Review Fujitsu LifeBook A544 Notebook

For the original German review, see here.

It doesn't matter if it's a basic notebook for the first business venture or a workhorse for the University: inexpensive business notebooks designed to handle daily office-type tasks can be used in many different environments. The most important criteria in this class is first and foremost the price, as 50 Euro (~$65) up or down can influence the prospective buyer's decision, even if compromises as far as the hardware and the features have to be made.

At the time of writing, the Fujitsu Lifebook is available through various online retailers and comes equipped with Haswell processors ranging from the i3-4000M up to the i5-4200M, RAM from 4 to 8 GB, and hard drives between 500 and 1000 GB. The price for our review notebook starts at 590 Euro (~$800). Alternatives are the previously reviewed Lenovo B5400 (i5-4200M, GT 720M, 8 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD, about 550 Euro / ~$750) or the HP ProBook 455 (AMD A4-4300M, 7420G, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, approximately 500 Euro / ~$680).

The Lifebook A544 is an all matte-black 15.6-inch notebook clad entirely in plastic. Haptics are OK, although the parts and materials don't convey an overly high-end feeling, partly because the base unit isn't very sturdy to begin with. Torsional rigidity is low and the surface areas give to pressure easily. The lid is also easy to twist, but the build quality is decent overall with no obvious shortcomings.

The restricted travel range of the display lid is immediately apparent; the resulting maximum opening angle is about 120 degrees. Taller users might run into issues here, especially since the viewing angle stability is low.

All ports are located on the left and right edges towards the front of the notebook and clearly labeled up on top. While quite accessible, plugged in cables and devices can crowd the work space and get in the way of operations. The SD card reader is housed on the front edge and is somewhat hidden.

According to the driver properties, Fujitsu uses an Intel Wireless-N 7260 (bgn) module. For some reason, we were unable to join the notebook to our network despite repeated attempts, so we finally had to resort to using a smartphone as a hotspot to establish a connection. Positive: both recovery media for Windows 7 as well as Windows 8.1 are included.

Equipped with either Intel Core i3 or i5 processors, the Fujitsu Lifebook A544 is decidedly not entry level when it comes to CPU performance. Our review notebook shipped with the i5-4200M, which supports clock speeds from 2.5 to 3.1 GHz (2 cores, 4 threads), and makes quick work of CPU-intensive tasks. The amount of RAM - Fujitsu offers 4 and 8 GB - depends on the proposed workload. The 8 GB version should have an advantage, since the RAM runs in dual-channel mode, which in turn increases the performance of the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600.

The spec sheet also lists the Intel 4702-MQ as an option. This quad-core CPU should increase the performance of any software which can take advantage of the additional cores. For less demanding applications, like word processing, web surfing, or simple spreadsheet calculations, even the lower-end Intel Core i3 should be more than sufficient.

We evaluate the performance of the i5-4200M with the Cinebench R11.5 benchmark tool. The CPU performed as expected - and much like in other, similarly equipped notebooks - during the single-core rendering test. The i3-4000M is slower by about 20 %; the 4702MQ is only marginally faster. The ULV version of the i5-4200M, the i5-4200U, trails by about 15 %.

The multi-core rendering test result is also in line with our expectations. The i3-4000M is again slower by about 15 %, while the 4702MQ quad-core CPU pulls ahead by up to 100 % - at least for optimized applications. The AMD APU A4-4300M in the ProBook 455 is slower by about 50-70 %, depending on the test. The Lenovos B5400 scored almost identical, which isn't really a surprise since it is equipped with the same CPU.

The clock speeds of the i5-4200M are close to ideal during the various test scenarios. During the OpenGL test, for example, the HD Graphics 4600 GPU maintained a constant 1150 MHz, while the CPU fluctuated between 3.0 and 3.1 GHz during the single-core test and remained at 3.0 GHz during the multi-core test.  In all cases, Turbo Boost is working at the uppermost limit.

