Lifebook S6510 mini-review

Just picked up a Fujitsu Lifebook S6510 from newegg. Specs are

Core 2 Duo 2.0GHZ T7250
LED backlit 14.1 Display
1GB DDR2 (upgraded to 2GB)
DVD-CDRW
80GB 5400RPM HD


Been using for about a week now. My initial impressions are that the notebook is very solidly built. First thing you notice when you open the notebook is the display. The screen is very bright, and the colors, vivid. The vertical viewing angle is not that great, but it is only a problem if several people are trying to watch a movie together.

Battery life has been very exellent. While watching a movie and surfing the web with half brightness, the battery lasted a few minutes shy of 4 hours. 5 1/2 hours should be very doable with just internet surfing.

Another thing to note is that the notebook is very light. I took out the modular optical drive and the notebook weighed in at just over 3.5lbs. A 2nd battery can be added in its place for another 2-3 hours of battery life.

The notebook is a bit pricey for the spec, but the 14.1' screen in the light body is well worth it. Just make sure to get another gig of ram as 1gb is not enough to run vista properly.

There are pretty much no accessories to speak of. A few recovery disks and thats it. No case or carrying bag. Although you do get the option to downgrade to Windows XP if you choose.


PROS:
1. Beautiful Screen (LED Backlit)
2. Solid build quality
3. Good battery life
4. Very light

CONS:
1. Expensive
2. Loud mouse buttons
3. Vertical viewing angle

 

thanks for the review, it was a nice read.
quick questin thou. are the display pictures on newegg accurate on this machine ?

 

I am 99% sure I want to buy this; I plan to hook up an external LCD and run both displays simultaneously. Based on the spec, if I run both displays simultaneously, I would be forced to run 1280 x 800 resolution on both displays. Does anyone know if this really is the case? I need the external monitor to have higher resolution as it's a 22-inch LCD. Can I fix this limitation with a driver update? Is this Intel GMA X3100's limitation or Fujitsu's?

 

I also just purchased this notebook from Newegg. The one I got has a T7500, bluetooth, 2GB RAM, and a fingerprint reader.

The pictures are accurate. Wait... I'm not sure what you're asking. What do you want to know?

I'm not sure about this. I was using the notebook on my TV yesterday, and the notebook display was set to 1280 x 800 while the TV was 800x 600.

 

Congrats on your new purchase! Yeah I need the external monitor to be displayed at resolution higher than 1280 x 800. This is the only thing holding me back. If this can't be fixed, I might have to go with Sony SZ or Dell XPS m1330.

 

I just tried it out, and I had no problems displaying a higher resolution on an external monitor while keeping 1280 x 800 on the notebook diplay. I extended my desktop to the other monitor, and it diplayed at up to 1600 x 1200.

 

Awesome! That's exactly how I plan to set up my system. Thanks!!

 

I just bought one of these in Australia, what a great laptop.

I was going to buy a VAIO SZ which i had just purchased for another client but at AUD$2900 the S6510 was $900 cheaper. On top of that included was a port replicator, mouse, bag and XP downgrade CDs.

The vaio like thinkpads is an absolute dog courtesy of some absolutely FABULOUS **sarcasm** bloatware + the greatest bloatware of them all MS Vista. I was astounded at just how slow the VAIO was with vista considering the grunty processor.

I initially booted up the S6510 and found that the vista was pretty spritely compared to the VAIO but i fried it straight off and went back to XP.

Comparing the two units....
The Vaio is slightly lighter but the power supply is a brick compared to the fujitsu power supply. I dont like that the cable coming out of the fujitsu transformer juts straight out (and is not molded flat to wrap around the transformer) so im concerned long term that as people wrap the cable around the transformer it will tear the connection.

I read in another review here that the heat coming out of the air outlet is hot, well that is not an exageration, but i was surprised that the rest of the laptop was just fine. After going into the bios i set the AC performance of the processor so it wasnt in full performance mode and this helped markedly. I hit the eco button and there was then very little heat coming out from the side, and it was more of a warm breeze.

With the speed of the laptop and as its only being used for MS Office and general application it will be left that way as its is plenty fast enuff with XP.

LCD... well that 1" over the vaio is luverly. The VAIO LCD is a lot better and initially i thought the LCD on the Fujitsu was dull but it warms up after a little while. There are some vertical marks at the bottom of the screen in the task bar every cm where it looks like something might be pushing on the screen and causing pressure, but it doesnt bother me too much.

All the USB ports are on one side (in my opinion poor layout but other options may not have been possible considering the size of the laptop).
The location of the ethernet port is terrible! As the power cable comes out at a right angle and is on the inside of the ethernet cable, if you have both plugged in it means that the power cable can not wrap directly around the back of the machine. That probably doesnt make sense but youll know what i mean when you see it.

The model i have also has a 3G HSDPA socket (dont think the vaio had one) which is a nice touch.

All up, in my opinion for a top end mobile notebook the S6510 is a hands down winner. To me most of the issues are minor especially when you consider the value.