Fujitsu N3510 or N6010 for architecture student?

I'm an architecture student about 1/2 way through my college career, looking to buy my first ever (much needed) notebook. After rather extensive research, I've decided to go with either the Fujitsu N3510 or the N6010 (stats below). As far as I can see, both of these seem to meet my criteria for style, screen quality, build quality, and specs. However, I have not had the opportunity to try them first hand, so I'm here to ask for some advice and answers.

1. I'm looking to keep this notebook for about 3 years. Which processor do you think will serve me best (ie: best performance) for use with the latest versions of AutoCAD, Photoshop, FormZ and the occasional FFXI gaming?

2. Everyone seems to be talking about the benefits of the Sonoma platform. Should I go with the N3510 simply because it has newer technology than the N6010's Mobile P4 w/ HT?

3. The 17" screen and full-size keyboard (w/ num-pad) are huge pluses for the N6010 IMO. I will be carrying this notebook with me almost daily in a backpack or messenger style bag...is it too large/heavy for this, or is this just a matter of taste?

Any other advice pertaining to these two notebooks would be greatly appreciated.


***Specs***
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510
- Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)
- 512MB DDR 400 Dual Channel (2GB Max)
- ATI™ MOBILITY RADEON® X300 with 64MB of dedicated video memory
- 15.4" Crystal View WXGA TFT (1280 x 800) Display (Super Vivid Diplay 500:1 Contrast Ratio)
- 7K60 60GB 7200RPM (***UPGRADED***)
- Dual Layer Multi-Format DVD Writer drive: (8x DVD-R/+R, 2.4x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-RW/+RW, 3x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD-ROM, 24x CD-R, 10x CD-RW, 24x CD-ROM)- (Portable One Free Upgrade)
- 56K V.90 Global Modem
- 10/100mbps LAN
- Intel BG220 802.11b/g (Wireless LAN)
- (4) USB 2.0 Ports, IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) & S-Video
- Memory Stick and SD Slot
- Integrated touchpad with intelligent scroll button; 103-key full-size keyboard with a separate 10-key keypad; 19 mm key pitch and 3 mm key stroke
- Silver Magnesium Encasing
- 4.1" x 10.3" x 1.6"; approximately 7.48 lbs.
- 1 Year International Warranty
- Windows XP Home

Fujitsu LifeBook N6010
- Intel Mobile 538 P4 3.2GHz (533 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 cache, Supports Hyper-Threading technology)
- 512MB DDR 333 Dual Channel (2GB Max)
- ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 9700 with 128MB of dedicated video memory
- 17" Crystal View WXGA+ TFT (1440 x 900) Display (Super Vivid Diplay 400:1 Contrast Ratio)
- 7K60 60GB 7200RPM (***UPGRADED***)
- Combo DVD & CDRW Drive
- 56K V.90 Global Modem
- 10/1000mbps LAN
- *802.11a+b/g with on-off switch (Wireless LAN)
- (4) USB 2.0 Ports, IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) & S-Video
- Memory Stick and SD Slot
- Integrated touchpad with intelligent scroll button; 103-key full-size keyboard with a separate 10-key keypad; 19 mm key pitch and 3 mm key stroke
- Silver Magnesium Encasing
- 15.9" x 11.6" x 1.7" / 2.08”; approximately 10.12 lbs.
- 1 Year International Warranty
- Windows XP Home

NOTE: I will be adding another 512MB RAM aftermarket to whichever one I choose.


Thanks in advance...this is a great website & forum. [ ]

 

I would recommend you go see any 17" wide screen at a retail store to get an idea of the size (not mac cause that is almost half the thickness of the N6010).
As for weight the N6010 is one of the heaviest 17"s 10lb+.
I really like my N6, but I wouldn't want to carry it around, probably not even once a week!

