The Deets

I have been asked many times what the best laptop is.  My answer is
actually not a laptop at all, rather, a TabletPC.  Being a huge fan of
Apple Computer, this surprises many, but Apple has no product that can begin
to compare to the Fujitsu 4020 TabNote.

What is it I like about the 4020 so much?  Why would an Apple zealot
choose a PC over a PowerBook (or MacBook Pro)?  Allow me to break down a
few of the key things I love about this unit.

• 
  First and foremost, I can write directly on the display.  By simply
  swiveling the screen around, my laptop becomes a pad of paper that can be
  searched, archived and managed easily via OneNote.  I much prefer write
  my notes down over typing, and the 4020 allows me to work with my TabNote as
  if it were a pad of paper.
  
• 
  I can use this unit as either a standard laptop or as a TabletPC.  This
  gives me the flexibility to do whatever work I may need done. 
  Sometimes I simply need a keyboard, sometimes I need a pad of paper. 
  This unit does both.
  
• 
  6 hours of real-life battery usage with the secondary battery
  installed.  I am in some very long meetings, and dragging my power
  supply from place to place can get annoying.  It?¢?Ǩ?Ñ¢s nice to be able to
  sit in a meeting for 6 hours without needing to worry about my
  battery.  If I take my screen brightness down a bit, I can get even
  more time out of it.  On the standard battery I can get 2.5 hours, even
  when watching DVDs.  Now I just need to get those meetings to be a bit
  shorter since my brain only has a 4 hour battery.
  
• 
  I/O options.  I have a universal card reader (SD/MMC/Memory Stick) that
  allows me to take the card directly from my Treo to my TabNote, or from my
  digital camera to my TabNote without the need of any cables or external
  readers.
  
• 
  The screen is very bright and crystal clear.  I went with the
  indoor/outdoor display as the high-res screen was soft and hard to
  read.  I can read the display great indoors, and fairly well
  outdoors.  I can?¢?Ǩ?Ñ¢t read a PowerBook at all outside (or any other laptop
  that I have seen for that matter).
  
  At 2Ghz, this system is very fast for a TabNote.  While new dual-core
  systems will be out soon, for now this is one of the fastest Laptop/Tablet I
  have seen.
  
• 
  The keyboard is very sturdy and does not flex while I type.  I have
  found very few systems that have a keyboard as good as this TabNote.
  
• 
  The fingerprint sensor is just cool.
  
• 
  The controls on the screen give me quick access to tools I may need while
  either in laptop mode or tablet mode.
  
• 
  Unlike other TabNotes the 4020 is a very solid system which does not flex
  when carrying it.  Most laptops or TabNote systems will bend or flex a
  bit when carrying them, or the keyboard will bounce when you type?¢?Ǩ¬¶ The 4020
  is solid and does none of this.
  

As with any technology there are a few drawbacks.  The fingerprint sensor
is only available in laptop mode.  If you move to TabletPC mode the
sensor is covered by the screen.  This is silly since the sensor is more
useful in tablet mode than it is in laptop mode.  The screen resolution
also bugs me a bit.  The best looking screen they have is 1024×768. 
While a high-res version is available, it just looks soft and crummy. 
What I would love to see is a high-res screen that?¢?Ǩ?Ñ¢s as clear as their
1024×768 version.  The port replicator (dock) is also a bit?¢?Ǩ¬¶
lacking.  I use Skype a lot and would love to have audio input and output
on the dock.  This would allow me to keep my headset plugged in at work
without having to plug it directly into the TabNote itself.  Alas, the
dock only has audio output, no input.  My biggest complaint has to be the
speakers.  If you need to use a lot of audio on your laptop/TabNote, then
this is not the unit for you.  The speakers are horrid.  Whenever I
edit video or listen to music, I use headphones, the speakers are useless.

The real testament to the 4020 is how I use it.  When going to a business
lunch I often find I am the only person with a laptop (or TabNote).  The
best part about this is that it?¢?Ǩ?Ñ¢s small enough where I can eat my lunch and
have the TabNote out while not taking up so much room that we need another
seat just for technology.  I can be taking notes, surfing sites, and
calling up info that other users simply can?¢?Ǩ?Ñ¢t do because their technology was
too big or too heavy.  I am the *only* person in meetings without a pad
of paper.  I am able to use my technology to take notes, or even draw out
pictures of designs and save them for later.  I even sign documents right
on my screen and e-mail, not fax them back to their originator.

This TabNote has changed the way I work for the better, and I would highly
suggest anyone looking at portable computing take a good, hard look at the
Fujitsu 4020.