Fujitsu

LAS VEGAS--This PC is made out of corn. And no, you cannot eat it.

It's actually the third generation of the Biblo PC from Fujitsu, which showed off the laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The inside is a normal PC, but the outside casing is made out of material that's 50 percent plant-based materials, and 50 percent regular plastics. To make it, they take regular ears of corn, process it down to corn starch, and turn that into a polymer alloy. Fujitsu says it cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing process … Read more

Could 2008 be the year of the ultraportable? Just a few days after Lenovo launched the tiny IdeaPad U110, Fujitsu has announced its own featherweight laptop. The LifeBook P8010, which weighs less than 3 pounds, manages to pack a 12.1-inch backlit-LED display and a DVD burner into a footprint the size of a piece of paper.

While Fujitsu's previous P-series ultraportable, the 10.6-inch LifeBook P7230, came stocked with a Core Solo CPU that provided middling performance, the LifeBook P8010 will come equipped with a Core 2 Duo processor. And the company is promising up to 6.5 … Read more

Road warriors and geeks without power rejoice: soon you'll be able to buy a laptop that's equipped to tap into AT&T's BroadbandConnect High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) network. Today Fujitsu announced that it would be adding the high-speed cellular data connection as an option on its UMPC-like LifeBook U810 and its 12.1-inch ultraportable tablet, the LifeBook T2010.

According to Fujitsu, the faster connection, with upload speeds between 500 Kbps and 800 Kbps, should make it easier to send e-mail attachments or upload videos and photos when you're beyond the reach of Wi-Fi. For … Read more

Fujitsu has squeezed a notch more capacity into its 2.5-inch, 5,400rpm mobile drives, announcing its MHZ2 BH family with a maximum capacity of 320GB on Tuesday.

The family is designed for use in mobile or compact PCs and in consumer electronics products. It also features 8MB of buffer, a 3 gigabit-per-second SATA interface, and power consumption of 1.9 watts when reading or writing data.

The new drive will be available in February; Fujitsu didn't release pricing. The earlier MHY2 BH line topped out at 250GB and had a slower 1.5Gbps SATA (serial ATA) interface.

I used to cringe when folks asked me to recommend a laptop that cost less than $1,000. Granted, there have been laptops at that price for a few years now, but they were generally chunky cases stocked with generations-old components and low-resolution screens--not exactly anything I'd feel good about recommending for use as a primary computer.

Imagine my surprise when computer manufacturers responded to my call for $1,000 laptops with some downright Crave-worthy systems. I expected to receive only 15.4-inch systems, because the larger case provides more room for engineers to work and keeps costs down; but I also found two 14.1-inch systems that didn't break our budget. I expected to receive cases stocked with previous-generation Pentium or Celeron CPUs; on the contrary, all but one of our review units included current-generation processors, graphics, and chipsets. I expected the cases to be leftovers from last year's crop of new laptops; instead, many in our roundup share the same case design as their more-expensive brethren.

One area where my expectations were met: performance. None of the laptops in this roundup sped through our performance benchmarks. But if I'm buying a $1,000 laptop, I'm not expecting to use it for gaming or video editing.

In the end, we were able to round up sub-$1,000 configurations from Fujitsu, Gateway, Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba. Which ones did I like best? The answer is after the break.… Read more

Fujitsu Siemens may not be a brand typically associated with LCD monitors, and its latest project is equally unusual. The companies have developed a prototype 22-inch LCD monitor that incorporates solar panels working with a capacitor and special relay to cut power usage when on standby.

In fact, according to Personal Computer World, it can operate in zero consumption mode for five days on standby and, when active, sips just 0.6-0.9W of electricity. That certainly wouldn't do much pocketbook damage when the utility bills arrive. Word is the company's also looking to use its green tech … Read more

Move over Sony Bravia, Fujitsu seems to be breeding sub-$1,000 laptops like rabbits. Just one month after launching the $799 LifeBook V1010 and a few weeks after the $849 LifeBook A6110, the company has announced the LifeBook S7211, which has a starting price of just $899. The 14-inch wide-screen laptop, aimed at small and medium businesses, includes a built-in Webcam, spill-resistant keyboard, and modular bay for an optical drive or an extra battery to extend your computing time beyond the 4 hours promised by the standard battery. With an optical drive, the LifeBook S7211 weighs 5.2 pounds. … Read more

Hot on the heels of the $799 LifeBook V1010, Fujitsu has announced the $849 LifeBook A6110. Like its sibling, the A6110 features a 15.4-inch display and built-in DVD burner; its higher cost can be attributed largely to its current-generation Core 2 Duo processor and Mobile Intel GM965 Express chipset. Other key features of the 6.6-pound A6110 include integrated Intel X3100 graphics, a large 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, a built-in Webcam, and a slot for both PC Cards and ExpressCards. Higher-end models include Fujitsu's unique point-and-write touchpad.

The LifeBook A6110's base configuration includes … Read more

We mentioned this guy a few weeks ago, when it was first announced. Now, we're pleased to report that the FedEx guy has just dropped off Fujitsu's new ultra tiny laptop, the LifeBook U810, and we just had to snap a shot of it to show off how small it really is.

The U810 is a hybrid between an ultraportable convertible tablet and a UMPC (that's ultramobile PC, if you haven't been paying attention). We've always liked UMPCs in theory, but these pocket-sized systems, including the OQO model 02and Sony VAIO UX390, were more like … Read more