Looking at Fujitsu but Love Sony

I Have always owned Sony notebooks. I have even turned people on to Sony's
Recently... I went on NEWEGG and found a really nice Fujitsu notebook.

What do you all think. I think Fujitsu is probably on par with Sony in durability

 

Fujitsu is not remotely on par with Sony in terms of quality or durability. They're cheap for a reason. Fujutsu, at least in the US, unfortunately has fallen to being a bottom-tier manufacturer in recent years. There's a reason they're so cheap. Remember--if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Readers' Choice Awards 2011: Desktops and Laptops - Laptops | PCMag.com

 

You must be kidding right!??

Fujitsu is a very cheap manufacturer and nothing like Sony!!! You are comparing Audi to Kia here !!

Mitlov is absolutely right and not only for US but Europe too.

Stay away from Fujitsu - if it has to be cheap - let it be Acer! You have better chances for it to survive a few months or an year this way. I once made the mistake of buying Fujitsu(Fujitsu-Siemens at the time) and would never make it again (look at my signature)! That's why I invested in a Vaio this time and am extremely happy (which does not mean that it is perfect, but what is, especially nowadays).

 

No wonder I keep receiving enticing emails from Fujitsu to buy their pc tablets

Why not look at the new up comer Samsung? I am using a samsung phone and though I have gripes with Windows 7, the phone itself is a good piece of hardware.

 

Why would Fujitsu be so crappy? Don't they make cash registers and automobile radios for Toyota? I think of Fujitsu as being sorta like NCR.


Newegg.com - Fujitsu LifeBook S761 (XBUY-S761-W7-001) Notebook Intel Core i5 2520M(2.50GHz) 13.3" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000


Lifebook S761

 

Quality is NOT a matter of knowing how to build quality products. It's not that companies who turn out poor-quality goods simply don't know better. It's a cost-benefit analysis. Its about willingness to price the product at a price point where quality is possible. Fujitsu is perfectly capable of producing quality products, but with their laptops right now, by pricing their products at the impossible-to-achieve-without-cutting-corners pricing of Acer and HP's consumer line, they end up with quality equivalent to Acer and HP's consumer line.

 

I've purchased a couple of high end Lifebooks and in terms of build quality i feel that they were not inferior to other comparable Sony notebooks that i've purchased. My next notebook will likely be a Fujitsu ultraportable. They are not in the league of Lenovo build quality wise but the upper end Lifebooks i feel are more in the prosumer space like some Sony's. I just wish that they looked a bit nicer.

 

^
I have seen in the past some pretty cool Fujitsu laptops when I visited Japan.

 

Have to agree! I'm a Sony boy but Fujitsu did make some pretty amazing laptops in the past with VERY high quality displays. Not sure what they have to offer now though. Haven't heard of a Fujitsu high end in a long time.

 

...And Peugeot produces awesome bicycles, but that doesn't make them good car manufacturer! Siemens are well knows with their wireless home phones but they were never able to produce quality mobile phones. Many example like that. But I understand you - that's what I thought when I bought my Fujitsu-Siemens laptop - "It is Fujitsu... and Siemens... it has to be good" You can forget that

Fujitsu is among the cheapest (both price and quality-wise) laptop manufacturers. A well known fact. I had very bad experience with their quality and would never do that to myself again.

Not everything that glitters is gold!

My "cool looking" Fujitsu started cracking and falling apart just 3 months after purchase. In addition to that I was told that cracks around the hinges are "cosmetic defect, not covered by the warranty"!! I was about to explode on the phone!!! And after they agreed to replace the body, it cracked again 3 months later, together with the LCD lid.
Fujitsu use very cheap materials, absolutely no engineering - they just put together components and put them in a cheap plastic case, that often looks "cool". That's all.

 

I don't think you can generalise as a result of a single individual making a single purchase which turned out to be bad.

A fact? Well known?

 

I think herein lies the controversy: Fujitsu does not focus its PC products on the American consumer market. To the extent that it's a presence at all in the US it's largely in enterprises, which buy many other products from them and often bundle in PCs with other exotic electronics contracts. The only consumer-ish Fujitsu PCs seen much at all here are their convertible tablets (of which I have owned 2), which have excellent reputations for quality and performance, though they are very expensive. The few basic PCs I've seen sold in the US are their lowest end products.

And, FWIW, in the US at least, Fujitsu is pretty much as secretive as Apple. You can't buy a service manual or even many parts; it's ship to Fujitsu's depot or live with it broken.