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N6010: P4M 3.2G, 512MB Dual 333MHz, 60GB 7200RPM, ATI 9700M, 17" WXGA+
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I am a professor at a local college and I carry my 6010 to class 2X per week. It doesn't bother me at all. Sure it's a little heavy, but having the 17" screen looking at me while teaching a class out weighs the weight issue. The battery is only good for approximately 2 hours. I always plug mine in when using it in class.[^]

 

The N6 is probably your best bet, it's not even much heavier than the N3510. They're both excellent machines though and will both last 3 years without a problem.

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm now leaning towards the N6, but I'm going to take qwester's advice and go check out another 17" of some kind. I think my local best buy has a couple 17"ers, so I'll go let my hands roam. [ ] Anyway, feel free to continue to post anything that comes to mind. Thanks again...and hopefully I'll be part of the Fujitsu family really soon.

EDIT: q wester not quester ;P

 

Both notebooks are awesome. I had the N6010 but returned it because sometimes it would freeze at startup (didn’t happen often though). The N3510 is heavy but it is more portable than the N6010. I can fit it in my laptop backpack with no problems. Really besides the obvious differences between the N3510 and N6010, I can pick out a few distinct not so obvious differences. The N3510 tends to get very warm under the left palm which can be very irritating if you’re not used to it. The N6010 always feels cool no matter where you touch it. The N3510 also has more keyboard flex in my opinion versus the N6010. On the other hand the N6010 has much louder fans than the N3510. The N3510 is very quite and hard to hear unless you’re in a quite room. Plus the fans seem variable which can be annoying to hear the constant throttle up and down of the fans on the N6010. The fans are variable on the N3510 too but they are harder to hear so hence the less annoyance you will feel with the N3510. Plus even though both notebooks are WXGA the N6010 actually has a higher resolution due to the bigger 17” screen so you will have a little more screen real-estate. One last not so obvious difference is that the N3510 has a better contrast ratio than the N6010. The N3510 is slightly brighter and more vivid in color than the N6010 (very small difference though). Also the N3510 has a glossy top that can scratch very easily if you’re not careful (it had minor scratches just from packaging when I first opened it up). At the end of the day both notebooks in my opinion are the best on the market. I love the N3510 and I liked the N6010 so much I decided to go buy it again but this time from Portable One instead of Fry’s. The N6010 will be my permanent desktop while the N3510 will travel with me on occasion when I need it and will serve the needs of my family. Hope this helps.

Note: All above comments are my sole opinion and in no way reflect the views of everyone. I know a little bit about computers but I’m no expert.



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Fujitsu N3510, 1Gb Dual DDR2 Ram, 60Gb 7200RPM HD, Dual Layer DVD Burner, WXGA+
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as much as i like fujitsu, if you're gonna go with a 15.4" screen, also with you being an architecture student i'd look for a laptop from some of the other companies that offer SXGA+; you'll even find several that offer WSXGA+ on 15.4" screens.

 

Great decission! Let us know if you are satisfied with the buy.
Hope you don't have a long wait time!

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N6010: P4M 3.2G, 512MB Dual 333MHz, 60GB 7200RPM, ATI 9700M, 17" WXGA+
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Thanks for all the advice guys. I decided to go ahead and order the N6010 from portableone.com...And now the anticipation begins. [ ] Thanks again.

 

The X300 is around the same level or a little better than the 9600. I have seen some benchmarks and it shows that it is actually not far behind a 9700. The X300 is definetly better than the 9200 in real world performance.

 

stimp1000, if you really care for gaming I think it's better to consider something with an X700 or Nvidia equiv. I wish fujitsu provided some more powerful options for their DTRs, although I am no gamer but I would have liked to have something that will ensure that I can play some upcoming games in a few months (in the summer when I am on vacation)

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N6010: P4M 3.2G, 512MB Dual 333MHz, 60GB 7200RPM, ATI 9700M, 17" WXGA+
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Thanks again for all the help. From what I now understand, the X300 in the N3510 shouldn't be that much different than the MR9700 in the N6010(?).

Bodhi, sorry to hijack the thread away from your original post (it's a habit of mine). I was once an architecture student too some years ago (class of 2001)! I seriously wish that I had a choice between these two notebooks back then.

