Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook S6410 review

Laptops in Fujitsu Siemens' LifeBook S series are designed to deliver low weight, high-end performance and good connectivity. To that end, features like integrated 3G and a built-in webcam complement an up-to-the-minute Centrino Pro platform.

But this is a crowded field. What makes the £1,350 LifeBook S6410 stand out from other sub-2kg ultraportables?

Design
If design is a big consideration when you're buying a laptop, then the LifeBook S6410 earns points immediately. Its slate-grey outer casing and silver, white and grey innards are distinctive and -- by laptop standards -- quite attractive.

This 1.75kg system won't go unnoticed in your travel bag. But when you do carry it around, the solid clasp that keeps the clamshell unit together will be welcome, as will the zipped pouch that Fujitsu Siemens provides to help protect it.

Build quality is good, but there is the odd problem area. The thin lid section is quite flexible, which is not unusual for a laptop, but there's also a slight give in the wrist-rest area. It's conceivable that heavy pressure here when the laptop is opened could damage internal components.

The 13.3-inch wide-format screen has a native resolution of 1,280x800 pixels and incorporates Fujitsu Siemens' CrystalView layer. The display itself is sharp and clear, but the CrystalView anti-glare coating makes it very reflective. Working with a light source to the rear is not always easy.

The keyboard, as usual with Fujitsu Siemens laptops, has a positive action and is responsive to use. There's a fair amount of give in the keyboard, which won't suit everyone. Heavy-handed typists, in particular, may find it a little uncomfortable. A row of full-sized number keys and another of near-full-sized function keys sit above the main ban of Qwerty keys.

The touchpad, which is slightly recessed into the wrist-rest area, has two large mouse buttons, with a relatively small fingerprint scanner sitting between them.

Between the keyboard and the screen is a bank of four buttons giving quick access to some additional features. Those marked 'E' and 'R' will be familiar to users of Fujitsu Siemens laptops. The E button turns on what the company calls its 'Eco' mode.

Hit the button and an information box tells you that various functions will be switched off to conserve power: these include the optical drive, PC Card and flash card readers, wireless LAN and FireWire. Screen brightness is minimised too. To cancel this setting, you simply press the E button again. Meanwhile, the R button gives you access to on-demand file backup services.

One of the other buttons opens a quick settings area for screen brightness, power management, display properties, hard drive shock protection and so on. The final button provides a useful quick sign-off and shut-down procedure.

Features
Our review sample of the LifeBook S6410 was powered by Intel's 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300. Other configurations use the 1.8GHz T7100, 2.2GHz T7500 and 2.4GHz T7700. The T7300 has 4MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz frontside bus. The chipset is Intel's GM965 Express, with X3100 integrated graphics. The system comes with Windows Vista Business and has 1GB of RAM as standard, expandable to 4GB via a pair of DIMM slots.

Infrared, Wi-Fi (802.11a,b,g and Draft-N), Bluetooth (2.0) and 3G (HSDPA/HSUPA) are all built in, 3G connectivity being handled by a Sierra Wireless adapter with the SIM slot located beneath the battery. Wired Ethernet is also present, of course, courtesy of a Marvell Yukon PCI Gigabit controller.