed to do this but should you have a fault with the product in the future we would recommend that you remove the hard drive and fit the original. Also if the new hard drive cuases a fault or you damage the product fitting or removing the hard drive then you will invalidate the warranty.


--
Fujitsu (FTS) Limited, Registered No.: 03808613
Registered Office : Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8SN

 

Hard plastic cover.

I would not use these speakers for music, but for simple videos they are good enough. A little note about the speaker setting. Every time I open my computer from sleep, the speakers are muted, Strange..

 

Have anyone heard about a software called ODD sharing feature client made by fujitsu? it is a software that allows laptop to have access to other computer's DVD drive if they are on the same local network. sounds great.

 

Can you just share the ODD drive on the network and achieve the same thing?

 

Well, access files, i think yes, but if looking to burn dvd, i doubt it

 

Hey, that sounds like my Fujitsu UH572 (ivy bridge ultrabook), which I sold after a few months for the reasons stated. Thing is my UH572 was made in China. I assume the U904 is made in Japan? Crap quality like that described shouldn't come from an MIJ product...

 

the u904 is made in Japan, at least that is what the baseplate reads on pics in reviews

there is a follow up to a user review that was linked here. Maybe it helps someone. The author seems very pleased with it and confirms 7h battery life for light usage.

 

hi guys, i have replaced the hhd with a samsung evo 840 ssd. i am currently experiencing frequent sudden death blue screenshowing message code Kernel Data INPAGE Error. After that the laptop is dead completely, the only thing i can do is fotmat the hard drive and use the recovery disk to reinstall windows again and again. didnt have such problem with previous hhd, and the ssd is taken out from my old macbook pro, had no problem either. does anyone has solution for thisthx

GT-I9502 Tapatalk

 

I am using Samsung evo right now without any problem whatsoever. I used Samsung 840 (not evo and clean win 8.1 install) before and used magician software to transfer to the evo. I don't have BSOD problem

 

did you use the recovery disk to install windows

GT-I9502 Tapatalk

 

nope, I used my own cd

 

sjossang - where did you get the s904? I'm in the US looking for one but it doesn't seem to have been released yet. Thanks for the pics. Looks great!

 

Are North Americans getting the matte version at all?

 

U904: Anyone took a look under the hood at notebookcheck dot net? Looks like mostly Chinese parts in Japanese chassis. nbc even complained of uneven screen gaps... I would buy it except the Chinese parts look 2nd rate (China does produce some pretty good stuff, not this cheap brass/copper looking circuit board that looks like it could rust in a week's time)...

 

I hope you know what's your talking about. Chinese made parts/laptops are fine. I had thinkpad laptops for years without any problem whatsoever. IPhone is also made in china and so is parts of Aston Martin

 

Norway. Looks like the European version was released first. The machine is Made in Japan.

 

No offense, but I didn't say all Chinese made parts are bad. All I said was the Chinese parts in U904, which is mostly the entire gut of the ultrabook, look 2nd rate.

I will tell you all a little secret: Every company produces what I would call ordinary goods, and luxury (or premium) goods. No matter the brand, the luxury good is always shoddily built (quality is crap compared to their cheaper counterparts), and snobby people willingly pay a higher price for it thinking they're getting better quality, when the opposite is true... The smart buyers are the ones that buy the ordinary goods at ordinary prices.

 

Ok, the non-touch U904 is here. Since I got it without OS, I am now installing Ubuntu 14.04 development release on it (it should come with a few HiDPI improvements for Unity interface).

However, a few things to whet your appetite before I post a few photos demonstrating a few things I'm seeing:
- weight of the laptop itself is 1318g (2.9lbs according to Google)
- small 65W adapter is 188g and the 90W one (biggest one on offer, there's a mid-size one as well I think) is 308g
- brightness seems pretty good, comparable to my Dell U2711 (with sRGB mode) and Sony Vaio VGN Z790 from 2009: however, being rated at 400 nits I expected a bit more of it (unfortunately, the camera I have on hand won't do less than ISO 125 and I have no manual exposure control, so can't really use it to compare objectively; I'll grab a DSLR one of these days to better compare them)
- as for matte, I can't see any reflections on the screen at all and the display looks great; I still need to take it out when some sun shows up to see how well it fares in direct sunlight
- colours are a bit over-saturated and a bit too cool compared to my Dell U2711; do note that doesn't mean they are bad, just that I am used to a very high standard (with my Vaio being one of the finest colour reproducing laptops as well) - they still beat the IPS panel in a Thinkpad X220.
- it does feel big to me, compared to my Sony Vaio 13.1" from 2009 (with even thinner bezels)
- keyboard will require getting used to, but imho, my Vaio from 2009 even beat my gf's Thinkpad X220, so that's another high standard that such a thin laptop can't reach at this time; the biggest issue I have right now is that "space" key doesn't give enough feedback, and that I frequently mistake an entire laptop row (being a touch typist, and with the palmrest being much bigger than I am used to)

