Netbook Comp

Fujitsu has been patiently biding its time, preparing for the right opportunity to enter the netbook market, which is quickly becoming teeming with different designs.  While other companies release multiple netbooks at any one time, some even more than three models, Fujitsu has waited for the right moment to unveil its own netbook and that time is now.  Fujitsu’s M2010 has great points but is burdened by potential deal-breaking flaws.  The infinity-symbol design is good to look at and the 10-inch widescreen is among the best in the market.  While the 89 percent keyboard is slightly disappointing, the netbook’s target market, kids who would use it in the classroom, have significantly smaller hands, so it’s easy to forgive.  However, its $449 direct price and low-scoring three-cell battery are hard to overlook.

Like most other netbooks, the M2010 has a tough plastic cover, but because of its target market audience, Fujitsu has opted to spice things up by adding well-designed aesthetic touches.  While its competition, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE and the Acer Aspire One (10-inch), utilize a glossy yet relatively bland lid, the M2010 uses a prominent red color choice and additionally adds its unique infinity logo as the finishing touch.  The M2010 is not the only netbook to take a more chic route to appeal to the younger crowd; both the Dell Latitude 2100 and the HP Mini 2140 have cool-looking designs that are sure to be popular among kids.

At a mere 2.5 pounds, Fujitsu’s M2010 is not as heavy as either the 1000HE or the Acer One, but trades off by using a smaller, less powerful 26Wh three-cell battery.  With the optional six-cell battery, its weight would be right around the two others.  The vivid and bright screen give a huge advantage to the dime-a-dozen 10-inch widescreen and 1,024 by 600 resolution.  The HP Mini 1000 and the Samsung N120 (12GBK) can hardly compare to the sharp, crisp, and saturated colors of the M2010.  Despite its quality, though, a 1,366 by 768 resolution, like the ones that are standard to the HP 2140 and the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 would make the screen the best in the industry.

Most consumers in the netbook market are looking for full size (or as near full size as can be) keyboards, and usually won’t settle for much less.  Since it is geared towards school children however, the 89 percent keyboard, as big as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (Red), the Acer One, and some older, first-generation models, is acceptable, albeit cramped.  For a more comfortable typing platform, the 1000HE and the HP 2140 are available and the Samsung N120, the Samsung NC20 (21GBK), and the new Acer Aspire One AO715h, which I will be reviewing later on, are notable for their full sized keyboards.  Additionally, the M2010 mouse buttons are annoyingly loud, although it can probably be overlooked as a preproduction problem (hopefully).
For the M2010 to be able to compete amongst so much competition, it will have to set itself apart from the rest of the netbooks on the market.  The three USB ports, VGA-out, Ethernet, memory-card slot, and webcam are all standard affair on just about every netbook, and aren’t a significant selling point for an audience of classroom students, especially against the cheaper competition like the ASUS 1000HE or the Acer One.  When it comes to classroom features, the Dell 2100 has it beat.  It offers a handy storage cart the is capable of containing and recharging up to 20 netbooks, a network activity light that allows teachers to monitor the netbooks’ web use to keep children from goofing off, and other useful perks like ExpressCard slots and cooperative software to enhance the classroom learning environment.

The Fujitsu M2010 is composed of standard Intel parts like a 1.6 GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1 GB of memory, and a system of integrated graphics. Unlike the 4,200 rpm hard drives of the Mini 1000 and the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, the M2010’s 160 GB 5,400 rpm hard drive provides faster performance. The M2010 ended up with a mediocre score on our video encoding tests at 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Although that score was better than that of the Samsung N120 (5 minutes and 4 seconds) and the Lenovo S10 (5 minutes and 7 seconds), it was not as good as the Asus 1000HE (4 minutes and 24 seconds) and the Acer One (4 minutes and 34 seconds). The SYSmark’s 2007 Preview judges overall performance, and the M2010 seemed to do as well as its competitors, but not any better.

However, the M2010 did not do as well in the battery score category. Its three-cell battery is actually very similar to that of the Mini 2140 and the Lenovo S10, but surprisingly, they scored substantially better than the M2010. The Mini 2140’s score was 5:04, the Lenovo’s was 3:03, and the M2010’s was 2:04. In my opinion, I think that M2010’s brighter screen has something to do with draining the battery a lot quicker than the other two models. If you want to increase battery life, there is an option of purchasing an additional six-cell battery, which I think is more worth it than the three-cell battery. It will provide at least twice the battery life. On the other hand, the six-cell batteries of other netbooks such as the Samsung N120 and the Acer One can run for over 8 hours – indicating that the Fujitsu M2010 has a lot to improve.

n terms of being “green”, the Fujitsu M2010 has a lot to offer in that area. Generally speaking, netbooks do not have much trouble meeting the energy consumption rules set by Energy Star, since Intel Atom or VIA CPUs are known to be extremely low-powered chips. EPEAT is a different story – it actually requires the company to initiate a recycling program and follow a series of other picky requirements, which makes it more difficult. Thus, it is commendable that the Fujitsu M2010 is not only a Energy Star compliant, but also EPEAT Gold and RoHS certified. In addition, it was approved by PCMag’s GreenTech for its P3 International Kill A Watt meter reading of 10 watts, 4 watts below Energy Star’s maximum.
The Fujitsu M2010 has both trendy looks and a remarkably clear display going for it, and is fully capable of handling all the needs of a student in the classroom environment with all essential educational features.  That said, the M2010 is over $100 more expensive than its competitors, such as the Acer Aspire One (10-inch) and the Dell Latitude 2100 and lacks quite a few of the unique features they offer, as well.  While schools can still chip down the price by ordering in bulk, the M2010 is still nowhere near the competitive price that it should be at, in my opinion.  With other companies offering more features for less money, there is little incentive to stock up on the M2010, but if your school does end up purchasing Fujitsu’s  netbook, do yourself a favor and opt for the bigger battery pack.