And I do agree with Rachel, their styling leaves a great deal to be desired!

 

Forgot to mention the other 5 company Fujitsu-Siemens which were replaced 2 months later with dell because of structural failures...

Very well known indeed:



Let's guess how much further to the right Fujitsu is!?

But as my folks say - "There is a passenger for every train". I for one would never jump on this one again, no matter how shiny.

 

The P770 series which is Fujitu's higher end ultraportable i would say was quite comparable to my Sony TT in build. My Sony TT palmrests are meant to be made from cfrp but several months ago the casing started to crack and this has been very lightly used.

Some of their entry lines as you will be expect will be virtually all plastic models and some will be predominatly made from AL and Magnesium. I'm sure that you wouldn't pit the E or C series against the S series.

The Biblo lines certanly to me are more visually appealing.

 

I see. That graph proves your statement about Fujitsu reliability. I stand corrected.

Sorry, I'll shut up now.

 

Of course comparison is only useful if made between the same class units. Lifebook is supposed to be the "business line" of Fujitsu that's why my previous company bought I think 10 of those for every-day usage... Turned out they were designed to last just a few weeks (even less than my Amilo at the time) and were instantly returned and replaced with a more reliable brand - Dell.
Just sharing my own experience. I know a guy whose Lifebook is still working fine after 4 years of usage. Well noisy as a jet, screen dancing with the wind, but still working )

...Beer on me! Cheers!

 

I never say no to a free beer!

Actually, I always thought the Fujitsu-Siemens notebooks looked a bit rubbish.

But then I've never owned one, and they do seem to get half-decent reviews on notebookcheck.net (of course, they can't review the reliability) :

Review Fujitsu Celsius H710 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Review Fujitsu Lifebook S761 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

Did you miss my link to PC Mag Reader's Choice Awards 2011, where Fujitsu comes in second-to-last, behind Gateway and only ahead of Compaq?

Readers' Choice Awards 2011: Desktops and Laptops - Laptops | PCMag.com

 

I do enjoy reading Which's consumer reports. This is what they found this year.

There is no stand-out brand when it comes to laptop reliability. All brands received an average reliability score in our survey. They probably concentrate more on consumer grade notebooks.
Brand Score Acer 88% Apple 88% Compaq 88% Packard Bell 88% Samsung 88% Advent 87% Asus 87% Fujitsu-Siemens 87% HP 87% Medion 87% Sony 87% Lenovo 86% Toshiba 86% Dell 84% Overall reliability 87%

Total sample size is 5,050.
I've bought some laptops and the dvd drive has failed in the first few weeks or the hd has failed in the first month now that cannot be blamed on the manufacturer.

 

Which's consumer reports seem very unreasonable... Acer, Packard Bell and Compaq even with Apple?? Never been Apple fan, but come on This is ridiculous and hilarious. The fact they put so many brands on one level tells enough.

Forward your attention to better reviews and reliability charts.

 

From my own personal experience i've owned about five Apple laptops. I have also owned a Dell, a few Toshiba's, a Samsung, several Sony's and purchased other laptops like Packard Bell, Fujitsu's and Acer's for other family members.

I've had motherboard issues with Apple laptops and also experienced other hardware issues which you will find with any brand as generic parts are often used. For me i would say the Toshiba was the least reliable but i owned those notebooks a long time ago. The rest i don't think that I really would be able to call it.

I think that is an interesting report.

Now build, display and ergonomics is where these more expensive laptops for me should really excel. I've used some cheaper laptops and have found things like the trackpads horrendous to use. Although, some cheaper £400 Packard Bell laptops i've purchased seem actually quite robust. In terms of build quality i've found that some of my more expensive purchases have not stood to the test of time as i really would have liked.

