Pen-enabled ultra-portable LifeBook
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

With the LifeBook B6210, Fujitsu is trying something that makes great sense and should be the standard of the future: a ultra-portable 3.3 pound notebook with a touchscreen so you can use it with a stylus or your finger and thus take advantage of this additional navigation device as well as the ever more useful digital ink. Note that the B6210 is not a Tablet PC convertible; it does not have the pivot screen hinge that would allow you to rotate the screen around and convert the computer into a tablet. It also does not have an active digitizer. This computer simply gives you the option of using a stylus and ink in addition to the touchpad and mouse.

What does it all amount to? A small computer with a footprint of just 10.6 x 9.0 inches that's just 1.3 inches thick and weighs 3.2 pounds. It has a 12.1-inch XGA screen -- just large enough for serious work. It has a power-efficient Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core Solo processor running at 1.2 GHz and a big 56 watt-hour battery, so it is clearly designed for long battery life as opposed to top speed. And, in fact, Fujitsu rates battery life at up to eight hours. There is no internal optical drive, the keyboard is a bit cramped, and you pay the usual ultra-portable price premium, though the starting price of US$1,599 isn't too bad.