Fujitsu has long been the leader in Tablet PCs, but it has trailed the competition in implementing multitouch on its slates and convertibles. The LifeBook T4410, aimed at business users, makes up for lost time with a smooth Windows 7 touch experience—often, smoother than its competitors—and a reasonable price (starting at $1,199; $1,649 as configured). The design is on the bland side, and you don’t get a whole lot of storage space for the money, but overall the T4410 offers good performance in a durable chassis.
Design
While other companies, such as Dell and HP, have forged ahead with design overhauls of their business notebook lines, introducing new colors and brushed metal casings into their lineups, Fujitsu’s latest offering looks somewhat dated; the T4410 has a matte black lid, with a matte white keyboard underneath. However, this tablet feels like it was made to last. Whereas most notebooks have a lid that just opens if you lift it, the T4410 has a strong latch—a handy feature for convertibles. Because of the rock-solid design, we enjoyed peace of mind when carrying the T4410 under one arm.
Measuring 11.7 x 9.2 x 1.5 inches, the T4410 is about as large—and slightly thicker than—the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 with multitouch (11.6 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches), and bigger than the Dell Latitude XT2 (11.7 x 8.7 x 1.1 inches). At 4.5 pounds, it’s heavier than both systems (4.2 pounds with extended battery and 3.8 pounds, respectively). However, only the T4110 is equipped with an integrated DVD burner. Plus, you can swap out this optical drive for an extended battery (a $134 option).
The bezel on the T4410 has several controls, including programmable launch buttons, a function button, and one that changes the orientation of the screen in 90-degree increments. There’s also a fingerprint reader on the lower left corner of the display, whose hinge is flanked by two small speakers.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The T4410’s white plastic keyboard has a conventional, close-together arrangement. The large (albeit loud) keys are spill-resistant and comfortable to type on, as the keyboard extends all the way across the chassis, leaving little blank space on the edges. Using the Ten Thumbs typing test, we were able to type at a rate of 86 words per minute, which is about as fast as we normally type on our desktop keyboard.
At 1.5 x 2.6 inches, the touchpad isn’t terribly large, but it’s big enough for simply moving the cursor across the screen. While multitouch isn’t factory enabled for the touchpad, it can be turned on through the Control Panel. The scroll strip on the right side of the pad was very receptive to our fingers, but the display itself is so responsive to touch gestures you might want to skip the trackpad altogether (more on that below).
At times, the touchpad felt overly sensitive; we often moved backward in the browser even though we didn’t press a button. Sometimes, when we would move the cursor around, we couldn’t initially see it on screen, or it wasn’t where we intended it to be. The mouse buttons, while easy to press, are a bit noisy.
Display and Sound
The 12.1-inch dual digitizer display (1280 x 800) on the T4410 is a bit dim and murky, as touchscreens often are. When we watched a Saturday Night Live clip from Hulu at full screen, the action was fluid and sharp enough to watch comfortably. The display’s ambient light sensor, which perceives surrounding light and adjusts the brightness accordingly, is a welcome addition.
The music from the speaker strip, located at the top of the chassis, along the hinge, was a bit tinny. “Me and Bobby McGee” didn’t sound too bad, but we noticed metallic noise more when we listened to Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” which has a richer bass line.
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