Fujitsu Packs New Life Into LifeBook

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based unit of the global computer giant is launching the LifeBook P1500, which has a full-blown version of Windows XP Professional and an Intel Pentium M chip. The new Fujitsu notebook is pen-enabled and includes a stylus. The unit will be available immediately with an initial street price of $1,499. A P1500 running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is expected later this year, said Paul Moore, director of mobile product marketing at Fujitsu.

The combination of tablet function and a small form factor will appeal to users of notebooks, as well as to users of slate or convertible tablet PCs, Moore said.

The P1500 ships with a battery life of about three hours, but a secondary battery is available that provides a seven-hour battery life boost, Moore said. The result: a system that can work all day, or nearly all day, for health-care professionals making rounds, inventory managers, or for use in schools and other vertical markets.

C.A. Nix III, president of Medical Practice Technologies, a Cumming, Ga.-based solution provider that focuses on the medical market and got an early look at the unit, said he believes they&'ll sell well, especially to health-care professionals.

“The new model is more exciting. People can truly use this as a laptop replacement,” said Nix, adding that the unit will have an Intel processor, wireless 802.11 b and g, and a flip screen.

Nix said his company has previously sold thin and light systems from Fujitsu that were configured to run wirelessly in a Citrix, server-based implementation. Nix&'s physician customers were able to use the devices all morning, and then recharge them during lunch. “Then after lunch, they take it and never have to plug it in for the rest of the day,” he said. Now, he said, enhanced power-saving technology such as what Fujitsu has implemented with the Intel Pentium M processor could accentuate that feature.

Earlier systems in the LifeBook P1500&'s form factor ran with a Microsoft CE or similar light operating system, Nix said, but having a full-blown version of Windows on the P1500 will provide his customers more opportunities to use the system as a true notebook replacement.