Review Fujitsu Lifebook T904 Convertible

The aluminum case is dominated by neutral silver tones on various surfaces. Despite the difference in materials, the aluminum underside and magnesium back of the lid look very similar with a soft matte shimmer, while the surface on the base of the device has a subdued brushed-metal finish. One part of the display frame gleams in black, lending it continuity with the glossy display, whereas the rather large outer frame above the hinges is a matte black. The slightly sunken keyboard bed features a light gray.

The central pivoting mechanism, which is more solid than it looks, allows the user to turn the display 180° and fold it onto the keyboard, converting the device into a tablet. The construction is delicate, and should the ultrabook fall while open, it is almost certain to incur some damage. Even so, the concept also has its advantages: The mechanism takes up very little space, so the convertible looks more like a normal notebook that the Asus Taichi with its two displays or the Sony convertible, whose construction has a much more jagged appearance than that of our review device. Thanks to various design elements typical of Fujitsu devices, like the keyboard bed shifted under the cursor keys, our convertible can be recognized as a Fujitsu product. From our point of view, however, overall the device offers a relatively simple look. Because many business users prefer an understated appearance, Fujitsu strikes a good balance here.

The base unit was especially impervious to our attempts to twist it. The lid, which is quite stiff and cannot be opened with one hand, exhibited the same characteristics to a lesser degree. When we applied strong pressure to the back of the lid, however, it did generate distortions in the display image. We did not notice any manufacturing defects, such as uneven gaps. It would have improved the overall ergonomics of the device if Fujitsu had rounded out the upper edge of the base unit a little more.

Due to its format and flat construction, like most ultrabooks, the T904's connectivity options are limited. Finally, a manufacturer dares to leave out the undead VGA output from the year 1987, though some conference rooms may still harbor outdated projectors and the like. The only problem is that Fujitsu neglected to balance out the VGA's absence with a more future-proof DisplayPort -- instead they equipped their convertible with just HDMI and wireless transfer technologies like Intel Wireless Display. Ergonomically, Fujitsu did a sloppy job of placing their ports, which are almost all located on the front side. The only exception is an Ethernet port that folds out by means of an innovative mechanism. On the underside of the device, there is a proprietary docking port. The stylus is fastened to the device and can be stowed away in the back right side of the convertible -- very nice.

Keyboard

As a result of the convertible's flat construction, the keys' travel length is short. The typist reaches the palpable, possibly somewhat soft click-point quickly after hitting the keys. We would characterize the stroke-feel as medium-hard. The keyboard took us a little getting used to, but there is no need to fear a decrease in typing speed. The surface of the keys is flat and slightly rubberized, and the two-stage keyboard lighting is uniform and helpful. In realistic circumstances, the keyboard will not bend or sag. In addition, the keyboard produces very little noise, which is always a plus in an office setting. Happily, Fujitsu does not experiment with the standard, user-friendly keyboard layout; the convertible's keyboard looks just like the manufacturer's previous models.

Touchpad 

The ClickPad's keys are only visually differentiated from the rest of the completely smooth surface. That means they are integrated into the overall surface, which is touch-sensitive and gives poor feedback. If part of your finger crosses the boundaries of the outer edge, the input is no longer recognized. From a subjective standpoint, the keys' resistance and crisp click-point are ideal. The touchpad's precision and responsiveness are also good. With up to three fingers, the configuration options for gestures could be a little more extensive, but the pad supports the vast majority of gestures a user might require.

Touchscreen

The touchscreen's responsiveness is perfectly fine. Its precision is also acceptable, though our test device was not quite correctly calibrated, as the point on the screen generated by the stylus was just next to the spot we were touching. Also, the display already began to react to the stylus when it was still hovering a few centimeters from the surface. When we moved the stylus very quickly (which is an unlikely scenario in everyday use), for instance, in suddenly drawing a line, the display was sometimes overtaxed and could not follow the stylus.

Our test device's display is based on the IGZO technology Sharp released in 2012 and promises certain advantages, such as a potentially higher pixel density (due to smaller pixels), larger color spaces and lower energy consumption rates. Concretely, we are looking here at a display with the QHD resolution of 2560x1440 pixels (16:9), which is currently becoming more widespread in notebooks. With a display diagonal of 13.3 inches, the pixel density comes to 220 cd/m². That means the pixel size is considerably smaller than even the keenest human eye is able to distinguish, but this resolution also has the advantage (among others) that lower, interpolated resolutions look a little finer than on Full HD displays. Since the panel is a touchscreen, the relatively modest reflective coating is no surprise. Additionally, the screen brightness exceeds that of most matte displays. Fujitsu does not offer any other displays for this device.