Since the whole system can only be as strong as the weakest link, we use the very comprehensive PCMark 8 to determine overall system performance based on various productivity sub-tests. The score of 3207 points in the Home test exceeds our expectations significantly, since even some dedicated multimedia machines like the Dell XPS 15 (4702HQ, GT 750M, SSD) don't score any better. The CPU, which runs at maximum Turbo Boost speed at all times, is most likely the reason for the good result.

Our experience with the notebook during our time with it did not quite reflect the benchmark results, however. Quite frequently, we had to deal with long wait times when installing applications or when starting programs. The most likely culprit: the HDD.

All versions of the notebook make use of the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600. The integrated chip is designed for basic functionality and includes decoder units for HD videos. If gaming is high on the agenda, it would be advisable to purchase a notebook with dedicated graphics instead. The Lenovo B5400 is one of the notebooks fitting the bill.

The results of the 3DMark 2013 benchmark test place the Lifebook A544 more towards the lower end of the spectrum when compared to other notebooks based on the same HD 4600 GPU. Lenovo's B5400 didn't outperform the Lifebook by much despite the GT 720M GPU; HP's ProBook 455 with integrated AMD GPU scored a lot lower.

The results of the 3DMark tests are not always an indicator for the actual gaming performance, as we've seen when we reviewed the Lenovo B5400. Depending on the game, the GT 720M can offer up to 50 % more performance than the integrated Intel GPU.

Since the Fujitsu A544 doesn't have a dedicated GPU, only games with low power requirements are playable at all. Examples are classic games like Fifa 14, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Anno 2070, and others. With the details set to low, these familiar-sounding older titles can be a fun way to pass some time. 

With the "Balanced" profile active and under low load, the A544 remains mostly silent, although the fan activates once in a while for a few seconds with an audible whooshing sound. The HDD activity is also audible.

Under heavy load, the notebook is far from quiet. Subjected to medium-heavy loads (3DMark 2006), the notebook reaches 38.1 dB(A). The stress test, which simulates maximum load, pegged our meter at 47.5 dB(A). That noise level can be attributed to the fact that the Turbo Boost is always active: during the stress test and maximum utilization of processor and graphics, we saw frequencies of 2.6-2.7 GHz for the CPU and the maximum of 1150 MHz for the GPU. The temperature of the chip stabilized at around 80 degrees C.

Although the chassis of the Lifebook A544 remains pleasantly cool during idle and undemanding office  tasks, we noticed a hotspot near the fan exhaust at the bottom when we subjected the notebook to higher, prolonged loads. This is not an issue as long as the notebook is used on the desk when tackling power-intensive workloads.

The integrated stereo speakers unfortunately don't sound that great, which is pretty common in this price class, however. Although they maximum volume is certainly loud enough, the sound remains tinny and flat. Business customers probably won't mind and use headphones to improve the sound experience.

Power Consumption

With power requirements from 5.4 to 8.2 watts during idle, the Lifebook A544 requires slightly less power than the Lenovo B5400. The ProBook 455 is more power-hungry than our review model, even though it offers less performance. Under load, we recorded between 42.2 (mixed load) and 54.4 watts (absolute maximum during the stress test). The Lenovo B5400 needs significantly more because of the dedicated GT 720M graphics card, which becomes active when the load increases. HP's ProBook 455 is based on AMD architecture and much more frugal, but also offers less performance.

The Lifebook ships with a 49 Wh battery - similar in capacity to batteries used in competing notebooks. The Lenovo B5400 lasted about three hours during the WLAN test, while the ProBook 455 did much better here with almost 4.5 hours. The Fujitsu Lifebook A544 outclassed both competitors and kept running for almost 7 hours during the same test (with the screen brightness set to 150 cd/m², a script loads a new webpage every 40 seconds). Depending on the energy saving measures taken, the notebook could foreseeably last the entire workday.