Fujitsu LifeBook U937 (Core i5, Full-HD) Laptop Review

The case of the U937 really is one of the smallest of all our comparison devices. If you look at its length and width, only the Dell XPS 13 is a little smaller, but it is also the heaviest comparison device at 1.2 kg (~2.6 lb). The 15.5 mm (~0.61 in) thickness, however, seems to be a standard among the competition. Only the HP Spectre 13 is even slimmer than the rest with an unbelievable 10.4 mm (~0.41 in). But again, that device is a lot larger than the comparison devices, despite having the same display size. 

Looking at weight, the Fujitsu, again, is in pole position. 950 grams (~2.1 lb) is simply unbeatable. The Toshiba also weighs only 1 kg (~2.2 lb), but all others are another 100 to 200 g (~3.5 to ~7 oz) heavier. Then of course, you have to add the weight of the power supply (365 g/~13 oz)) which weighs almost half as much as the notebook itself. 

Considering that we are talking about an ultra-light notebook, Fujitsu is very liberal in terms of ports and additional features – unlike the AsusPro. The device is equipped with a fully-fledged USB 3.0 Type-A port on either side, one of which even supports “Anytime USB Charge” which lets you charge connected devices even when the computer is turned off. However, the laptop has only one USB 3.1 Type-C port of the first generation, so it does not support Thunderbolt, but has a Power Delivery function. 

You can connect an external monitor via the fully-fledged HDMI port that supports resolutions of up to 4096x2160 pixels. The fingerprint sensor will be a welcome addition for fans of biometric data protection and transfer, but there are also models available with a palm vein sensor. The large smart card reader is a great highlight for businesses as it enables you to double protect the device - with a password plus a chip card. 

Fujitsu has also done a good job in terms of positioning the ports: USB Type-A ports, which can often require a lot of space, are placed at a short distance to ports that require very little space, such as the audio jack or the USB Type-C port.

We always use the same reference card to test the SD card reader - a Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II. The transfer rates that we measured were very good in the copy test and the Fujitsu made first place once again. It beat the Dell by 30%. 

The read test brought slightly different results: here, the Dell was faster by 38%, but our Fujitsu U937 still managed second place. The Toshiba took the third place and was behind by 50%. Overall, our test unit did very well. 

The U937 impressed us with its additional communication options. Apart from LAN and Wi-Fi with integrated Bluetooth 4.2, the subnotebook also has a SIM card slot with 4G/LTE support. The latter offers a Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE modem with 2 LTE antennas and supports downloads of up to 300 MBit/s and uploads of 50 MBit/s

The Wi-Fi module with its two dual-band Wi-Fi antennas from Intel had very good results downstream and, once again, our test unit managed to position itself at the top of our comparison table. The Toshiba’s results were 5% lower, the rest of our comparison devices were between 15 and 30% slower. The Fujitsu’s performance dropped a little upstream and only performed averagely. The winner here was the Lenovo which had an advantage of 30% while the slowest device, the AsusPro, was only 10% behind our Fujitsu U937.

Fujitsu was sparing with its accessories: The comparatively large “Accessory Box” only contained a power supply, a driver DVD and a Quick Start guide. Perhaps it is filled better with the more expensive versions. The driver DVD is quite a surprise as the slim device does not have an optical drive: You would have to connect an external drive or use a second computer in order to make use of the DVD. Asus has done a better job and equipped its device with a bag and port replicator. 

The manufacturer does offer some additional accessories on its website. You can take a look at the available accessories here.

The Japanese manufacturer offers a one-year international warranty, and replacement parts are supposed to be available for 5 years after the end of the product life. Additionally, the manufacturer offers regular product services.

Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

Keyboard

Touchpad

Fujitsu has equipped our test unit with a full HD IPS panel from Sharp. The manufacturer claims a viewing angle of 85% from all sides. The display is matte, but there is also a version with a glossy touch display.

The maximum brightness is at 383 cd/m² and could theoretically beat its competition. Unfortunately, brightness distribution is at only 81%, which is the worst result of all comparison devices, which means the screen "only" reaches an average brightness of 343 cd/m². Our test unit still manages to reach second place behind the HP Spectre. 

Our device's display is the only one out of all comparison devices that uses PWM to regulate screen brightness. The display turns on and off at a frequency of over 200 Hz, which might be a problem for sensitive users. However, it only uses PWM at a brightness of 20% or below. We noticed no backlight bleeding during our review.

Fujitsu’s U937 is available with various hardware configurations and these can have a big influence on the device’s performance. First of all, the notebook is available with three different processors, which all belong to Intel’s Kaby Lake generation. The processor that our model is equipped with is a Core i5-7200U; the other two options are an i5-7300U and an i7-7600U, which both have higher clock rates.

The test unit is equipped with 8 GB of working memory, but there are other versions with 4 GB and 16 GB. 4 GB of RAM are firmly soldered onto the processor in our model, and the other 4 GB of RAM are connected via a DIMM slot.

Internal storage ranges from 128 GB to 512 GB with six different versions. Two of them have an SSD with a PCIe connection while our model and the other versions have to make do with a SATA III SSD.

Our device is equipped with the HD Graphics 620, integrated into the Kaby Lake processor. As it does not have its own memory, it shares the system RAM.

Overall, our test unit’s components should offer problem-free use in the office. The version with only 4 GB of RAM might not be fit for today’s standards; apart from that CPU, RAM and the SSD should enable good performance for office work and surfing the web.