If you've got any experiments in mind, I'd be happy to perform them as time permits (no promises though; I have a business trip coming up next week).

 

That's interesting. Do the capacitors seem low end and low quality, is the soldering crap? That's usually the best measure of low quality innards, ain't it? What else seems subpar? Anyway, how do you tell if they are good or bad (honestly asking, I know capacitors are the the first thing to go bonkers, and I replaced a few myself on one of my old motherboards, but I can't tell the quality of the new ones apart just by looking at them)? (Btw, all "business" circuit boards do not look like much; just compare the looks of Asus server Xeon motherboards and their gaming motherboards: the latter will look much better, but the former will be those you should trust )

I still haven't opened mine, but will be doing so shortly to replace the SSD with a Samsung 830 I have around until my 840 pro arrives.

 

Did you actually take at look at the pics of the U904's innards at notebookcheck do net? Can someone plz tell me if that's supposed to be copper on the circuit boards, not rust?

 

Oh, sorry, haven't noticed that you were judging only by the photos. Yes, it's not polished for looks, just like eg. ASUS Server Mainboard Z8NH-D12----Sunway Technology International Co.,Ltd (server board) vs ASUS Crosshair mainboard review | Hardware.Info United Kingdom (just the first two photos I found with copper heatpipes). Judging from thermal results in the review though, it seems to perform excellent in taking the heat away.

Anyway, I am having trouble uploading the photos here directly, will have to put them someplace else.

 

The Fujitsu Lifebook T5010 was considered a premium machine years ago and many people still have ones that work fine. Some people even prefer the T5010 to many of the overpriced machines that are sold now.

Keep in mind that the T5010 is a 5+ year old model now and it still works great for writing and drawing. And yes , the T5010 is better than any iPad when it comes to writing and drawing.

Luxury goods are worth it if you know what you are buying! Most people don't know what they are buying so of course they get ripped off.

 

Hi
does anyone know if it is heavily throttled?
If it is - can it be 'unthrottled'?

Regards
M

 

@massi1234: I'll do a couple of tests over the weekend with mprime to see what happens with CPU with default power settings (I've got the i7-4600u, fwiw).

 

Size & weight

Laptop open:

Mass:

65W adapter mass (no cable):

90W adapter mass (no cable):

Top view with Vaio VGN-Z:

Side view with Vaio VGN-Z (and 9 cell battery; 6-cell battery is flush with the bottom):

 

Screen
Displaying 100% zoom photo on Dell U2711 2560x1440 and non-touch U904:


Notice the cooler colour temps.

Full-black 3200x1800 photo (with scroll-bars on Dell U2711):


This was shot with Sony HX-5 at ISO 800 (about everything I can control), and demonstrates that the Dell U2711 has better blacks (though, not surprising, since this screen is still around 600€ on its own).

Full-white 3200x1800 photo on Dell U2711 (behind), Sony Vaio VGN-Z790 (1600x900 panel with full sRGB coverage) on the left and Fujitsu U904 non-touch on the right:


Shot with the same camera at ISO125, but not really representative: all are pretty close to white (each is over 0xf0 for each of r/g/b, with Dell being the most consistent, and Fujitsu the brightest; however, my Vaio's backlighting shows its age in unevenness, though it doesn't look that bad in the photo). A better camera is needed to better compare the screens.

 

Данило, thanks so much for the pictures. This is the first time seeing the matte version. Can you take more pictures of it at different angles with the same image represented on each (preferably with more color).

I'm just curious how the viewing angles are. I know they're pretty good on the gloss/touch version, but not as good as an IPS in terms of extreme angles.

Nice Maserati Gran Turismo though

 

Great thank you!

 

Thank you so much for these pictures!