As both an architect and a notebook user, I went with the N6010 because of the power of the 3.2GHz P4 and the 17" screen. I can't say that I have regrets as it's an awesome machine, BUT... if I had to do it over again, I think that I would have gone with the N3510. It wasn't an option since I bought back in January and the N3510 wasn't available.

Here are my reasons why I now favour the smaller of the two:
1. It's easier to carry around. True, it's not that much lighter, but factor in the size/dimensions of the N6 as well as the weight of the power 'brick' and I think you'll definitely appreciate the N3. Of course, I don't know this for sure since I don't (yet) own one, but I will shortly and can confirm it or not.

2. Even with 3D applications, I find that I don't need the raw power of the Pentium-4. It doesn't really matter what kind of notebook you get, it will never replace a desktop for ultra-heavy usage. For example, I often do global illumination renderings in 3DS MAX. Even with all 15 dual Xeon workstations in my office rendering over an entire weekend, there are times when I get in on Monday morning, and they're still not done. Would you ever leave a notebook rendering for 72 hours? Probably not. So if you dedicate the ultra-heavy tasks to desktops, then that means your laptop will be used for drafting, Photoshop and modeling/animating which the Pentium-M handles quite well.

3. I realize that not everyone, especially a student, will have the money for multiple machines. But you can buy a cheap desktop rendering machine for a couple of hundred dollars (3+ GHz P4, 1GB+ RAM, crappy video card, etc). That will allow you to go with a more mobile solution for your notebook purchase. If nothing else, then I'm sure that the school you study at has desktops available for you to use when you want to render.

4. I honestly don't find a HUGE difference between 15.4" and 17" screens. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe it's just me, but when you go to check out the 17" screens at your local computer store, see if you can put a 15.4" notebook right beside a 17" notebook. Judge for yourself.

5. Noise. It's the one thing that I really don't like about the N6. I didn't notice it at the store where I bought it, and I don't notice it too much at work because of the ambient noise. But when I'm at home, in my little den, whoa that thing is loud. Yes, I've gotten used to it a bit, but I'm still trying to cope with it.

In the end, as it's already been said here before, they're both great machines. Either one will be a good choice. Anyway, seeing that the semester should be coming to an end, you must be very busy Now get back to work!

 

Well...I received my laptop and I'm definitely loving it...no buyer's remorse whatsoever! However, I do have a quick question...

How do you guys feel about dead pixels? I immediately noticed that I have 2 of them (1 bright, 1 dim) in the far right 1/4 of the screen. The dim one is down near the taskbar, fairly unnoticable, but the bright one is up near the top right corner and really stands out - especially now that I know it's there. I purchased this notebook from Portableone.com, so I've heard it's no problem to get it swapped out...I'm just wondering if it's really worth it. It took about 2 weeks for the notebook to reach me, and I don't know if 2 dead pixels (actually 1 since the second pixel is very dim) is really worth the time and hassle it's going to take to get it replaced. Plus I've already configured everything and installed a bunch of programs, which I really don't want to have to do over again.

I'm new to the whole LCD/Laptop arena, so I'm asking for some advice here. How common are dead pixels? Should I be worried that I already have 2? Will more show up in the future?

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for pointing me to the N6010...it's simply stunning and was worth every penny.

 

They wont exchange the laptop, just the screen. So you wont lose your customizations. My screen replacement took 1 week from the day I sent it to the day I received it, so not too bad considering each way shipment took 2 days (and there was a week end in the middle)! I exchanged my screen for 2 stuck pixels, blue and red almost in the middle of the screen. So if they are bugging you just get it replaced.

BTW dead pixels are more of a manufacturing defect then a wear and tear effect. So if you have no dead pixels the first time you switch it on or within the first week chances are that's how it will be for the rest of its life. My 3.5 year old sony had a blue dead subpixel in its top most left corner since the first time I switched it on and that's how it's been since then!

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N6010: P4M 3.2G, 512MB Dual 333MHz, 60GB 7200RPM, ATI 9700M, 17" WXGA+
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