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Actually, I'm looking to upgrade... but for the time being I'm still using my 933MHz Crusoe powered P2120 with 256M of RAM. I'm still trying to find a suitable successor...

But yeah... aside from being a little underpowered these days, it's full of awesome.

Here is a forum for the more 'normal' toughtbooks, also called "Let's Note" in Japan:

http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID= 29

They are totally supiriour to all other notebooks in terms of weight and durability, or so I'm told ^^

Fascinating. This is the first time I've pulled out my Fujitsu P-1120 in two months, and slashdot was the first place I went to to make sure I was connecting OK, and what do I see. Sigh. I feel bad for all the folks that will never have the opportunity to buy a P1120. All signs are that Fujitu won't be making a replacement with all the same features, namely:

1. The clearest screen I've ever seen on *anything*
2. TOUCHSCREEN!!!!
3. Size of a small hardcover book
4. Weight of a small hardcover book
5. Runs *cool*
6. Runs forever on battery power
7. No fan, silent except for the hard drive
8. Built in Wifi & Ethernet
9. Etc., etc.
10. Very nice, *useable* keyboard

Heck, I'm thinking about buying another one to have in case my current one ever breaks!

The older folks here may remember the teeny little laptop that HP came out with in the early '90s with the mouse that popped out from the side? I never bought one 'cause I figured they'd eventually come out with a faster model, and then HP just discontinued it. I always berated myself for not buying one when it was available. So when the P1000 series came out, I bought one, even though I really could have used the money for a lot of other things at the time. Two years later, I'm still convinced it's the best $1100 I've ever spent. I don't need a laptop that often, but when I *do* need one, it's the most convenient full featured, yet smallest laptop ever made.

The only downside is that it needs a bit of tweaking before it can play full screen videos, but it *can* play them, and that's all that matters. It's also well supported by Linux and has it's own forum

Next laptop I get I plan on it being a Transmeta laptop, they seem to be friendly towards linux

Just a tip

I'm a fairly fervant anti-touchpad fellow myself. I even have an obscure thread going on to further the cause (albeit aimed towards subnotebooks), and I wonder if you know of many laptops that come without touchpads?

http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID= 5916

Santa thinks he can dance sez,"...do you really NEED such a device?"

If one has a long commute on crowded train or bus, I can see some utility. My P2120 is the perfect air coach computer, but there's no way I could manage it while standing on a train.

An e-mail address is not available for Swami. Your prayers to Him in any form reach Him directly

pay half as much and get the smallest USABLE laptop. The fujitsu p1120. 800mhz crusoe, 4.5h battery life (with extended battery) and touchscreen. keyboard i can code on all day. its a beautiful beautiful system. shell out the cash for the extra ram. and laptops inc/portable one should gladly upgrade your hard drive, if you so request, usually at very reasonable prices.

Fujitsu p1120. Purchase here and forums for it here.

What major advantages does this have over the 18-month-old Panasonic W2 other than a slightly better video card and smaller footprint? The W2 weighs 2.8 pounds, has a DVD-RW, 12.1" screen, big keyboard, 1.1 GHz CPU, and its battery lasts over 7 hours.

In the USA, we get the older version of the W2, but it's still some-tasty.

On a side note, some tips for running Linux on the W2:
- Red Hat
- Debian
- leog forum

The keyboard is good, the wireless sensitivity is excellent, and I can run Openoffice, Mozilla 1.7 (web and email), ssh, and even Battlefield 1942 without problems.

Highly recommended. It's so portable, I use it instead of my desktop.

Fujitu's new model is the P7000. It is slightly more powerful than the P5000 series. Newegg and Laptopsinc carry these Fujitsu subnotebooks:

LeoG's Fujitsu notebook forum
LaptopsInc (a great Fujitsu dealer)
P7010 with 512M

--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu

Portable One is a great vendor. Newegg also sells this computer. The best source of info on small Fujitsu notebooks is leog.net

--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu

the fujitsu p series is amazing. there is a forum for them here.

most have 10 - 11 hours with extended battery and modular battery. they're "ultra-portables": 10.6 inch screens with 1280x768 resolution. they're available in oldschool crusoe models for "cheap" or centrino platforms.

i have a p1120, which is only 5 hours with an extended battery, but no modular bay. its got a 8.9 inch 1024x600 screen which is touchscreen - the reason i bought it. it is my baby.