I have a X220, and a U2711 as well. It's obvious to see that it's in another league when it comes to color reproduction. But then again, it is geared toward professionals, and the passable color range of super high res laptop screens seem more like a technological limitation at this point.

If I'd have a request, it would be close shots of how desktop scaling looks like, when it comes to DPI settings, and unoptimized Windows apps.

Also, do you notice any shimmering on the screen (visible hertz)?

I really want a link to buy a Canadian version of this!

 

As someone who checked back here almost daily, looking for new information, I thought I might speak up again...

I finally ordered and received the S904. Thanks to sjossang for sharing so much on it so far.

I got the WQHD Touch Version with the i7-4600u, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD (from Factory), Optical Disc Drive, Fingerprint Reader and 4G LTE.

[If I will keep the Laptop] I am planning on upgrading the SSD to my current Crucial M4 512GB; or get a new M500 960GB and am looking to upgrade the Ram Module to a 8GB DDR3L (=12GB total) module. Go big or go home!

First impression: Stunning!
Much more beautiful (IMHO) as it appears on pictures or youtube hands-ons.
Perfectly sized! Not too thin, but still appearing ultrabook-like (despite the bulge holding the battery and the ODD).
The screen looks very good (indoors so far) - the fact that it's glossy doesn't bother me yet.

Second impression:
Uh oh!
The fan made some weird noises at times... It's basically off or "vacuum cleaner" (but arguably an even more inconvenient frequency!) - if that remains that way, this alone will probably be a no-go and cause me to return it.

Scaling looks weird on various applications, such as Chrome. But in several ways, chrome became I joke anyway. Over 33 Major Releases in less than 6 years, and yet no decent touch- or High-DPI support.
Time to switch to IE or Firefox I guess, they both look great! IEs Touch-Support and now supported TPLs work surprisingly well and the whole experience is much better than it used to be. Still gotta get used to other applications though.
Then there's the battery and power consumption. Not doing anything taxing yet, I see a power consumption between 5 and 12 Watts. Equipped with the single 75Wh battery, that should translate to a real world usage of 6-15 hours (wide range). As I am typing right now, it used 17% in 1:13hrs so if it went on like that the real runtime would be 7:15hrs. Mind that the only applications I am running right now are Browsers and Outlook.
Did I fall for the marketing claims again? What I want it to deliver is 5 hours under load, 8 hours running idle VMs and 12+ hours doing office work. If it can do that (with 2nd Battery if required), it's a keeper. I'll find out.
On a positive note, with this low usage, the fan didn't come on in a while.
I also ordered the Docking-Station, but unfortunately its ETA is Monday... as soon as that arrives, I'll hook it up to my multi-monitor setup (27" WQHD Dell U2713HM + 2x 24" FHD) and see how (if at all) Windows Handles scaling accross those. I mentioned that what I really want, is [only] the Laptop Display to Scale (currently looking good at 150%), while keeping the other Monitors at Native Res and 100% Scaling... if at all possible.

What I dislike is the fact that the back-cover is a fingerprint-magnet... Not a showstopper by any means, but annoying nevertheless. Also the Touchpad drives me a bit crazy, because the buttons are actually part of the touchpad. I am used to resting my thumb on the button while moving the pointer with my index finger. Slightly moving my thumb regularly causes accidental clicks, or moves away the pointer. I wish/hope there's way of disabling it, but I haven't found it yet.
And I believe the despite being metal, the body (palmrest/topcover) is actually painted. Not certain how this will hold up in the long run - on my Vaio Z and some previous Toshibas, the paint would eventually fade on the palmrest (warmblooded) and it wouldn't look great anymore.

Then I am looking to use the Fingerprint Sensor properly. I used to use the Authentec Sensors on my Vaios with the Protector Suite / True Suite for pretty much everything (Windows Authentication, VPN-Authentication, Website-Logins)..
Fujitsu's "Workplace Protect" allows me to log on to Windows and use Pre-Boot Authentication, but that's pretty much it
The solution on my HP (just retrofitted the validity Sensor, used to use an Authentec USB Sensor before) allows for Windows Authentication, VPN-Authentication and Website Forms in Internet Explorer and hence might be a good trade off.
If anyone has suggestions on password managers that would work in Firefox and Chrome, that would be appreciated.

