Fujitsu Lifebook T900 review

The star of the show, undoubtedly, is the 13.3in touchscreen. Unusually, it isn’t a resistive screen, but uses technology developed by graphics tablet-specialist Wacom. Thus the screen can be used in digitiser mode with the pen, which is found tucked into the edge of the front wristrest, or a gentle prod of the finger.

It works better than any touchscreen we’ve come across in a tablet PC before. It’s highly accurate and responsive in either pen or finger mode, and it supports multitouch, so you can zoom in and out of photos and websites with a pinch. Don’t expect smooth animations, as you would with an iPad though – it’s still a Windows 7 PC at heart, after all.

Underneath the snazzy technology, you’re getting a good display too. A matte finish ensures reflections are kept to a minimum and LED backlighting offers consistent brightness and balanced colour reproduction. It’s a quality all-round screen.

And, this being a business machine, there’s no sign of frivolous games or pointless launchers either. What it does have is more useful: a series of shortcut buttons next to the screen that include the ability to change screen orientation at a button press, a touch sensitive scroll sensor (for vertically scrolling though documents and web pages without touching the screen), a fingerprint reader, and a fold out Wi-Fi aerial to support the 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter. There’s also TPM, a smartcard reader and, to aid in correct orientation of the screen, an acceleromter.

The T900 has a couple of key weakness, however, the first of which is battery life. The touchscreen and powerful processor conspired to drain the T900 of its reserves in a mere 3hrs 37mins in our light use test. That’s well short of what we’d consider acceptable for any business laptop. Under intense conditions it died after 1hr 13mins. The second problem is the cost: at £1,381 exc VAT it’s a high asking price for any laptop, even one this well-equipped.

That’s a real shame as aside from these hurdles (and its dreadfully dull styling) the Fujitsu T900 is a likeable laptop. It’s quick, well-built, and boasts a truly excellent touchscreen. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t justify the price.
Price when reviewed: £1,381 (£1,623 inc VAT)