I am running Debian on my Fujitsu Loox T93C (Japanese model). AFAIK that is the same as the P2120 in the US.
It is very nice. It has built in Wifi that works with Linux and not to forget the DVD/CD-R/RW which comes in handy for watching DVDs and burning CD-R/RWs. I added a prism54 based pcmcia wlan card so that I can watch the DVDs from my server.
Find out more about Linux on the Lifebook here and here.
I am using it right now to write this comment, sitting in my chair watching TV.

As an alternative to the traditional big bulky laptop bag, I recommend Vasola cases sold by Semsons. This is a light, slim form-fitting neoprene case that is perfect for slipping a laptop into any other bag, like a backpack or briefcase, and provides extra impact protection and scratch prevention. We've used one for over a year for our Fujitsu Lifebook P, and we just ordered a new one for our new iBook.

As someone else mentioned, keeping the laptop in a backpack makes it a little less obvious to thieves as well. This case makes that practical and easy.

They're cheap too, ranging from $8 to $16, depending on the size. They were recommended to me by the good folks at leog.net, a site for Fujitsu P series enthusaists.

For some reason, the Japanese-spec model lists 768 max RAM and the US-spec model lists 512 max, but they both actually can take 768 (the notebook has a utility called DMI viewer, which states that it takes 512MB modules).

Also, the US-spec model is rated as having a much lower battery life than the Japanese one for some reason (4 hours vs 7 hours if I remember correctly). However, I easily get 5 hours on a single charge.

I've used the small Sonys and Fujitsu Lifebooks... this one dusts them. The screen is big and bright (25% less pixels then the P series, but 42% more screen-area). It runs as quiet and cool as my wife's P-2000 (Crusoe-based).

Check out leog.net.
There is also a yahoo group.
Lastly, check out dynamism for other neato notebooks.

Have a look at this forum and the link to the touchscreen driver.

Their smallest is the P1000, which weighs a mere 2.5 pounds, including a heavy duty battery that will last you 5 hours of real use.
Their medium model is the P2000, which also has an optical drive, is a tad larger, and weighs a mere 3.4 pounds with a battery that lasts you 2,5 hours of normal use (not counting optical drive use), or add 0.3 pounds for the diferrence in weight for the similar 5-hour battery.
Lastly, they have a faster model with an intel cpu, the P5000. This model has a somewhat lower battery life, more speed, and weighs 3.85 pounds with a high-capacity battery (default on that model).

Prices are low as well. The P1000 starts at $1200, the P2000 starts at $1400, and the intel-based P5000 starts at $1500.

To look at some user experiences, go to this forum.

I personally own a P1000 and am very comfortable with carrying it around with me all the time, with the low weight.

I've had a P2046 for almost a year, and have been running Gentoo Linux on it the whole time. Here's my observations:

- I've been running the 2.5 series kernels (currently staying with .60) because of increased speed. I've tried experimenting with ACPI, but it never suspends right, so I've stuck with APM.
- USB works a lot better in 2.5 than 2.4
- The integrated WLAN also is a lot better in 2.5, though it still has some problems (every once in a while the driver hangs, and I have to rmmod and modprobe it again)
- Lately, it's been hanging a lot when coming out of suspend

Other than these issues, it's a great machine. It's certainly not a speed-demon, but is great for what I got it for (taking notes, web browsing, etc.). Battery life is great - 10 hours with the screen brightness up all the way with the extended and bay battery, and over 15 hours if it's closed and I'm using it for MP3's.

If you're looking for more info, check out the P-series forums.

I have a Fujitsu P-2110, purchased new directly from Fujitsu 6 months ago, and actually it does have a Firewire port. The tech specs for the newer model, the P-2120, confirm this.

My wife and I are very happy with our P, the lightness combined with the Wi-fi add so much freedom to our computing, and it's got an amazing LCD, a great optical drive. Our model isn't especially fast, but the P-2120 is supposedly quite a bit faster, with a higher clock speed Crusoe and a Radeon versus our Rage video chipset.

If you do want to look into the P series, there is a linux forum at leog.net that should be helpful. They also have a for sale forum where you might be able to find a P-2120 cheap. I've also seen them on Ebay.

However, I do think that if you buy a used Windows system, you're still paying the "Windows Tax", albeit a bit further removed. Honestly, I think if you buy a Mac you're also paying a "software tax", but at least it's not to Microsoft.

I have a Fujitsu P-2110, purchased new directly from Fujitsu 6 months ago, and actually it does have a Firewire port. The tech specs for the newer model, the P-2120, confirm this.

My wife and I are very happy with our P, the lightness combined with the Wi-fi add so much freedom to our computing, and it's got an amazing LCD, a great optical drive. Our model isn't especially fast, but the P-2120 is supposedly quite a bit faster, with a higher clock speed Crusoe and a Radeon versus our Rage video chipset.

