Fujitsu N6010 Desktop Replacement Review

Hello Sharks!

I just got my new Fujitsu N6010-261 laptop and thought I would share my initial impressions.

The screen. WOW!!! The display on this laptop is simply amazing. Fujitsu’s Crystal View screens are just unbelievable. I compared it side by side to several other high end screens at the store and nothing looked close. After having it for 2 days, watching movies, working, and playing games, I can say that I am very impressed. I could definitely use this display full time. I wasn’t sure if I would like the widescreen resolution (1440x900) but after using it for a few days I think I prefer it to the standard screen ratios.

Build quality and design. Solid. When shelling out this many greenbacks for a laptop, you want it to feel like it is going to last. Everything about the 6010 inspires confidence. I expect to have this beast for a long time.

The design is smart too. My gateway has all the USB ports on the left side which is fine if you want all your cords attached to that side… but the Fujitsu is more flexible – 2 on the rear, and one on each side. All the connections are located in places that make sense and don’t get in the way.

The speakers sound great for a laptop, and the subwoofer actually works. It’s not going to replace my stereo any time soon, but I can listen to music and movies using the built in speakers without cringing.

The keyboard is great as well. Full sized… and it even has a regular number pad! For the past 2 years I have carried a keyboard with me when I travel for business, but those days are behind me. The keyboard on the Fujitsu is good enough for “real” typing for extended periods of time.

Performance. I bought the laptop so that I could play games while I am traveling on business, so performance is important.

I have played LoTR – Battle for Middle Earth and Everquest 2 so far and they both play without a hitch. I was a little bit leery of buying a laptop with the radeon 9700 in it instead of the new nvidia 6800go, but I am satisfied with the performance. Yes, the nvidia is a better card, but the radeon is playing the games I want to play, at high quality, with excellent performance. I can live with knowing there is a better card out there, as long as the one I have does everything I want it to do.

I watched one movie and the DVD playback is flawless. Burned one DVD just to make sure it worked and had no problems with that. The TV tuner works fine… but I AM a bit worried about the ability of the system to record video without dropping frames (due to the slow HDD rotation speed). I haven’t had a chance to experiment with that yet.

I know Sharks like benchmarks, so here are the 3DMark scores. These are straight out of the box… I haven’t done any performance tweaking yet (I haven’t even checked the driver version to see if it needs updating). 3DMark 2001 – 10811. 3DMark03 – 3232. (CPU score 623).

I haven’t tested the battery life yet, but I don’t expect it to run all day. This laptop was designed to be plugged in. For my purposes, that’s fine. I AM curious if it will last long enough to play through an entire movie while I’m on a plane. I guess I’ll find that out on my next trip ;)

Cooling. The N6010 pushes a lot of hot air out the rear vents, but the machine itself stays cool. I am very impressed. The fans are a bit loud, but they are definitely doing their job. If I didn’t already have a laptop cooler, I doubt that I would buy one for this machine as it appears that the stock solution keeps the machine cooled off very nicely.

Problems. There was one problem during setup. They have a program called “click me” that is supposed to run once and help configure your taskbar icons. This program failed to run and I was unable to remove it from the Start Menu. I looked on their website and they have a hotfix posted for it. Minor glitch and it appears that they already have it worked out, but felt I should mention it in the interests of completeness.

Overall Impression. I had intended to get an Alienware 7700 (I had actually ordered it already) but there was a problem with my order that lead to an unacceptable delay in delivery, so I canceled the order and bought the Fujitsu instead. After seeing the performance of the Fujitsu (and the great screen!) I am happy with the way things worked out. It is a solidly built computer that is delivering great gaming performance. If it is as reliable as I think it is going to be, it will be money well spent. (If not, I got the 3 year warranty! ;)

If you're in the market for a desktop replacement class laptop, you should at least consider the Fujitsu N6010. I've been impressed.


Specs as tested

• Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 538 supporting HT Technology 3.2 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 Cache)
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
• 17" wide format WXGA+ Crystal View TFT display
• 1 GB DDR SDRAM memory (512 MB x 2)
• 100 GB hard drive
• Multi-Format DVD Writer
• TV Tuner with Instant MyMedia
• Built-in Atheros 802.11a+b/g wireless LAN, multinational 56K V.90 modem and 100/1000 Base-Tx Gigabit Ethernet
• 4 USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Memory Stick®/SD slot, PC Card slot
• Standard high-capacity battery