anybody have a A3130, before i buy it??

I'd like some info on the A3130, looks really good for the money....Goodness, can't find a retailer though....that blows. But Fugitsu has a nice web site and I can buy from them.

thanks for the info

 

I bought my A3130 recently. Any specific info you're looking for?

Its a very good deal for a Fujitsu, fairly quick with the AMD dual core and 2GB ram, and overall good build quality. However, there is a lot of keyboard flex, the fan comes on A LOT on high performance mode, and battery life is roughly only 1.5hrs.

 

Hey, thanks for the quick review.
Here's basically what I was wondering....
Are fugitsu's fairly reliable. I like toshiba's because of the reliability....BUT, I may give the fujitsu a shot..
I like Intel and AMD, but AMD's are a bit cheaper to manufacture and they don't advertise as much as Intel, so the cost is down...
So I like this model.
Can you tell me about the keyboard flex and is it a negative?
I would like to wait for service pack one for vista, but, I don't know...
I'd like to know more about vista.....does the fugitsu have any crashing issues?
thanks for your reply.

 

Fujitsu's are pretty reliable. Almost or the same reliability as IBM and Asus. Toshiba's a few years ago were reliable but the new Toshiba's are no more reliable than a Dell or HP in my opinion. However, their Tecra models are decent, its just the Satellite models are junk.

On Newegg.com, the A6030 (with the Core 2 Duo) is only $100 more I think. Just something to consider if you want a lot longer battery life. I got my A3130 for only $1000 after rebates at Fry's.

The keyboard flex is pretty bad that even when typing lightly and fast, the keyboard jumps up and down a little. However, to make up for it, the keys itself are quality and feel good with just the right amount of pressure. Think of it as a nice upscale house built on a crappy foundation... To compare, my old HP ZV6000 has virtually no flex on the keyboard, but key depth is shallow and the keys feel cheap like they will fall off at any moment.

I don't have any crashing issues with Vista. Home Premium edition does still come with a bunch of bloatware that needs to be uninstalled. The great thing is Fujitsu supplies restore CD's if you wish to do a clean install.

 

hey thanks for the information. The model is 999.00 on fujitsu's web site...150.00 rebate.
It looks like a great machine, esp for the money.
I'd like to think Toshiba's are still really reliable....I really like them, but I may go with the fujitsu...it's muscular, and jacked with good looks. I with I could opt out of the "jolt sensing hard drive", and get it a little bigger than 120gig.

 

Take a look at www.notebookshop.com A3130 is $1249 after rebate and comes with an extra battery and 3 year International warranty. Made in Japan and highly recommended by Jeff Levy who does "Computer News" on KNX1070AM radio Saturdays.

 

Please tell me how hot the hard drive, cpu, and gpu are running on idle, general usage, and more intense things like video watching? Also, is there any backlight bleeding?

 

I saw a A3130 not too long ago. The screen on it was gorgeous. It had the 450 nit screen. Bleed was minimal. Overall it felt pretty solid. The keyboard was a bit mushy. I type on a ThinkPad so my standards may be a bit too high. As I recall the fan ran frequently though it seemed pretty cool.

As for performance, almost any notebook you buy now is going to be more than enough performance wise whether it's a Pentium Dual Core, Athlon X2, Core 2 Duo, etc. Most everyday tasks like Office, Internet, Music, etc. aren't all that demanding on the CPU. Often times memory and hard drive speed will bottleneck performance more than the CPU.

If you are looking for a deal on Fujitsu notebooks, you might want to look on the Fujitsu eBay Store. They sell some new and refurbished notebooks there. Sometimes you can get some good deals there. It kind of sucks because you have to pay tax and I don't think they accept returns. The pickings are kind of slim right now unless you want a S2210, but I bet if you hang out a bit a better selection will come along.