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Fujitsu PC Corp. is now shipping notebooks armed with the mobile Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Athlon XP-M processor. Based on eWEEK Labs tests, we think these notebooks could give Intel Corp.s Centrino-based systems a run for their money.
We tested the Fujitsu LifeBook S2000 Notebook, which shipped in March, and found it to be a well-appointed system that merits consideration by those looking for an affordable, thin, light notebook.
The model we tested shipped with an Athlon XP-M 1700+ CPU with AMDs PowerNow technology—which works to extend battery life without affecting performance—operating at 1.5GHz, as well as 256MB of memory. This configuration gave solid performance backed up by a 30GB hard drive. The S2000 costs $1,199 with 256MB of memory and a 30GB hard drive.
The 4.5-pound (with optical drive) LifeBook S2000 we tested had Microsoft Corp.s Windows XP Professional installed ($100 additional). The home edition of XP comes standard.
The S2000 features a 13.3-inch XGA thin-film transistor display with a maximum resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, and we found the display quality to be quite good.
The notebooks bay supports CD-ROM, DVD and DVD/CD-RW combo drives. It ships with two Universal Serial Bus 2.0 ports, an infrared port, an Ethernet port, a 56K-bps modem, and jacks for headphones and audio line-in. The S2000 has one PC Card slot. The notebook also has a built-in smart-card reader and a preboot data Security Panel.
The unit we tested also had integrated Wi-Fi-certified wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) capabilities—a nice touch. All units are installed with WLAN antennas and can be upgraded with WLAN capabilities for $70.
The diminutive notebook is powered by a removable six-cell lithium-ion battery, which, in tests, delivered almost 2 hours of life between charges in heavy testing with all power-saving functions turned off. The S2000 offers a bay for one of Fujitsus swap-in drives or a second modular bay ion battery ($116), which will double the systems battery life, according to Fujitsu officials.
Battery life tests showed that, on average, the Athlon XP-M with PowerNow can increase battery life to about 3 hours. By comparison, Intels Centrino-based systems yielded more than 5 hours on a standard nine-cell lithium-ion battery in eWEEK Labs tests.
eWEEK Labs Senior Writer Anne Chen can be reached at [email protected].