 

after having 2 fujitsu notebooks (tablet pcs to be exact) and window shopping a bunch, my impression of fujitsu laptops are:

average to above average build quality for mainstream notebooks, but for the same spec level, they are way too overpriced. a majority of their mainstream notebooks are much bulkier than other brands too; they are like as bulky as mainstream dell notebooks which i find to be a turnoff personally

my tablet pcs were pretty durable though. one nice advantage is that like sony, many fujitsu notebooks are built in japan, but i dunno if thats the case after the tsunami incident

i would stay away from fujitsu (unless you are looking into specialized tablet pcs) because there are better and more cost-effective choices for mainstream notebooks from other brands

 

I have reservations keeping this thread going; clearly Fujitsu computers are at the top of few peoples' lists, but they also make some good products that beat the better known brands. In the US, they rarely offer competitive models, or many models at all. Their superiority is in convertible tablets, where they are:

1) #1 or #2 (vs. Lenovo, HP) in all surveys and user reports
2) Very durable and reliable
3) have IPS screens with phenomenal brightness, contrast, color and viewing angles
4) Look like they were made in the 1980s, as toys!
5) Are way overpriced, unless you get them from the Fujitsu Outlet on eBay, where current model refurbs sell for 50% off

What few people know is that, worldwide, Fujitsu is the second largest computer manufacturer by units sold. But, so what?

IMO, we've beaten this horse enough. As someone said"there's a passenger for every train" (cool expression, never heard it!).

 

Personally, I don't see any reason to close this thread. It's not like it's gone on for twenty pages. It's still responsive to the original poster's original comment and follow-up comments. Nobody is getting flamed. It's a respectful discussion comparing the consumer lines of laptops from two companies.

It's true that Fujitsu makes some good-quality products besides consumer laptops (including their convertible tablets and their electronics for Toyota). Nobody here is denying that. But the original poster was shopping for a laptop, not a convertible tablet.

 

Ditto.

Did you know Peugeot produce pepper mills?



Now do you think they necessarily need to be as good or as bad as their cars? or as their bicycles?
My point is - don't generalize! We are talking here about Fujitsu LAPTOPS. I am sure Fujitsu produce some quality electronics, just laptops aren't among them (IMO).

 

^Fujitsu makes some absolutely terrific, high quality laptops - and some junk.

Same story for Dell, HP, Acer, Sony, Asus, Lenovo.

Take your beloved Sony S for example. high quality, right? Now compare it to the NW, or the NR, or the EL. Not so high quality, right?

By just speaking to a brand as opposed to a specific model, you are generalizing already.

 

The original poster is looking at a Fujitsu Lifebook S761 that costs $1149. It's a 13.3" machine with a 1366x768 screen, an i5 processor, no dedicated GPU, 4 GB of RAM, and a 320 GB HDD. Do you think the original poster is better served with this model instead of a Vaio SA or SE?

 

^nope. (I didn't see model in OP's post). I would certainly pick up an SA instead.

To that point it's an easier question to ask "Sony model x or Fujitsu model y" than "Sony or Fujitsu". Could've saved a lot of arguing

 

Yeah, you've got to follow this original poster both through his post, his follow-up posts in this thread, and a post he made in the Fujitsu forum, in order to figure out what he's really weighing. He's looking at that particular Lifebook model, which is in my opinion quite expensive for what it offers (even on sale at NewEgg), and so I can only presume that he's cross-shopping with the SA and SE.

And one of the things he really likes about the Lifebook is that it's made in Japan. I don't think that's something he should put too much weight in--the point of final assembly of any product (cars, laptops, etc) has very little to do with the overall quality. Overall quality is determined by the quality of the components that go into it and the quality of the design for putting them all together, not so much the citizenship of the workers who do the final assembly (or oversee the robots that do the final assembly, as is sometimes the case).

 

ohhh country of origin is an outdated factor!! Years ago China meant crap, Japan meant high quality. And yet, 21st Century, year 2011, everything is manufactured in Asia and the Country itself means absolutely nothing!! S is generally made in China (at least 2010 S) but is still much better quality than many models made in Japan, not to mention models from other brands.

Last time I followed that country of origin rule I ended up with a TV set made in Germany .... that contains so many defects that would be hard to be beaten by any China product!! Forget about this!

Main rule for me when choosing a laptop in order to ensure max reliability: Known quality brand (for laptops and not generally!) + business line.

That's how I chose to buy S too.

 

Fujitsu makes good laptops, and like most Japanese tech companies, you'll not see a hint of them outside of Japan.

 

I would gladly do a Vaio SA. The only thing stopping me is the color selection. I want to get a red model or the bronze color that you see being advertised on the website but nowhere to be found in the shopping section. The colored models don't over biometrics which is another bummer. All of my previous Vaio's has fingerprint readers.


If Sony comes out with the bronze S model or the red with biometrics then I'm sold!