Our test unit is equipped with an Intel Core i5-7200U. The processor has two cores and supports Hyperthreading for working up to four threads simultaneously. It clocks at between 2.5 and 3.1 GHz and is a fast processor from Intel’s Kaby Lake series. The processor has an integrated graphics unit, the Intel HD Graphics 620. It has a higher clock rate compared to its predecessor and should be able to support more demanding tasks as well as managing multitasking. You can find more information about the CPU here. 

There are two other processor versions for this laptop: the i5-7300U and the i7-7600U. Both are faster, have a higher clock rate and support Intel’s vPro technology. But our test unit should already be able to master all necessary tasks easily. 

Apart from the Toshiba and the HP Spectre, all comparison devices are equipped with the same CPU. The Toshiba Portégé X30 has a Core i7-7600U that clocks between 2.8 and 3.9 GHz, which is quite a bit higher than the i5-7200U.

The Fujitsu had no difficulties during our 30-minute Cinebench loop and had a constant clock rate of about 3.1 GHz. There was no throttling and the cores heated up to just under 20 °C (~68°F). The Ultrabook keeps up its performance even on battery. There was no change in the clock rate and the Cinebench score was almost the same as well. 

Our test unit’s storage comes from a 256-GB SSD from Samsung. The storage device is on 143rd place in our hard drive benchmarks. For more information, click here. 

Despite Samsung’s good name as a manufacturer of fast SSDs, this model is not particularly convincing. Of course the SSD is still a lot faster than normal hard drives, but in our direct comparison it could only keep up with the AsusPro. The Toshiba and the HP Spectre in particular had great results in this area, but the Lenovo and Dell also have better results than our Fujitsu.

There is a simple explanation for this difference in performance: While our SSD is connected via SATA III, most of our comparison devices have faster NVMe SSDs with PCIe. There are versions of the Fujitsu LifeBook U937 that are equipped with NVMe SSDs, but these are more expensive.

Anyway, the difference is not particularly important during day-to-day use, unless you have to regularly copy large amounts of data.

Hardly any new and demanding games can be played smoothly on the Fujitsu U937. "The Witcher 3" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider" both had under 20 fps even with the lowest settings; they are basically unplayable. At the most, these results can be used as a means of comparison to the other devices.

Older or less demanding games such as "Rocket League" can be played in low or even medium settings, although you do have to lower the resolution which is quite noticeable. "Rocket League", for example, can be played at 1280 x 720 pixels and in low details at 54 fps. The game even plays relatively smoothly at about 38 fps in full HD resolution and low details. But even here the game can become unplayable in more demanding scenes or with many players.

Compared to the other devices the Fujitsu has good results: we compared the results of “The Witcher 3” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider” and despite not being good enough to actually play the games, its results were the best of all comparison devices. Sometimes it even overtook the HP Spectre, depending on the set resolution and details. 

You can take a closer look at the Intel HD Graphics 620 and its performance here. We also have a page on various games including detailed information and benchmark results of many games with various graphics cards.

Overall we can say that none of these devices are made with gaming in mind. If you really want to, you can definitely play older or more modest games in low settings. The differences between the various comparison devices is rather small.

The Fujitsu reached good results in our temperature measurements: while idling, it heated up the least (together with the Dell) and it remained rather cool even under load, although several comparison devices had similar values. Good: Temperatures are evenly distributed on the top and bottom of the base unit. HP and Dell messed up in this respect with normal to good temperatures on the one side, but very high temperatures on the other, which made them loose several rating points. 

The Fujitsu heats up particularly on the right side towards the screen while the wrist rest remains comfortably cool. The back of the base unit reaches over 40 °C (~104 °F) under maximum load. This is also where the small ventilation slots are through which excess heat can be transported out of the base unit. Compared to the other devices our test unit had the most balanced heat map.

We did a practical test and the device can be used on your lap even under load. We would recommend covering your legs as the heat can become uncomfortable on bare legs. There should be no problems during normal use, however, and the device always remains cool enough to use it wearing shorts in summer.

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

Once again, our test unit proves how well-balanced it is: There are several rivals that consume more, both while idling and under load. Overall, the Fujitsu remains in the center field without any exceptions. While the Toshiba consumes less power under load, it requires more without load. Only the Dell can be considered more energy-efficient overall.

The narrow 65-watt power supply provides more than enough power and should manage to charge the subnotebook reliably even under maximum load.

To measure maximum battery runtime, we took advantage of Fujitsu's own power-saving tools. For example, we limited CPU performance (low) and activated the Fujitsu energy-saving mode. We set the screen to minimum brightness and put the device under minimum load with the BatteryEater Readers test. With these settings, the slim business partner kept running for 19 hours and 12 minutes, which is a very good result similar to that of the AsusPro and which can only be topped by the Dell.

We used the BatteryEater Classic at maximum performance and brightness plus active Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to measure the other extreme - minimum battery runtime. The device turned off after about 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is a good result and puts it on first place. 

After taking a look at these extremes, we turned to the more realistic Wi-Fi test. In this test we measure the average battery runtime while surfing on the internet in the "balanced" mode and at about 150 cd/m² brightness. Again we made use of Fujitsu's own power-saving tools. When we limited CPU performance to medium and activated the Fujitsu energy-saving mode the device ran for almost 11 hours, another great result that only the Dell can compete with.

More good news: The battery charges quickly and reaches 100% after just one hour.