Despite the niggles mentioned above, I am excited about this machine so far. It's sexy, well specced, just the right size and arguably / hopefully the best combination of performance, endurance and portability in the market today.
I am looking forward to testing it more over the coming days / weeks, installing my VMs, discharging the battery a few times to see what times are really realistic and finding out whether it meets my admittedly very high expectations... or whether I should screw Battery Life and Screen Resoluton and instead upgrade my HP 2570p to a Quad-i7, for it would be a much cheaper, much more powerful option.

I'll keep you posted.

 

I wrote to Fujitsu Canada, and although it might mean nothing or come from a customer representative not really in the known for anything, they said they had no current plans to bring it to market.

 

Sorry, but I've ordered with no OS and directly installed Ubuntu on it: I'll be happy to report on the Ubuntu hi-DPI stuff as soon as I've spent enough time trying to set it up, but I have no idea with Windows app. I would imagine that most of them would have a problem or two. The best test is for anyone worried about that to get a demo version of Windows 8/8.1 from Microsoft, install that, set up the scaling on their computers and see what text/images are not resized — those will be problematic.

I don't see any shimmering or flickering with the screen — the screen looks really nice (except when put next to U2711 ): it has very a uniform backlight, the anti-glare coating looks very similar to what my Vaio Z has. I'll try making a few photos in the sun tomorrow (hopefully there is some sun — if not, at least in the open daylight) while I have the laptop set-up for my work trip.

FWIW, the 260 dpi is not enough to turn off subpixel rendering (let alone hinting) — if I do, I can still see rendering artifacts (curves are not smooth) on fonts at regular sizes (eg. 10pt, but real 10pt, not 10px), meaning that this is still not enough of a resolution for high quality display So much for people saying human eye can't resolve at this resolution. I guess the real target is 600dpi, just like with laser printers, where this is the sweet-spot between affordability and quality.

 

Here's two Screenshots taken on my S904 at 150% Scaling (set for both Applications and Zoom on the Website):
http://i.imgur.com/LovNuyJ.png - Notebookreview.com Homepage, Left: Chrome, unoptimized and blurry - Right: Firefox, looking crisp.
http://i.imgur.com/QwalkVb.png - Left: Control Panel, optimized and crisp. Right: compmgmt.msc, crazy blurry.

Update: I changed to various resolutions and found that on my S904 (native 2560x1440) 1920x1080 looks surprisingly good. As a matter of fact, it looks much better than the blurry / badly scaled apps shown above. Maybe slightly less sharp, but really not noticeable unless you look for faults.

Subsequently I guess I'll stick to running 1080 on the Laptop's Display, and not have to worry about scaling yet, while remaining future proof if Windows 8.2+ and / or app makers manage to make a difference in the coming years...

 

I have the same as sjossang ( we are co-workers).
I cannot run other than the native resolution, if I choose 1920x1080 the screen flickers a bit and returns to native.

I am experiencing random lag/delays in windows, we tested it sude by side with sjossang. If i open network adapters,(start->run->ncpa.cpl) and righclick one of the conenctions, (nomatter whitch) and choose properties. I have a 6-15second delay before I can see the properties window. This is reproduceable. Delay varys though. On the two other S904 we have at work this property window is instant displayed.

Should I do a factory recovery?
I also experience problems with fingerprint logons, Usually I need to type my password.

 

Before you recover the whole system, try reinstalling the drivers (Graphics and Fingerprint).
I didn't do anything for the graphics, but I remember having problems with the FP Sensor as well... but only for the first hour or so, because I tried multiple drivers.
Depending on what you want to do, there are two drivers: The WBF driver, or the native driver.
The native driver can run with "Workplace Protect" and should be installed as part of the package.
Pro: It can be used for Pre-Boot Authentication ; Con: It will only work with the Workplace Protect App and not be available for third Party Apps.
The WBF Driver is the native Windows Driver, so using that, you can configure the Fingerprint Authentication from Windows Control Panel / Account Settings but NOT in Workplace Protect.

Right now I am using the WBF Driver, as this should allow third party apps to access the Reader, I was thinking of trying "Lastpass", but am not sure I want to store my passwords in the(ir) cloud... But at least Standard Windows Authentication is working perfectly fine.

Will probably try some of the HP Applications instead as well.