The panel's average brightness of 255 cd/m² is by no means incredible, but there is no reason to complain about it. That said, the ThinkPad Yoga and the EliteBook Revolve come to 55% and 68% higher values, respectively, reaching some of the highest numbers of any convertible we have reviewed. At a 73% similarity across the screen, our test device's brightness distribution is somewhat uneven. In practice, however, this was not very noticeable.

Our version of the T904 houses a dual-core Intel Core i7-4600U with Hyperthreading and a TDP of 15 Watt. One core of the processor ought to reach a maximum clock rate of 3.3 GHz, and the two cores working together still reach up to 2.9 GHz. The base frequency comes to 2.1 GHz. Aside from software that is optimized for four or more real cores (and consequently parallelized), the performance is easily strong enough for the vast majority of thinkable application scenarios -- though fans of gaming will be left wanting, as the Intel HD 4400 on-chip GPU only fluidly renders very old titles and/or games with little in the way of graphics demands.

When we ran the Cinebench R11.5 CPU benchmark and worked both CPU cores to capacity, the test device could not reach the clock rate of 2.9 GHz specified in the specs for such situations. Instead, the LifeBook fluctuates around 2.3 GHz. The Intel Core i5-4200U consistently ran at the same frequency in the Lenovo Yoga in this test, which explains why the i7-4600U cannot manage to take the expected lead. In reality, this T904's packaging is deceptive: It says i7, but it only delivers i5 performance. For the application scenarios, most users will encounter in practice, this is of little import; it is simply an unfortunate waste of money. We did not observe any difference in performance between AC power and battery mode. The older i5-3437U (2x 1.9-2.9 GHz, Hyperthreading, TDP 15 W) does well enough and consistently keeps up with the two other processors.

Unfortunate: Even at medium settings, in the four-year-old StarCraft 2 benchmark, our test system only reaches what even for this genre is a just barely playable 24 fps. However, the scenario we used for taking our measurements taxed the system more than it taxes the average notebook. At minimum settings, Bioshock Infinite looks quite good -- but unfortunately that is useless, as an average of 28 fps is too little for a shooter game, and the 1024x768 resolution we selected is very low by today's standards. You can find the results of many more benchmark tests performed on the Intel HD 4400, as well as many other mobile graphics cards, in our FAQ section.

System Noise

A business ultrabook in this price class must be quiet, and from the perspective of this reviewer, if the Fujitsu LifeBook T904's noise level would have risen as a result of capitalizing on the i7-4600U's potential performance boost (compared to an i5-4200U), the manufacturer had their priorities straight. At 30 dB(A), though audible, in everyday use the sound generated by the variably regulated fan is hardly noticeable when the convertible is surrounded by a normal level of ambient noise. Under medium to full load, however, the machine does reach up to 40 dB(A). The ThinkPad Yoga is the only competitor to go about its work substantially more quietly. Still, we were never bothered by the T904's noise level, which has to do with the fact that it did not generate any irritating high tones.

The graphic below says it all: Fujitsu did not allow their device's case to rise to a disconcerting temperature. In idle mode, the computer's temperature only rises to a few degrees warmer than room temperature. Under load too, the convertible only reaches a maximum of 39 °C (102.2 °F), and that on the top side, though not in the palm rest area. When it comes to the temperatures on the bottom of the case, it is clear that the convertible can sit on your lap without any problem -- though it is important to be careful that the air intake is not completely covered for too long. In our stress test (Prime 95 + FurMark running simultaneously for an hour), we did not observe any true throttling or CPU/GPU temperatures higher than those listed in the specs.

To determine a device's maximum battery life (idle mode), we set the display brightness as low as possible, completely deactivate power-hungry components like WLAN, and select the energy-saving profile in which every available energy-saving function is activated. Our test device comes to no less than 17.5 hours in this mode. The HP EliteBook Revolve is an average of about 57% behind our T904 in this discipline, which is most assuredly the result of its 47 to 163% higher energy consumption rate (depending on the level of load), as our three competing devices have very similar battery capacities (F:45/L:48/HP:44 Wh). For the same reason, our LifeBook's battery life under load ought to be longer than that of the Revolve, but in reality, the two devices tie at about two hours. The most important test, however, is our WLAN surf test, which is intended to simulate practical, everyday use. At medium brightness and with the energy-saving profile activated, the ThinkPad Yoga takes the crown with its above-average run time of 7.5 hours, but with its nearly seven hours of steam, the Fujitsu still proves itself to be fully deserving of the "mobile" designation. Fujitsu does not offer any alternative batteries.