Fujitsu P1620 vs. the HP 2710p- my thoughts
I can’t believe how much I am getting asked how I compare the Fujitsu P1620 to the HP 2710p for every day usage. To me they are very different beasts but I can appreciate how someone wanting to buy one or the other might be agonizing over it. I’m not going to recommend one over the other as it really depends on how you work and what to typically do with your daily machine. Instead I am going to offer some observations about what I miss about the HP 2710p when I’m using the Fujitsu and vice versa.
What I miss about the HP 2710p when using the P1620:
- That nice flat rubber trackstick head. The Fuji nub is fine but not as precise for my fat finger.
- That hot swappable extended battery. Having to hibernate the Fuji to swap the battery is not as good.
- The hovering cursor. It’s not necessary but does make things easier at times.
- Being able to see the power (standby) indicator when the lid is closed.
- The full-sized keyboard. The Fuji’s is fine but not as good as a full one.
- The web cam! I miss it so much on the Fuji.
What I like better about the Fujitsu P1620 over the HP:
- Near instant docking and undocking.
- Lid swivels in both directions.
- Buttons on the bezel.
- I haven’t benchmarked it but the faster booting on the Fuji.
- Much better fingerprint sensor. It’s positioned better for usage in either notebook or slate mode.
- Middle mouse button for scrolling.
- Size, size, size!
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James, this is great stuff! I’m curious though to hear your comparison of the 2 screens. Obviously one is larger than the other. But how do they compare in terms of vividness and viewing angles? I had heard complaints that the P1610 (not P1620) screen was dim or washed out, as well as issues concerning viewing angles and sunlight. Thanks!
Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy! You have to have a winner! If you could only have one…..:)
I know you can’t pick our winner but I think you work a lot like me so picking your winner would mean a lot.
Given the weight, I don’t care about a winner so much as the quick release of further motion details. I know it looks like it won’t be a fit for professional use, like many of us want, but it would make me feel better to make a fully informed decision. Especially given the costs.
Question
What is the HD size and interface?
I would like to see what other drives could be used. Faster speeds and/or larger capacities. 4200RPM seems very slow.
The Fujitsu Shock Sensor is listed as on of the programs that is “blocked from starting after you install Windows Vista SP1″: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935796
Has anyone (who has access to to it already) tried installing Vista SP1 on the p1620? Any idea what the conflict is? The knowledge base article says info about this issue is posted on the vendor Web site—but I sure can’t find a thing about it on the fujitsu website.
Don’t have a p1620 {yet}, but do you really need/recommend The Fujitsu Shock Sensor program to be running? What exactly is it anyway?
Okay, it’s done. I just placed my order for the 1620. I ordered the 32 ssd and will use a SD card for other data. They gave me 15 day return terms and threw in a scanner/printer as well. My ship date is March 7. (we’ll see.:)
Al, the Shock Sensor utility is the one that parks the drive head if the unit gets shaken or dropped. To tell you the truth I still have it running on the 1620 but I did disable it on the 1610 with no problems.
AI, the latest version of the shock sensor utility for the P1610 (December 2007) works fine with SP1. I presume the P1620 uses the same version. I had the original utility when I upgraded to SP1 and Vista did block it so I just downloaded and installed the latest version and it worked straight away.
Two quick questions – is the 6 cell battery flush with the rest of the computer or does it stick out like a sore thumb – and what type of battery life have you been getting with the 3 and/or 6 cell?
Thanks!
Lee, 2.5 – 3 hours on the 3 cell and 5 – 6 on the 6 cell. The 6 cell sticks out about .75 in. which actually forms a nice handle for use in slate mode. You can see how much it sticks out in the video when I show the P1620 sideways. I would like to point out to everyone that the P1620 device is physically just like the P1610 so check out my thorough video review of the P1610 to see all of this stuff:
http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkotr_audio_edition/2006/11/jkontherun_audi_2.html