Fujitsu Lifebook S936 (6600U, 512 GB) PalmSecure Laptop Review

Fujitsu specifies a magnesium case with an aluminum palm rest. The black bottom of the base looks more like plastic, while the top of the lid feels cool like metal - which doesn't mean that we doubt the manufacturer specifications. The design can be called plain and functional. At a first glance, the high price of the Lifebook S936 does not become apparent, which is not necessarily a disadvantage while traveling.

In contrast to the matte aluminum on top of the base, the black, matte gleaming back of the lid that has a discrete glitter effect is receptive for fingerprints, which stand out strongly. As is customary for touch notebooks, the panel and the nicely thin, black bezel are almost completely covered by glass.

Our twisting attempts are met by much resistance from the base, and much more than a discrete crackle cannot be heard. The thin lid also turns out to be relatively rigid and resistant to pressure. Unfortunately, you cannot open it with one hand. On the other hand, after being touched by jerky movements, the lid briefly bounces back only slightly. Even though the bottom of the base is not exactly flush with the aluminum top, the workmanship leaves a seamless impression. Aside from the DVD tray that has a little play, all the gap dimensions are even. We have no doubts that the rock-solid case stands up to the demands of a mobile workhorse for frequent travelers.

At a thickness of up to 26.5 mm (~1 in), Fujitsu has the thickest sub-notebook in our test, whereas Dell offers not only the thinnest (15 mm, ~0.6 in) but also by far the most compact device with the XPS 13. The Lenovo ThinkPad, which is only 18.8 mm thick, has the largest footprint, while in comparison to our test unit, the HP EliteBook turns out to be a few millimeters smaller and less thick.  

Thunderbolt and DisplayPort are missing but will probably only rarely be missed by the target users. DisplayPort is only available in the separate docking station. To connect antiquated projectors there is VGA, cable LAN can be connected via the Gigabit Ethernet port, and external displays, via HDMI.

Fujitsu placed at least one of the three USB 3.0 ports ergonomically all the way back on the right: right-handed users who want to use an external mouse will thank the manufacturer. Most of the other ports are on the sides towards the front and could have used a little more distance from each other. The slots for the smart card and SD card are set into the front edge. 

Using our reference Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II storage card, the Lifebook S936 achieves a very good 121 MB/s in the practical JPG-copy test and with this still achieves a place in the top group of the overall comparison of all card readers we measured up to now. However, you can also find many notebooks that manage above 150 MB/s in this group.  

For stationary operation, Gigabit Ethernet is available, and the proven Intel Wireless-AC 8260 module (MIMO 2x2, max. 867 MBit/s), which can also use the less-taxed 5 GHz band and integrates Bluetooth 4.2, is responsible for WLAN. In combination with our Linksys EA8500 standard router, under ideal conditions (1 m distance from the router) the transfer rates reach a very good 657 MBit/s while receiving and a good 515 MBit/s, with room for improvement, while sending. When evaluating the results, the unavoidable overhead must be taken into account.

The built-in Sierra Wireless EM7305 LTE/UMTS module masters LTE Cat 3 and is mainly suitable for usage in Europe, Asia, and South America. Details can be found on this Techship page.

To avoid repetition here, we refer to our descriptions in the introduction.

Besides the S936, included in our package were the docking station, two power supplies (1 x 65 Watt for travel and 1 x 80 Watt for stationary operation) including cables, a power cord, a recovery DVD, a quick-start and security leaflet, and a microfiber cloth. 

The docking station offers an integrated battery and the following additional connections: 4x USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort, DVI, and VGA. In case the device is used at a regular workplace, you can save yourself some annoying reconnecting in this way. 

Very commendable, but the exception at this point: the battery can be removed from the outside without any problems, so that you can optionally bring a second battery. The occupied memory slots hide behind a maintenance flap which is secured with a screw. For maintenance work, the bottom tray, which is secured with seven screws, must be disassembled.

In Europe, India, Africa, and the Middle East, Fujitsu offers a two-year manufacturer warranty. Depending on the country, this warranty is a collect & return service or bring-in service. Fujitsu also offers fee-based warranty extensions. Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

20 GB of DDR4-RAM in dual-channel mode (shared memory), which is especially important for the graphics performance, is some feat for a highly mobile work laptop! Besides the built-in i7-6600U, optionally there is also the i5-6200U or the i5-6300U to select from as the CPU. Anyone who predominantly uses office programs and only rarely more demanding applications, such as Adobe Lightroom, is already served well with the i5-6200U. The fluid operation depends mainly on the SSD present.

The drive slot optionally accepts a DVD burner (test unit), a Blu-ray burner, an empty dummy insert, or an additional battery. Here as well, we cannot complain about missing flexibility.

