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Fujitsu will soon join two other major PC makers in putting on sale a portable computer that uses flash memory in place of the traditional hard-disk drive.
The company will offer a 16GB or 32GB flash memory disk as an option with new B-series machines due on sale in late October and new Q-series machines that will be available from early November, it said Friday. Choosing the 16GB disk will add ¥80,000 (US$670) to the price of the computer while the 32GB disk will add ¥160,000.
The disks are made by Samsung and can already be found in two Samsung machines, the Q30 laptop and Q1-SSD ultra-mobile PC. Both machines went on sale in South Korea earlier this year. In Japan Sony is also offering a version of its small-size UX90 portable PC with 16GB of flash in place of a hard-disk drive.
The flash disk has several advantages over a conventional hard-disk drive. These include longer battery life because the flash memory uses less power and a slight weight reduction. Fujitsu said the B-series machine will run an extra 15 minutes and the Q-series will run an extra 30 minutes on flash disk compared to hard-disk drive.
Most noticeable to the user will be faster start-up. Because data can be accessed from the flash memory much faster than a hard-disk drive, the B-series machine takes about 19 seconds to boot up Windows XP Home Edition compared to 32 seconds for a hard-disk drive version of the same machine.
The company is also offering a hard-disk drive that automatically encrypts data as an option with the B-series machines. The drive, produced by Seagate, uses hardware to encrypt all data being written on the drive and decrypt data as it is read. Choosing such a drive will add ¥15,000 to the price of the computers.
Fujitsu also unveiled Friday a new convertible machine running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. Fujitsu has been a keen supporter of Microsoft’s Tablet PC push and the FMV-P8230 will join its existing line-up in mid-November. The computer has a 8.9in XGA resolution (1,280 x 768 pixels) screen and an Intel Core Solo processor. It will cost ¥240,000. Fujitsu said plans to sell the computers overseas are under consideration.
— Martyn Williams
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