If you do want to look into the P series, there is a linux forum at leog.net that should be helpful. They also have a for sale forum where you might be able to find a P-2120 cheap. I've also seen them on Ebay.

However, I do think that if you buy a used Windows system, you're still paying the "Windows Tax", albeit a bit further removed. Honestly, I think if you buy a Mac you're also paying a "software tax", but at least it's not to Microsoft.

I have a Fujitsu P-2110, purchased new directly from Fujitsu 6 months ago, and actually it does have a Firewire port. The tech specs for the newer model, the P-2120, confirm this.

My wife and I are very happy with our P, the lightness combined with the Wi-fi add so much freedom to our computing, and it's got an amazing LCD, a great optical drive. Our model isn't especially fast, but the P-2120 is supposedly quite a bit faster, with a higher clock speed Crusoe and a Radeon versus our Rage video chipset.

If you do want to look into the P series, there is a linux forum at leog.net that should be helpful. They also have a for sale forum where you might be able to find a P-2120 cheap. I've also seen them on Ebay.

However, I do think that if you buy a used Windows system, you're still paying the "Windows Tax", albeit a bit further removed. Honestly, I think if you buy a Mac you're also paying a "software tax", but at least it's not to Microsoft.

Here's a direct link.

Also, here is a very good user discussion forum concerning the P2000 laptop, which actually has a seperate forum for the linux users, so you can check up on what you can expect:
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/

On a sidenote, I can say that Fijutsu will *not* ship any laptop without the windows license. In fact, when you send in the system for repair and they need to replace the hard drive (which contains the repair image), you have to pay for a new license.

Here's a link to an awesome Fujitsu P-series site, which has what you're looking for.

I have the P-2046 (same as 2040 but with builtin wifi). With the extended main battery and bay battery, I get 10 hours at full brightness, and 15+ with it closed (MP3's etc.). Everything works under Linux (I run Gentoo) except the winmodem.

Actually, the P-series does have firewire (at least the 2000 series). I have a P-2046 (built in wifi, 800 mhz Crusoe, 256 meg RAM) which has been great for me. I'm running Gentoo Linux on it. It's definitely not the fastest computer I've ever used (my 1.6 ghz Athlon work computer is nice to go back to every once in a while), but it's not terrible, especially with the 2.5 kernels, which gave it a huge speed improvement (I'm guessing because I use the preemptible option).

I get 10 hours of battery with the screen brightness up all the way (extended main battery and bay battery), and 15+ with it closed (playing MP3's, etc.).

Everything works under Linux except for the modem. I called Fujitsu before purchasing trying to find a way out of the Windows Tax, but they refused. Since I dual-boot every once in a while, it wasn't a bit deal.

If you do get one, get it from Laptopinc. While I didn't buy from them, I wish I had (they have a much better dead pixel policy than Fujitsu themselves, and I have one dead pixel). Also, a great site for info on these awesome machines is leog.net.

Someone above mentioned the Fujitsu P-Series, and I have to second that. I have a P-2110, which has an internal DVD/CDR (often external or in dock on ultraportables) and just about everything else that you would want. Well, as long as you don't want to play serious games on it. It runs a Crusoe processor, with decent performance. The whole caboodle weighs in at a trim 3.5 pounds.

I am running Slackware 8.1 on mine, and everything works. There is also a good community for the notebook, located here.

The newest models also just came out, which have better video cards too. I'm very happy with mine though. The 10" screen (which is widescreen, BTW) can be tough on the eyes, but if you're looking for a good, Linux-running ultralight, this is one to look for.

I have a P2110. Very small. Widescreen LCD, 1280x768. Gorgeous screen. Just a bit over 3 pounds. DVD/CD-RW. 802.11b. Firewire. TV/VGA out. Runs Linux just fine. Transmeta 866MHz CPU (hello Linus). Long battery life (up to a full working day using a hi-cap battery and a modular bay battery.
Have a look at leog.net for lots of info on running Linux on these machines.
But it comes with an closed-source OS though, like 99% of the notebook in this class. Tough.
It might be possible to get a standard class notebook free of MS licences, but I doubt you can find one in the subnotebook class.
And I doubt that Apple will sell you one of those nice 12" TiBook without the OS so that you can put Yellow Dog on it. Call it the Cupertino tax...

I don't slashdot often and I wonder if this amount of misinformation and conjecture is the norm?

Just to clear a couple things up.

-Transmeta has their very own distro of Linux that is written for their processors. It's called Midori.

