Full Review

6 March 2008 - Fujitsu Siemens has added to its business range of notebooks with the Esprimo line of machines. The Esprimo Mobile D9500 has been designed as a machine to be used on the move as well as at your desk.

With this in mind, the 2.9kg chassis sports a 15.4-inch screen. However, instead of having a glossy Super-TFT coating, it is a standard TFT panel, which remains a popular choice for business machines.

With no glossy coating it means less reflections when using the notebook out and about but it also means images aren't as sharp and crisp. So, while images are more than adequate for work purposes, you won't really want to use this machine for watching DVDs or editing photos.

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel GMA X3100 chipset, so you won't be able to handle anything other than standard everyday tasks.

The keyboard is of a good size and while we found there was a fair degree of rattle as we typed, it felt comfortable to use. The touchpad proved a little small and awkward to use but it was responsive none the less.

Along with the plain panel, being a business machine it is what is making that makes the biggest impact for casual users. So, you won't find a webcam, nor is there any Firewire connection. On the plus side, there are four USB ports and software is included for internet security and CD/DVD creation tasks, but there are no office software tools.

The chassis isn't the most robust of designs we've seen and it is advisable to invest in a notebook sleeve to prevent the lid from getting easily scratched. While not ideally suited to life on the move, we found the battery lasted over 3 hours in performance mode.

Using the machine for long periods, we found there was a degree of heat build-up but nothing to be concerned about, as the fans weren't too noticeable as they ran to keep the system cool.

Windows Vista allows you to switch notebooks into power saver mode, which only really works with high-end specifications such as this. As a result, in Power Saver mode, we got close to an extra hour of battery life, which is pretty impressive.

However, where this notebook excels is in sheer processing power. Fujitsu Siemens has fitted the Intel 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo T7700, which delivers plenty of performance. Backed by 2048MB of memory, we found it was able to handle all tasks with a fair degree of success. The hard drive of 120GB is on the small side but it'll easily store all you work files.

Being a corporate machine, connectivity is more than acceptable with support for 802.11n – the fastest current Wi-Fi technology – fitted as standard. You'll also find Gigabit Ethernet for fast wired connections.

VERDICT
The Fujitsu Siemens Esprimo Mobile D9500 won't suit all users, as it simply lacks many of the multimedia functions we've come to expect from any notebook.

However, if you're simply looking for a machine to handle large amounts of processing with minimum of fuss, this notebook is worth considering.