Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO Mobile V5505

...the stats:

Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO Mobile V5505 - Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66 GHz - 15.4" TFT
Dimensions (WxDxH): 36.4 cm x 25.9 cm x 3.7 cm
Weight :2.7 kg
Platform Technology: Intel Centrino Duo
System Type Notebook
Built-in Devices Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 / 1.66 GHz ( Dual-Core )
Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 Cache
RAM 1 GB (installed) ...
...MHz
Card Reader 3 in 1
Hard Drive 120 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Optical Storage DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM - integrated
Display: 15.4" TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
Graphics Controller: Intel GMA X3100
Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft), Bluetooth 2.0
Wireless NIC: Intel Wireless WiFi ... more

This is a good example of a mid-range, mid-price lap top that will do what you need it to do, without over-spec-ing for the ordinary user, and costing more than you need to pay.

I have had a couple of Fujitsus - one I was very happy with til some b***ard stole it, and a 17 inch one which was fab for about two years, then the hard drive just fell over and died. Hmm. So I'm not sure about the longevity of this one, but I have no specific reason to have concerns.

I prefer the keyboard layout to Dell, as you get more buttons. God, that sounds girly. I think I mean , they are ergonomically designed. Or something.

It has a Core 2 Duo chip, which is surely what you need these days. As it has Vista and my last laptop ran on XP, I can't really tell what is Vista being clever and what is the chip, but what I can say i the combination allows me to flick so quickly between web pages it's brilliant. It still seems to take a long time loading up and getting started though.

15.4 inch screen is a good size for a laptop in my opinion. As I said, last time I had 17 inch, which was great for e.g. watching movies, and working on spreadsheets, but the pay off was weight. This one is a good medium weight and considerably lighter than my last 17 inch one, so more portable. Battery life is reasonable at a bit more than a couple of hours, depending what you are doing, but that's hardly super-portable. OK for round the house, doing presentations for half a hour without having wires everywhere, etc. though.

It has built in wireless which seems no slower than the wired desktop, no actually it is quicker. 1GB RAM is just about OK but Vista is thirsty so it's good you can upgrade this to 2Gbs - that should buy this some time before obsolescence overtakes it.

It has bluetooth which is close to essential these days, with all the devices one end up with, and 4 USB ports, which I find just sufficient.

It came preloaded with a 90 day subscription to Norton, Nero and Adobe Acrobat, which saves a bit of downloading from the internet. Has a backup disk of course, but just switched on and was ready to go. Very easy to use.

Good value at a smidge over £500. not an amazing bargain, but for business use (i.e don't buy it if you only want to play games - there are better chips than this for that) a good solid purchase. I'm happy enough.

For those of you who like techy stuff, here are the stats:

Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO Mobile V5505 - Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66 GHz - 15.4" TFT
Dimensions (WxDxH): 36.4 cm x 25.9 cm x 3.7 cm
Weight :2.7 kg
Platform Technology: Intel Centrino Duo
System Type Notebook
Built-in Devices Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 / 1.66 GHz ( Dual-Core )
Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 Cache
RAM 1 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz
Card Reader 3 in 1
Hard Drive 120 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Optical Storage DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM - integrated
Display: 15.4" TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
Graphics Controller: Intel GMA X3100
Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft), Bluetooth 2.0
Wireless NIC: Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Input Device: Keyboard, touchpad
Power: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Battery Lithium Ion
Run Time (Up To) 3 hour(s)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Business 

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