-The Code Morphing Software (CMS) does, in fact, use some system ram. In the TM5800 it was 16MB. I'm not sure how much the new chip uses.

-The Astro is developed to merge high performance with power savings, not provide one at the cost of the other. The chip has higher performance AND lower power usage then their previous offerings.

There is a preponderance of Transmeta information at http://leog.net/ and at Transmetazone

My wife has a Crusoe-powered Fujitsu P-2000 which is infatuating because it's so small and light (3.4 pounds with internal CDRW/DVD), runs silently, runs cool, and is reasonably priced.

However, the Crusoe is just too slow for power users... people say it's equivalent to a P3 at roughly 1/2 the clock speed, but I've compared the P-2040 to a 4-year-old Inspiron 3500 (p2/300) and the Inspiron was noticebly faster at starting and switching between apps. At the leog forums, most topics involve improving performance. Windows XP and 2k run some apps OK if you don't multitask, but even then you need to tweak the OSs for speed. You can forget about XP's eye-candy. Hope you like browsing with Opera because you can forget Mozilla... even Phoenix is too sluggish on the Crusoe! (yet Phoenix runs fine on the above-mentioned P2/300!) Also, don't bother installing the newest versions of Mandrake or Redhat... either use an older release or stick with Desbian and Gentoo.

For anyone in the USA who needs speed in a small laptop, check out dynamism, which imports many cool Japanese laptops (at a premium, unfortunately).

There is also the Sony Vaio SRX99. Unfortunately, it's missing Fujitsu P-2000's slick hi-res 5:3 ratio widescreen, but it's the same size, is lighter (2.7 pounds vs 2.8 pounds for the Fujitsu-without-CDRW/DVD), has a faster CPU (P3/850), larger screen (area-wise), has a touchpad, and even gets better battery life. It does not have an internal CD bay, but Sony's external CDRW/DVD drive is small, light, and bus-powered.

So, I don't see TabletPC saving Crusoe. Any Tablets that weigh 3+ pounds can use Pentiums and there isn't enough of a market for slow 2 pound devices (tablets or notebooks) outside of Japan.

No it's not. Look at this comparison
And consider that Intel and AMD can't produce a chip that will stay as cool at the same clock rate. They have at least 4 times the transistor count. You will never see an Oqo style PC with AMD or Intel. Because at top speed you can't switch of your transistors or lower your voltage, if you want to keep up performance.

I don't think performance sucks as much as Intel may want you to believe. Take a look at this for some benchmarks.
And you have to consider that all tablet with Pentium III will run at a lower speed when they are on battery.

I have to agree. I used to have a Toshiba 1640 cdt, which was an okay laptop, but was hell on the shoulders. Two months ago I got a Fujitsu P-2110, and since then, I haven't gone anywhere without this little beauty.

It may cost quite a bit ($1600), and the specs aren't that fantastic (this is not a desktop replacement), but for anyone who needs/wants to have a computer with them all the time, this thing rocks. Battery life is a big issue with laptops, and if you cough up the extra cash for the long-life battery and the modular battery, you could get about 12 hours out of it.

Another aspect that I really like is that the screen has a native resolution of 1280X768, which makes it just about perfect for watching DVDs in widescreen. And since the DVD drive is an internal, modular drive, and it doesn't weigh very much, you'll be watching lots of movies on the go.

And for the Linux fiends, the P series works well. I've had Slackware 8.1 running for a couple months now, and everything works pretty well.

Check out the P-series forums for a lot more info.

Check out Fujitsu P2xxx series. It's slightly bigger than the picture book and doesn't have a built-in camera, but it does have DVD/CD-RW and Wireless NIC *built in*

The laptop actually has a fair size of following:
http://www.leog.net

The site's down at the moment, and slashdotting wouldn't help either. But if you want a small laptop without all the external bundles, check it out.

I was looking at the Fujitsu Lifebook P-2040 for some time, which also has the 800 Mhz Transmeta processor. Here are some benchmarks for it:

http://www.leog.net/_fujp/00000040.htm

and there's a Japanese site as well:
http://homepage2.nifty.com/DS1/LOOX/index.html

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/url/body?wb_url=http %3A%2F%2Fhomepage2.nifty.com%2FDS1%2FLOOX%2F003.ht ml&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2 (translated version)

Basically, it's roughly equivalent to a 600 Mhz PIII laptop. Enough processing power to view fairly high bitrate DIVX encodes and to software DVD playback. The Code Morphing is roughly analagous to Java's JITC - my firsthand experience on the Fujitsu is that the initial loading of apps is slow, but once they start going they run fine.