Fujitsu LifeBook U757 (7200U, FHD) Laptop Review

Only the different size discerns the U747 from U757 on the outside. Both follow the same design concepts: A black-gray casing with an extremely beveled front. The materials are also identical. Fujitsu uses the same metal combination of brushed aluminum for the wrist rest, and magnesium for the display lid and base. Thus, the U757's stiffness is similar to that of the smaller model, which is pretty good. However, the 14-inch device has a slight advantage due to the somewhat bigger surface area at the same thickness. Unfortunately, not all good qualities of the U747 have been transferred to the U757. We found a sharp edge on the base's rear. Although the hinges of the U757 operate smoothly, the lid cannot be opened with one hand. They cannot prevent a certain degree of rocking, either.

The interfaces largely correspond to the ones in the smaller model. However, Fujitsu additionally installs an HDMI port here. It is too bad that the bigger, 15-inch size is not used better - for example, by adding a third USB Type-A port since only two of these ports in a 15-inch model is rather poor. All ports are positioned well though the HDMI and Ethernet are a bit close to each other.

The U757, being a business laptop, has some security features, such as a swipe fingerprint scanner and TPM. The Lifebook is also optionally available with a SmartCard reader and PalmSecure vein scanner - our model has neither feature.

The Wi-Fi test did not present any major irregularities. The installed Intel 8265 provides a very good performance also in routine use. In addition to Wi-Fi, the device with the EM7305-LTE card also features WWAN. The corresponding slot is under the battery. The SD card reader is not exactly one of the fastest models, but it is not one of the slowest ones, either. It places itself within the same range as the reader installed in the U747 in the benchmark with the Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II reference memory card.

The Core i5-7200U is a mid-range processor in Intel's U lineup. These are chiefly frugal ULV chips with a TDP of 15 watts. Although they were actually designed for ultrabooks, many bigger laptops are now furnished with these processors. All U processors have two cores; our model offers 4 threads thanks to Hyperthreading, and it clocks at up to 3.1 GHz also on two cores (base clock: 2.5 GHz). More comparisons can be found in the CPU benchmark list.

The U757 can maintain its full 3.1 GHz in the multi-core test as only minor fluctuations are recorded even in the 30-minute benchmark loop. The benchmark score reflects this: The CPU's performance is ideally utilized, and the Lifebook makes a good impression compared with its rivals. The older i5-6200U in Acer's TravelMate P568, for example, clearly lags behind.

The same performance is available in battery mode as in AC mode.

The U757 places itself between both Skylake comparison devices in the PCMark 8 test. Interestingly, the EliteBook 850 G4 cannot compete here. The Lifebook's work speed is impeccable in everyday use even if the SSD is not one of the fastest models.

Fujitsu installs an SSD by Samsung into the Lifebook. To be more precise, it is the CM871a with a capacity of 256 GB and it is a SATA III SSD in the 2280 M.2 form factor. The U757 is optionally available with PCIe SSDs and they can be retrofitted. This is recommended to users who want the best possible performance as the CM871a is relatively slow even among the SATA III SSDs. However, the SSDs in the rivals by Dell and Acer are even slower. Lenovo and HP install more expensive PCIe SSDs that are considerably faster. More information about the different SSD models can be found in our SSD/HDD benchmark section.

It should also be possible to install a 2.5-inch SSD HDD into the Lifebook. However, the M.2 SSD apparently has to be removed from the system since it is inserted in a caddy in the 2.5-inch slot. Thus, two SSDs cannot be installed at the same time.

Intel's HD Graphics 620 cannot completely utilize its full potential in the Lifebook U757. This is due to the working memory as the integrated GPU (GT2 expansion stage with 24 execution units) does not have a dedicated memory and thus has to use that of the working memory. Although it has enough capacity, only one module is installed ex-factory. The GPU could retrieve an even higher performance by installing a second module thanks to the then higher memory bandwidth. This way, it lags behind the former HD 520 GPU in Acer's TravelMate P658 in the 3DMark 11 benchmark. Comparisons with other mobile GPUs are possible via our benchmark list.

Test runs with the OpenGL part of the Cinebench 15 benchmark did not lead to any performance reductions.

Playing games on the U757 should not even be considered. It would only be conditionally suitable for games even if a second RAM module was installed. Of course, it is not designed for this purpose, but it would have been nice if Fujitsu at least offered a dedicated GPU optionally. The other manufacturers offer this option for their 15-inch business models, for example: The GeForce 940M for Acer's TravelMate P658 or the GeForce 940MX for the ThinkPad T570.

System Noise

Thanks to the generous casing and the frugal CPU, the U757 is almost completely noiseless when idle and during low load. The fan occasionally spins when the laptop is loaded a bit more, but it is not quite as high-pitched as in the U747. The fan remains relatively restrained even during full load.

However, the unpleasant whistling and hissing noise that were occasionally produced during the test should not be left unmentioned. As they were mainly noticed when the SSD was working, we suspect that it is the noise source. It is too bad and unnecessary that such problems occur even in expensive laptops time and again. This not only applies to Fujitsu but to the other manufacturers, as well.

There is not much to say about the speakers. Fujitsu installs two little stereo speakers above the keyboard that deliver an abysmal performance. They are fairly quiet even at maximum volume, the sound makes a very muffled impression, and low tones are almost completely absent. If possible, they should not be used and external speakers or headphones should be connected instead.

Frequency diagram in comparison (checkboxes above can be turned on/off!)

Kaby Lake seems to be a bit more energy-efficient than Skylake. Both Skylake models, Acer's TravelMate P568 more than Dell's Latitude E5570, are inferior particularly when idle. HP's EliteBook 850 G4 is even more energy-efficient than the U757, but not during load. This is also true for Lenovo's ThinkPad T570 that consumes the most power among all comparison devices during load.

Astonishingly, the Lifebook does not provide good battery runtimes despite its good consumption rates. Although its 50-Wh lithium-polymer battery is not exactly big for a 15-inch model, the rivals' edge on the Lifebook is surprisingly big. Fujitsu should have actually installed a bigger battery here because the battery capacity is the same here as in the smaller U747 despite the larger casing.