Tablets have been around for a long time and they have always been a niche product. The mass market has no use for a convertible tablet simply because not everyone needs to scribble and draw all the time. Tablets are meant for designers, artists, architects and anyone who benefits from having a digital notebook to draw and scribble on.

This new tablet from Fujitsu is quite different from your usual tablet. It does have the keyboard and the rotating screen that can be folded away but the touchscreen now also supports multiple inputs i.e. multitouch. It actually has two different modes on the same screen. If you use the pen, it activates the Wacom digitized panel. If you use your finger(s), it activates a capacitive touchscreen that is similar to the one on the iPhone.

Now that is what really makes this product interesting. These added features increase the ways in which you can interact with the device. Get over to other side for the meat.

Specifications

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo P8700

Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz

RAM: 2 GB

Screen: 13.3 inches, widescreen

Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

Storage: 80 GB SATA

Networking: 802.11n

Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Business

Weight: 5 lb

Price: $1,859.00

(Configuration can be customized before purchase)

Looks and Design

The Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 is no head turner. It was designed to be utilitarian and not much attention has been given to the aesthetics. It basically looks like an old-fashioned business laptop.

For a convertible tablet, it is pretty big at 13 inches. Usually you get to see 10 to 12-inch ones in this category. That’s because you really don’t want to carry around a 15 incher in your arms for more than 5 minutes. That is unless you name ends with Schwarzenegger or starts with Popeye. The Lenovo X200 is actually a better bet if you want something lighter because that weighs 4 pounds to the T5010’s 5 pounds. The fact that the latter has an optical drive does not help its weight.

The chassis is made up of tough plastic and for this price it could use some metal on its body. At least it has a matte finish. The interior is actually off white, which does not help. Being a tablet, this will be carried around a lot and hence will get dirty far too easily in this color. The interior has a matte finish as well and sports a clean look.

Display and Touch

The T5010 has a widescreen display and the touch-sensitive layer sits on top of the display. It is a 13.3” WXGA LED backlit display and has an indoor only or indoor/outdoor option. By outdoor they mean that the display will readable when you are working in bright daylight. There is also an option between having just the digitizer (the one you use with the pen only) or a dual digitizer that also has a finger-friendly capacitive touchscreen.

Interestingly, you cannot combine the dual digitizer with the indoor/outdoor option. It is probably a technical limitation. The capacitive touchscreen is similar to what you have on the iPhone, which means smooth workflows.

As mentioned earlier, the switch is actually automatic on the dual digitizer. You do not have to turn on the capacitive touchscreen or change modes. If you use a pen, it will behave as a digitizer and if you use your finger(s) it will act as a touchscreen. This is probably because both are active at the same time, just waiting for an input.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is a traditional one with closely set keys that have tapered edges to demarcate individual keys. Since this is a tablet, not much importance is given to the keyboard. Still, it has to be mentioned that it is a full sized keyboard without a dedicated number pad. The keys do not have a shiny finish on them, which is good. The keyboard is also spill resistant, which means you can ease up a bit more about carrying it around everywhere you go.

The touchpad will probably end up being the most ignored part of the T5010. It has the same color has the palm rest areas but it does not sit flush with the surface. Tracking is decent and there are the usual buttons to take care of right and left clicking.

Ports and Features

The touchscreen actually recognizes up to two fingers only. But it will respond well to your fingers. You can use gestures like pinch and swipe to get things done. The T5010 also has a physical scroll bar beside the display, so that really helps with viewing longer documents and web pages.

There’s one VGA connector, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire, a LAN port, a phone modem port and the usual audio input and output. There is also a PCMCIA card slot, a Memory stick and SD card slot and also a dedicated smart card slot. The website says that the last one requires third party applications, which is quite obvious really.

From the collection of ports, there’s at least one thing you can surmise – backwards compatibility. What with the phone modem, the firewire port and PCMCIA slot, Fujitsu wants to make sure that its business users are not left stranded at any time. You will notice that it does not have HDMI or eSATA. Those are really too low on the typical business owner’s priority list.

Performance and Battery Life

Since the T5010 runs on a Penryn core Intel Core 2 Duo, it is one powerful laptop. The Penryn core is also quite power efficient, so it compensates for the digitizer in a way. However, the 2GB memory actually holds it back. So make sure you get the 4GB option when you buy it. Business users are not keen on playing games (at least they shouldn’t be), so the integrated graphics is powerful enough for the intended use.

Battery life is average at about 3.5 hours of average use. The optical drive can be swapped for extra storage or battery. I suggest you get the battery if you plan extensive field use.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a good tablet but it does not match up to the ThinkPad X200 that can currently be considered as leading the race.