Fujitsu LifeBook S761 business laptop

Fujitsu LifeBook S761 review: A great little 13.3in, sub-2kg laptop for business users, but it could be even better

PC World Australia (online)

Pros

  • Solid build quality
  • Good specs
  • Vrey good screen

Cons

  • No SSD
  • Heaps of pre-installed software
  • Small touchpad

Bottom Line

Fujitsu's LifeBook S761 is a top laptop, that's for sure. It's small and light, yet well built and highly specced. We like it a lot but think it could use an SSD drive and a little less (or improved) pre-installed software.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 2,588.00 (AUD)

Special Offers

Ease of use

As for the notebook's ease of use, it's quite good. We love the spill resistant keyboard (of the turn-the-unit-upside-down-to-drain-the-liquid type), which has full-sized keys that possess good travel and responsiveness. It's a soft and relatively quiet keyboard to type on and unlike many notebooks on the market, it doesn't use chiclet-style keys. There is one annoying thing though: the Delete key is located one spot in from the top-right corner, instead of being exactly in the top-right corner and this threw us off many times.

A relatively small touchpad is installed (65x36mm) and it doesn't support the multi-touch gestures we're used to from testing other laptops. For example, two-finger scrolling is not supported; instead, there is a dedicated scrollpad just to the right of the touchpad. This lets you scroll by swirling your finger round and round on the pad. It's quite fun to do, but it does take a while to get used to and it means you have to reposition your hand in order to use it. Furthermore, the 'flick' gesture on this pad requires two fingers instead of three. The left- and right-click buttons are separated by a fingerprint reader and they are easy to press.

Security and connectivity

Fingerprint security can be enabled using the Omnipass software that is installed. A four-button panel (called Quick Launch Panel as it can also be used to launch popular applications) is located above the keyboard and it can theoretically be used with the installed Security Panel Application to allow you to enter a code at the hardware level to log in to the notebook, but this didn't work during our tests. If you ever do enable that security and forget the code, then you have to send the notebook back to Fujitsu so it can be reset. TPM is also installed. We recommend getting the low-down on all the security features of the LifeBook from Fujitsu prior to purchasing, just so you know exactly how it all works and what the consequences are when you forget a hardware-based password.

Other features of the LifeBook S761 include a DVD burner (this is in a modular bay and it can be replaced by a second battery), three USB 2.0 ports (one of which is also USB 3.0), VGA, HDMI (albeit upside-down), separate headphone and microphone ports, Gigabit Ethernet, an SD card slot, an ExpressCard/54 slot, 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Di, a Wi-Fi toggle, a 2-megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, a port replicator facility and a Kensington lock facility.

Fujitsu LifeBook S761

The DVD burner sits in a modular bay and it can be replaces by a second battery or a weight saver.

The USB ports can also be used to charge devices even when the laptop is switched off and unplugged from the wall. Incidentally, the power adapter for this notebook consumes no power when it's left plugged into the wall, but not plugged into the laptop. Other laptop chargers consume between 0.2-0.4 Watts.

Conclusion

There's no doubt that the Fujistu LifeBook S761 is a good laptop: it's very well built, has a good set of features and a strong configuration, it's easy to maintain and, most importantly, it's comfortable to use. However, we think it could be a more polished product; a lot of the preinstalled software doesn't look good, and there is also so much you really have to spend a lot of time getting to know it all. We also wish that a solid state drive was an option, especially for the asking price.

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