Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook E8410 review

An option that was present on our review sample is a 3G/HSDPA module supporting wide-area wireless connectivity at speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. At the moment, you'll be lucky to find 7.2Mbps coverage in the wild, but at least this laptop offers a level of future-proofing on this front. The SIM card slot is underneath the battery, which fits into a slot on the bottom of the casing.

The Wi-Fi comes courtesy of Intel's Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN adapter and so includes Draft-N support; 3G is catered by for a Sierra Wireless HSDPA module. A software application manages connections and can be used to send and manage received text messages. Gigabit Ethernet is also present for wired networking.

To go with the 3G support, there's a small webcam fitted in the top of the lid section that can be used for video calling. As with other webcam-equipped Fujitsu Siemens laptops we've seen recently, the lens is fixed rather than swivel-mounted.

For storage, our review sample had an 80GB hard drive, with 120GB and 160GB disks available as options. A user-configurable sensor protects the hard drive from mechanical shock.

The LifeBook E8410 has plenty ports and connectors. There are four USB 2.0 ports, two on the left side and two more on the back. Both pairs are vertically stacked, and it may be difficult to use both at the same time if your USB peripherals have bulky connectors. Furthermore, the two ports on the left edge are adjacent to the modem connector and it's possible that, when they are in use, access to this -- admittedly now rarely used -- connector could be blocked.

The left edge also houses a FireWire connector, headphone and microphone jacks -- awkwardly located right at the back -- and, towards the front, a Type II PC Card/ExpressCard slot and a smartcard reader.

At the back you'll find Ethernet, S-Video out, VGA out and serial ports, and -- most unusually these days -- a parallel port. The right edge houses the optical drive, which can be removed and replaced with a second battery if required.

At the front, next to the Wi-Fi on/off switch, is a flash card reader that accepts SD and Memory Stick media. The infrared port is also here.

Performance
The LifeBook E8410 delivered an overall Windows Experience Index of 3.2 out of 5.9. This equates to the lowest component score, which in this case was for graphics (desktop performance for Windows Aero).

Concentrating on the lowest score does this laptop a disservice, because every other component received a score higher than 4. Indeed, the processor (calculations per second) score was an impressive 4.9.

Between these came primary hard disk (disk data transfer rate) at 4.8, memory (memory operations per second) at 4.5 and gaming Graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance) at 4.3.

Fujitsu Siemens claims that the main 8-cell 5,200mAh battery delivers up to 5 hours of life, extendable to 8 hours with a second 6-cell 3,800mAh unit in the modular optical drive bay. It should be possible to get some serious work done with this laptop away from mains power -- although, for a machine that's likely to spend most of its time on the desk, extended battery life may not be a major priority for many buyers.

Conclusion
The LifeBook E8410 laptop delivered a positive user experience. Its screen is outstanding in terms of both resolution and image quality, and this alone makes it a viable desktop replacement system. The positioning of the USB ports will irritate those wanting to use all four at once, and a hub or port replicator may be the only answer to this problem.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday