Silent most of the time and you can also set the fan to "quiet" mode (Fn+F11)
Almost completely upgradable -- removable hatch on the bottom provides access to the memory slots (one free on1GB model), plus CPU and even the wireless card; the hard disk is accessible from another slot; you could feasibly upgrade the Celeron model to a dual-core chip in minutes (and dual-core chips will be bargain-bucket prices in a year or two)
The bad:
Windows-only; to install Ubuntu you'll need to hack together a new keyboard driver (as of Ubuntu 8.04/8.10) in order to switch on the wifi; this takes expertise
You have to manually switch on the wifi EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU BOOT. What the hell were the Fujitsu Siemens engineers thinking?
When the fan does switch on, it's noisy -- like a gust of wind blowing around the house, although the noise only lasts a few seconds before settling down to a bareful perceptible whirr
No Windows/driver disks provided; in fact, NOTHING is provided apart from the notebook, power-supply, a few flimsy manuals and the box! You are supposed to burn your own "restore" DVDs using blank disks, or buy them for an additional fee from Fujistu-Siemens!
1GB of memory isn't enough although I added in a very cheap half GB upgrade (making total 1.5GB) and it made a huge difference
Decent keyboard but it feels a little spongey and bouncy; likewise, the mouse buttons are very "clicky" and noisy
Vista "Basic" provided but, actually, it's perfectly acceptible for virtually all tasks, and DVD playback software is provided.
All-in-all, this isn't a half-bad notebook. It's probably the best available for the bargain asking price but it doesn't offer much more than the price suggests.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) positive aspects include the speed, apperance/design of the laptop, and the enhanced performance. (-) i have a matt black laptop and it shows dirty finger prints.
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