 

That's wierd. The fingerprint scanner is in the touchpad assembly, not the upper case itself, so unless if the click buttons are colored, too, there shouldn't be a technical issue

 

I think the bronze laptop you see on the site is the Z, not the S. Similar look, but much more expensive (and higher performance).

The reason you don't get the fingerprint reader with the red one is because only the SB is offered in red, not SA. The SB doesn't have the higher-resolution screen and the better GPU of the SA, as well as lacking the fingerprint reader.

 

(Btw, Sorry if I sounded dismissive about suggesting the thread had outlived its usefulness. It is bringing out the best (and not so best) of Sony's offerings and is familiarizing people with a brand I'd wager they know little about.)

@Mitlov: Whether the Fujitsu as configured could be better than the Sony depends heavily on what the OP plans to use the notebook for; fewer and fewer people need d-gpus given the power of the SB HD3000, unless they are gamers on their business ultraportables or do CAD on them. If the d-gpu is not needed, there could be a great deal to recommend the Fujitsu over the Sony, not the least is durability, but here are some other things no well known about Fujitsu notebooks:

1) though the screen resolution is lower than the better SA, Fujitsu makes some of the best screens in the industry - IPS and AFFS screens that are extremely bright 300 nit, have great contrast and color gamut and wide viewing angles. I don't know what kind of screen the S761 has (standard or optional - but see also below), but I think it's fair to trade the extra resolution for a markedly better screen. The SE screen appears to be in the top 10% of all consumer and business displays so that becomes a question as to whether size - as opposed to weight - makes a difference to the OP.

Fujitsu's small notebooks and tablets have a "modular bay," which is the same concept as Thinkpads' "ultrabay" and is a slot that can hot swap an optical drive, HDD/SDD (2.5") or an auxiliary battery.

Their tablets, which I advocate below as a worthy alternative to a non-tablet Sony or Thinkpad, still have 16;10 aspect ratios, which many inhabitants of these forums yearn for. I'm not sure if any of their non-tablet notebooks have refrained from jumping on the 16:9 "cinematic' screen

So, onto Fujitsu Win7 convertible PC tablets. I believe they should be included as an option for anyone seeking a 12-13" ultraportable, specifically the Fujitsu 9XX and 7XX series convertible tablets. Though they start out more expensive by far than equivalently configured notebooks by others, they go for as little as 1/2 price on Fujitsu's eBay Outlet Store, and then you're looking at an excellent 12" (73x) or 13.3" (90x - the 901 actually has a d-gpu, nvidia 525 I think) notebook with competitive specs in the $800-$1000 price points and you are guaranteed their superb screens, which lack only resolution to be at least invited to the same table as a Z, run circles around the SA. The fact that they are tablets assures that they are going to be available with the excellent IPS/AFFS type screen with great color, brightness, contrast and viewing angle (because you need to be able to flip a tablet any way and not lose image fidelity).

And even if a buyer is not looking for a convertible Windows tablet PC, the touch screen alone is worth the price of admission (i.e., free, if you buy from the Outlet) and it doesn't take long to find handwriting with with a WACOM "penabled" digitizer plus Windows' superb handwriting recognition software and MS One Note - or Evernote, others - can be a very handy way to take notes in a meeting or class and digitize them with pretty high accuracy. Again, the point being, you don't have to use any of the tablet features and you are still potentially getting a great ultraportable (though they are the heaviest of the breed) for the price. I do believe most people would find some of the tablet features irresistible (even just the ability to swivel the screen in a meeting to show a wider group what's on the screen. Oh yeah, there's even one more "pro" for a Fujitsu tablet as business ultraportable: they still use 16:10 aspect ratio!

Sorry that was soooo long-winded, but I spent the first half of this year rather taken in by the Windows-based convertible tablet PC format and tried all the majors and learned a good bit about them - including how to buy them cheaply - so I figured if there is continuing interest in Fujitsu product, all these points in favor of Fujitsu's tablets (same goes for Lenovo's but you can get the X220 non-tablet version for $100s less so you don't have to opt in for a tablet format to get the machine to have a good screen with wide viewing angles and various ways to increase battery power and use "ultrabays" much like those built into Fujitsus, which don't require the purchase of an expansion basis to use the ultrabay.

Time (way past!) for me to shut up! Hope this info was interesting and/or useful to someone on this thread! You can get more insight into the tablet versions on tabletpcreview.com, the sister site to NBR.