The built-in Intel Core i7-6600U (2x 2.6 - 3.4 GHz, Hyper-Threading) comes from the Skylake generation, which has been replaced by Kaby Lake in the meantime, and at 15 Watts TDP, it is the top model among the frugal ULV dual-cores of that generation. During full workload of both cores, the Turbo limit is at a relatively ample 3.2 GHz. Due to its low TDP, the processor is well-suited for very compact and mobile sub-notebooks such as the test unit, which besides office applications have to handle more demanding software at times. Intel HD 520 graphics and a DDR4 storage controller (max. 2133 MHz) are also included.

In the Cinebench R15 multi-core test, the i7-6600U inside the test unit only achieves the level of the (newer) i5-7200U (2x 2.5 - 3.1 GHz, Hyper-Threading, TDP 15 Watts), which is inside the Dell XPS 13. It also remains behind the same CPU in the Lenovo ThinkPad T460s by 7%, which is negligible in practice. In the overall comparison, the performance remains in the middle of the field of the i7-6600U processors, thus still being as expected. The single-thread performance, where the Lifebook S936 is in last place of not only all the laptops in the test, looks worse.

The chart above shows the development of the multi-core results in our Cinebench loop. Already after the first round, the score drops slightly and then wavers between 311 and 313 points, which leads to our conclusion that the Turbo usage is not optimal. When we pull the plug (battery operation), the results drops by 27% to 235 points.

For the measurements of the overall performance, we used PCMark 8 again. Since all the tested laptops have a current Intel ULV dual-core CPU and an SSD but no dedicated graphics card, as expected, the results are very close, so that no further analysis is necessary.

In practice, the subjective performance is more important anyway, and here the Fujitsu Lifebook S936 does not show any weaknesses. The OS and programs start swiftly, and the almost excessive RAM storage encourages extensive multitasking.

What can be said about the bread-and-butter chart of the Intel HD 520 integrated into the processor? All the 2D tasks are done (efficiently) without any trouble, and current 3D titles can only be played in the lowest settings and resolutions, if at all. The low performance remains within the expected range in the 3DMarks. At least the GPU profits from the dual-channel mode of the main storage, which it has to share with the CPU.

In the current, well-liked Farming Simulator 17 it is actually sufficient to play with medium settings at 1366x768 pixels, but elsewhere the above said is valid. One look into our Intel HD 520 Graphics benchmark list shows that games such as FIFA 17 and Diablo 3 run fluidly in acceptable presets, but you don't even need to think about trying titles such as Battlefield 1 or Ghost Recon Wildlands.

The two mini speakers at the front edge of the Fujitsu Lifebook S936 produce a pitiful sound that defies a closer analysis. First of all, the maximum volume is less than poor: it is not even loud directly in front of the device.

High-mids and highs dominate the very tinny and completely unnatural-sounding reproduction, which is absolutely free from dynamics and space and moreover distinguished by volume fluctuations and distortions. It is one of the two worst sound systems that the tester heard in the last few years. Even the tester's Samsung Galaxy S6 produces a far better sound with its mono speaker. The result is 0.5 out of 5 points in the speaker quality rating.

Things look better with the microphone quality and external sound output, which did not stand out negatively. 

Frequency diagram in comparison (checkboxes above can be checked/unchecked!)

Since our database contains only a few 13-inch systems with the i7-6600U, in the comparison of the energy consumption of notebooks with comparable features we will stick to our test field, which also lends itself due to the very similar PCMark 8 scores.

It stands out that our Lifebook S936 uses considerably more energy in the "idle avg" and "idle max" load conditions than the similarly equipped laptops from Dell and HP, but only marginally more than the Lenovo ThinkPad, which has the highest resolution in the test. The latter also draws most power from the outlet or battery during "load avg" and particularly "load max." The two power supplies are always equal to their task and bring enough reserves to also charge the S936 in any situation.

At 76 Wh, the main battery of the test unit has the highest capacity in the test field; the Dell reaches 60 Wh, while the HP and Lenovo have to make do with 49 Wh. But that does not keep the Lenovo (and also the Dell) from placing ahead of the test unit in the idle test. More important and relevant in practice is the WLAN test with reduced brightness (how we test), where the Lifebook achieves an excellent 10 hours. However, it must accept the charge that it is unable to convert its battery capacity as efficiently into runtime as for example the Dell, and in particular the HP, which reaches runtimes with its 49 Wh that are only 8% shorter. Here, the higher idle consumption of the S936 should play a role.

At the same time, there is no need to worry about the battery life of the Fujitsu. The battery can be changed on the road, and an additional battery is available as an accessory for the drive slot. Finally, there is also the battery in the base station which can charge the battery inside the laptop itself.