For some reason support.ts.fujitsu.com doesn't show me any driver available for the S904 right now (Maintenance?).
Alternatively try the packages from HP that use the same Sensor:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp63001-63500/sp63418.exe or http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp61001-61500/sp61263.exe [assuming you too have the "Validity Sensor (PID=0050)"]

 

Here you go: seems to match what the notebookcheck review shows as well (iow, you can see colours being washed out relatively quickly, but then it remains about the same. The photo being shown is http://printermaster.dk/TEST/Color_Print_Test_4.jpg

Straight on (for reference, since all the photos are with the identical manual camera settings):


Tilted forward a bit and a bit more (totally scientific ):


Tilted back a bit and a bit more:

 

(6 images per post limit)

Tilted left:


Tilted right:


No sun (or time to do proper testing), but a few shots showing how does the matte display deal with head-on light from the roof window:

 

FWIW, did only the basic test with mprime (Prime95). Here're the results: fujitsu u904 i7-4600u mprime - Pastebin.com

You can compare it with other test results on Benchmarks - PrimeNet though this benchmark runs for ~2 minutes, so proper throttling is not really tested. I did use the "performance" CPU governor, and CPU frequency on all 4 cores was locked at 1.7GHz when all 4 threads were being used, but it did seem to sustain 2.7GHz on two cores when I ran different other benchmarks with only 2 threads for longer than 5 minutes.

None of it is scientific and there does seem to be some heavy throttling going on, but no time to investigate further right now.

Btw, it's probably time for an owner's lounge. If nobody beats me to it, I'll get to it when I return from my work trip.

 

Thanks so much! Very helpful.

 

Has anyone heard anything on when the S904 may be available for purchase in the US?

 

fujitsu is going to show a u904 with palm vein sensor instead of fingerprint reader at cebit 2014: Face2Fujitsu Blog » CeBIT 2014: LIFEBOOK U904 Ultrabook

 

Any suggestions for an SSD?

I really want a 960GB / 1 TB SSD, so I am torn between the obvious choices: Crucial M500 960GB or Samsung Evo 840 1TB.
I have been quite happy with Crucial so far. Used a 512GB M4 in my Vaio Z, moved it to my 2570p and am now thinking of moving it to the S904 for the time being. Also have a 240GB M500 mSata fitted in the Vaio TT.
Subsequently, I ordered Crucial Memory for the S904 and am tempted to get the 960GB SSD.
However, looking at the head to head comparison on tomshardware, particularly the Idle Power Consumption may be cause for concern?
Results: Power Consumption - SSD Deathmatch: Crucial's M500 Vs. Samsung's 840 EVO
If it really is 0.3W vs 1.18W in Idle, with 3.2W vs 5.3W max consumption, that is a big factor on a device that is supposed to be as frugal on power, as possible. After all, in order to achieve the claimed "24 hour" run time, the WHOLE COMPUTER must not use more than 4.375W

The factory fitted SSD is a Toshiba THNSNH256GCST by the way, which supports DevSleep or DEVSLP.

I found a much more detailed [power consumption] comparison on SSD-Test.de

They measured 0.04W (!) idle min. consumption for the Samsung vs. 0.8W for the Crucial,with Idle max consumption (1.22W vs 1.44W) and IOMIX avg. consumption (2.13 vs 2.29) even in favor of the Crucial SSD.

Doesn't make the decision easier. The retail price is significantly (15-20%) lower for the Crucial, and it supports OPAL encryption on the fly (which was supposed to be added to the Samsung though a Firmware update, no idea if that ever happened), so that may be the way to go. Still, assuming the SSD idles most of the time, the Samsung may have the edge? Tough call...

 

Interesting. I wonder if there will be any other changes to it.

 

Which one, the U904 or the S904? If it's the U, u can find deals for it on shopbot dot ca

 

Ok, finally got the SSD in, and the laptop (my U904 non-touch) is now even lighter: 1279g (2.82 lbs). The Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD is ~50g whereas the built-in Seagate SSHD 500GB is ~90g: if I got rid of the Samsung's metal casing, it might even be less, but this is now just fine for me.



I'll be re-installing the system on it, and then I'll start up an owner's lounge.

 

First time I seen a scale with a clock and thermo. Was it designed to look like a clock when not used as a scale?

 

Данило, jamesjix, handai - could one of you please post a detailed 'how to' on fresh install of windows 8.1 pro on a new ssd. I am getting ready to order u904 and want to add samsung evo ssd. This will be of great help for all of us looking to do a fresh install. Thanks.