 

There's Apple. For about the same price as the Lifebook the OP is looking at, you could get a MacBook Pro 13 with similar performance hardware, an excellent aluminum unibody case, an attractive 16:10 screen, a really good keyboard, an industry-leading touchpad, excellent battery life, and excellent customer support before and after purchase.

 

Well New Egg just got another Fujitsu notebook in stock. The Lifebook P771. I'm currently have a Vaio TZ that is extremely slow. The fact that I can't expand the ram inside of the TZ causes it to be a very slow machine. The P771 looks more like on the lines of the TZ.

The P771 has the ability to expanded to 8gb.

Newegg.com - Fujitsu LifeBook P771 (XBUY-P771-W7-002) Notebook Intel Core i7 2617M(1.50GHz) 12.1" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 160GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000

 

wow, 12" 16:10 and an expresscard slot

 

Wasn't the thread originally focused on "reliability" !? With or without 16:10 which may or may not be an advantage to some, if it breaks 3 months later like mine did.... don't think it is worth even half the price...

 

Way to take that quote way out of context

The Original Post != the entire thread.

 

We were discussing reliability and quality right before the last few posts. Somehow now we are comparing features.... and each brand pretty much has a model that is for some reason "unique" in its class - one is the lightest, the other one has express card slot, the third one is pink, etc., etc. .... but this all is of no importance if the quality doesn't allow normal usage for an extended period of time.

And while it is true that everything is also model-dependent and not only brand-dependent, I have yet to see an acer, as cheap as they are, that is actually less reliable or worse built than any Fujitsu I have had in my hands. And again - not talking about cash registers at WalMart but about laptops!

 

Maybe a bit off-top ic, but which laptop today is acutally made in japan?

 

Which fujitsu did you buy? Again, speaking about Fujitsu laptops is a generalization in itself.

If you search the forums here, I'm sure a few folks had a Sony S break in the first few days. Does that make the Sony S a low quality machine? Does it make all Sony laptops low quality? (hint: the answer to both questions is no).

The fujitsu P happens to be a very well built machine, I've had 2.

 

and 2 USB3 ports

 

If you spend 7 seconds to browse my previous posts you will find out that my opinion is not just based on one machine! And I am certainly not willing to buy 20 models or 20 single units of one brand with the hope to discover one that would actually last...! Statistics - it's all about statistics as the graph I uploaded...!

 

I believe that the model is in Gracy123's signature. A quick google search will show that this is a lower end model that looks possibly to be of some age also.
I mentioned this much earlier on that some of Fujitsu's range i would say was prosumer like some Sony's, although some people will of course use these notebooks for business use. If people want a more durable notebook then they should may be take a look at Lenovo business offerings or perhaps Dell.

I agree with you about the P series. I've purchased two models in that line and have purchased the P770 more recently for a family member. Feature wise right now the P series is the only notebook that appeals to me. If i had issues with my current laptops i wouldn't hesitate in making a purchase.

 

???

No you're not.

 

Louche
Notebook Evangelist

Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 544
Rep Power: 4
<hr style='color:#EEEEEE' size='1'> Quote:

Originally Posted by lovelaptops Their tablets, which I advocate

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovelaptops Tablets: blech

???

1) The full quote was:

"their tablets, which I advocate below as a worthy alternative to a non-tablet Sony or Thinkpad, still have 16;10 aspect ratios, which many inhabitants of these forums yearn for.."

and of course, the "tablets" I referred to were Windows convertible tablet PCs made by Fujitsu (the subject of this thread, remember?), a.k.a., full power ultraportable notebook computers with touch and/or pen digitized screens. Are we clear?

2) The "blech" tablets to which I refer in my sig line are the iPad/slate type simpleton garbage that are all the rage. Crystal clear?

 

As much fun as this thread is, I'm going to renew my pitch for putting it out of its misery. Fujitsu is a large manufacturer of both good and bad computers (probably more the latter, but who cares?nAnd, they also make trucks, boats and oil-drigging equipment, i'm pretty sure), most of which are not sold in the U.S. and many of you have probably never seen one. People may buy whatever computer they wish (unless we're living in a totalatarian regime, which requires everyone to buy only Apple products - eg, the world, circa next year ) and the OP has received more than sufficient feedback to make an informed judgement for himself.

My main point being: This is a SONY forum and, though the OP has proven the exception, I doubt there are many NBR members who are seriously torn between buying a Z2 and ANY Fujuitsu!

That said, if my view remains unpopular, carry on.

 

No question about that.