Fujitsu P1630 hits the FCC
The fourth generation of the great Fujitsu 8.9-inch touch screen Tablet PC has hit the FCC according to our friends at jkkmobile. The P1630 looks to be another incremental refresh with nothing major changing other than an updating of the processor. The P1620 is still one of the best mobile computers I have owned and use a lot and it’s great to see Fujitsu sticking with this popular form. In fact I was cruising the web in the comfy chair with the P1620 in slate mode when I found the article at jkkmobile. 
Specs:
8.9 inch 1280 x 768 touch screen
Intel Core2 Duo SU9400 1.4Ghz
Intel GMA X4500
Up to 2GB RAM
Wifi, Bt and LAN
Fingerprint reader
PCMCIA, SD, VGA out and 2 x USB
232mm x 167mm x 37mm, 1000g
I am getting a used P1610U (3G) system board modified by a guy in Hong Kong who has successfully transplanted his P1610 to U7600 (Dual Core 1.2GHz) and this weekend successfully tried the U7700 (Dual Core 1.3GHz) using a BGA machine.
Total was USD 670 incl shipping to Australia. I’ll update everyone how this goes. In the meantime – take a look at the Youtube link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUqpoTJqthg
JK,
Any insights on what would be a good pricing strategy for fujitsu due to the advent of netbook market ? I guess they may find it very difficult if they don’t price this aggressively.
What say ?
Srini
Srini, Fujitsu has always priced these pretty high and I’d be surprised if they were much cheaper than the 1620.
Was expecting more out of the next P-series upgrade from Fujitsu. Kinda disappointing to see that they just only updated the processor, kept the PCMCIA slot (instead of upping it to Express), still 2 USB port (should at least have 3 ports by now), 2GB RAM (this is still fine, can always still up this).
I don’t think there would be any reason for P1620 owners to upgrade, let alone P1610 owners; just not a worthy upgrade. I see this as a means for Fujitsu to “justify” the current prices from the $2,000 ~ $2,200 range.
Personally, I believe the prices should be reduced considering it’s only a minor upgrade.
Minor upgrade perhaps, but the bump in graphics and the 1.3MP webcam may be a welcome addition for some. This one’s also got draft-n built-in. Good to see xp tablet edition is still available for it too.
The price is the big factor on this, for me anyway. I’ve got the P1610, and would’ve liked the P1620, but at $3500 for the UK 3g version, it is way too much. You can buy 5 Netbooks for that…
An interesting spec from the P1630 manual is that the HDD will be a SATA 5400RPM drive, not the previous IDE 4200RPM. That should help a lot, as the only drawback on my P1610 is the slow HDD. With supporting SATA, that should also open up the option of using SSD drives, that are reasonably’ish priced.
Grant
I think the performance improvement from P1620 to P1630 is roughly equivalent to the difference between the P1610 and P1620. The CPU, GMA and HDD upgrades will probably produce a PCMark05 benchmark around 2,900-3,200 depending on the size of RAM (1 or 2 GB). This score would be just shy of the Lenovo U110 (3,445) and an improvement over the P1620 (2,113) and P1610 (1,245). I’ve been hesitating to upgrade from a P1610 to P1620, but now feel confident that a P1630 is in my future.
I would have liked to see some tinkering with the form factor to support a 10″ display, 2.5″ HDD and SODIMM memory, but Fujitsu seems dedicated to the existing P1600 packaging. As we’ve discussed before, 1.8″ HDD and MicroDIMM RAM command a $600-$700 premium. I agree with James that pricing will likely be similar to the P1620.
Fujitsu will likely continue targeting business applications where multiple laptops are sold as part of large IT initiatives (sales force automation, paperless medical forms processing, etc) where Fujitsu can also sell networking equipment and consulting services. Consumers seeking an inexpensive netbook should not get their hopes up.
Another note on pricing: the wholesale cost for the P1630 CPU is $269-$282, so the four primary components alone (CPU, RAM, HDD, MOBO) are probably more than $1000.
http://laptoping.com/core-2-extreme-qx9300-quad-q9100-duo-sp9400-sp9300-sl9400-sl9300-su9400-su9300-solo-su3300-celeron-585-575-723.html
While I would agree that some more aggressive pricing is necessary, I wouldn’t necessaily measure the P1630 up against netbooks.
I believe it rather compares to and will mainly compete with devices like the Kohjinsha SX3 or the Gigabyte M912. The thing is, while the P1630 has a better processor, it hardly excells in any other aspect. I am sure that for many potential buyers the significantly lower price of the SX3 or the M912 will be enough to go for one of those (if they are available in the respective market).
I personally would (I currently have no plans to actually buy something) prefer the Kohjinsha SX3 anyway – I like the idea of the built-in DVD burner, even if it makes the device a little heavier.
So from my perspective, with the currently available specs (and certainly with the full 2GB RAM installed), the P1630 should not cost more than €1400 / $1800. Sorry Fujitsu, but like in any electronics market, prices are going down …
I recently bought a P1620 which I settled for but I really wanted a webcam which the P1630 finally has…does anyone have an idea when will the P1630 will be out…the P1620 is still up in most sites (including Japan)but with a more powerful processor (and still without a camera)…I wonder when would this be available in the US and if they would put 3G on it (integrated so we can just use a SIM card). This sucks if it comes out right away since I just got the P1620…which I’ll have to sell…any ideas?
The P1620 or P1630 is definitely not a netbook…this is a convertible…a tablet…with much more power…I use it as my main computer. That said, in order to compete with all the whole array of netbooks or small laptops that are coming out 8.9″ screen ones their price will have to be a bit less…the P1620 with top features comes up to $3,000 bucks which is hard to swallow compared to the other 8.9″ machines.
Just received the transplanted P1610 motherboard – now running Dual Core U7700 CPU. Visit http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=302313 for screenshots and photos. Very fast – very happy