Fujitsu officially announces their new U Series UMPC

Warner posted this morning with specs on the new U Series Ultra-Mobile PC from Fujitsu ( courtesy of UMPCPortal.com ). Well, Fujitsu is making it all official now with their press release on this “Storm Trooper” look of a UMPC.

The specs look pretty nice for a secondary computer, but what is glaringly missing is Bluetooth. How in the world do they expect people to utilize the highly mobile aspect of the FMV-U8240 without integrated WWAN or support for tethering to a Bluetooth enabled phone? In my opinion, and apparently that of Steve Paine’s, too, is that they should have dropped the compact flash slot in favor of a Bluetooth card.

On the positive side, of which there are many to note about the new U series, is the support for an extended battery for life up to 8 hours with XP Pro ( 7.5 under Vista ). This device certainly gets the WOW in me going, but I’m going to need to try one out first before making any committments. I hope they implemented the excellent palm rejection technology present in their P1610 series. The 20GB harddrive definitely looks a bit challenging in this day and time. Vista will take a huge chunk, then all the apps, music, etc. I can see 20gb disappearing quite quickly. Update: From these specs, it appears that a 40GB HD option is available, and the drive is a Ultra ATA/100.

Here is a snippet from the official announcement, along with a table of specs. XP available in June, Vista in July. Full specs can be found here. Thanks GBM Reader James Arendt.

Product	OS	MSRP	Key specifications	Availability
FMV-U8240	Windows ® XP Professional	JPY 144,000 US: $1197	CPU: Intel ® Processor A110 (800 MHz) RAM: 512 MB (DDR2 SDRAM) HD: 20 GB 100BASE-TX Security chip	Mid-June
		JPY 164,000 US $1360	CPU: Intel ® Procesor A110 (800 MHz) RAM: 1 GB (DDR2 SDRAM) HD: 20 GB 100BASE-TX Security chip
	Windows Vistaâ„¢ Business	JPY 164,000 US $1360	CPU: Intel ® Processor A110 (800 MHz) RAM: 1 GB (DDR2 SDRAM) HD: 20 GB 100BASE-TX Security chip	Early July

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fujitsu Limited today announced the addition of the U Series of ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) to its FMV-LIFEBOOK line of notebook PCs. Intended for business users, the U Series is the world’s smallest tablet-convertible UMPC(1), weighing only 580g and with a thickness of only 26.5mm. The new series is available as of today. Combining the usability advantages of a UMPC with robust security features, the U Series has wide-ranging appeal as a powerful mobile machine.

 Fujitsu was quick to adopt the “Intel ® Ultra Mobile Platform 2007,” announced in April 2007 in the new FMV-U8240, which, with an ultra-slim profile and a weight of only 580g, represents the next level in ubiquitous computing. With advanced communications and security features, the U Series gives users the freedom to work wherever and whenever they choose, encourages new ways of working, and promotes field innovation, which improves productivity on the front lines of business.

“The Fujitsu UMPC combines Fujitsu’s systems expertise with Intel’s low power processor and chipset,” said Anand Chandrasekher, Senior VP Intel Corp and GM Ultra Mobility Group. “The emerging UMPC category delivers the functionality of the PC and full Internet to users who are constantly on the go in ultra light and small form factors.”