Fujitsu AMILO D-7800

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Average
Look & Feel	Good
Comfort & Portability	Satisfactory
Robustness & Durability	Excellent
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Reliable, long - lasting and easy to use
Disadvantages:	Overwhelmed but the pressures of today's internet age

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have never really reviewed anything in a forum like this but I just read the previous report and felt I should add my opinion.

I too bought this Laptop for about £1200 in 2002 as I needed a laptop for university. Although I feel the last review was more about the advantages of having a laptop I wanted to be a bit more specific about this model. I have had this computer for 5 years now and so I can give you some pros and cons.

I loved it when I first started using it so I have a great deal of loyalty for it.. It got me through university fine. I was carrying it around quite a lot and did find it slightly heavier than I would have liked. it to be, but I did it then. (I probably wouldn't now). The software that came with it was everything I needed; Power DVD a program which I have never had to update so far, the usual windows software, all the basics you need. If you can get someone who knows what they're doing to install all this for you at the beginning you will be fine for a long time. I wasn't too confident so I got help from my pc whizz brother. Once its all up and running you are ready to go.

If it's not networked, the battery will last you for about 1-2 hours which is okay but was a little frustrating if you have to sit for hours - so I always had it plugged in. The keyboard is comfortable and wide (no small annoying keys). And I've only ever knocked a key out once in five years (was replaced within a week as it was still under guarantee). No problems with that since.

It has a floppy disc drive and a very handy infra-red port - becoming rarer in newer laptops!! And it has a good CD/DVD rom. No problems there. The two USB ports are very useful. It has many other features that I have never had to use so couldn't comment on.

I was okay with not running too many programmes together (so if you are into running lots of things at the same time you may find it difficult). I am a huge music fan and copied most of my CDs to the hard-drive but I found the hard-drive fills up really quick and when it does it starts slowing the pc down so you do start trying to keep most of the memory free for efficiency. This was back in 2004.

The last reviewer mentioned the speakers were pretty quiet- I would have to agree. After turning up all the sound features its still not quite perfect but good speakers may help the situation.

I only got it networked when I returned home after my studies - 3 years after purchasing and here things start to change.
I had to install a great deal of programmes to get the pc internet-ready so the operating system was put under more demand. And today, 2007 (I know it's old and getting tired which is understandable) I am having to consider a new investment. Simply because it's the age of the internet. The newer program versions, which are necessary updates, will overwhelm the operating system, the processor (which is only a P4 mind you) may not be enough for today's inter-nut. When I'm running the internet I can't have too many programs open because it puts too much demand on the pc and the whole thing slows down.

So I think its great if your okay with using one or two programs at the same time. It's great for writing etc and extremely comfortable and easy to use. But if you are quite demanding of your pcs and expect to have the internet running and other programs you will find it very slow.

It's lasted and served me well for a long time but I am now looking to get a dual-core processor which will be more capable of the demands we are making in today's internet age. I definitely need a larger memory and much much more hard-drive space so I can have all my music on it.

Final say - It's very loyal and long-lasting. Great for light-weight work.
Not so great if you are demanding of your PCs.