Fujitsu LifeBook T4220

Designer’s touch

The LifeBook T4220 clearly indicates Fujitsu’s continuing endeavor to give the masses a good quality, user-friendly and feature-packed tablet PC—at a premium of course. Let’s see what it has to offer.

Features: The core components of the LifeBook 4220 are similar to that of Dell Inspiron 1520—which is based on a performance chipset, the Intel PM965. The difference being, the former is built around the IGP variant—Intel GM965. The processor too is common to both—Intel T7300, 2.00 GHz.

The LifeBook has 1 GB DDR2-533 MHz memory and it houses a 120 GB hard drive. In spite of onboard graphics; photographers and designers may rejoice, for it features a WACOM-certified 12.1-inch touchscreen (http://www.wacom.com) ensuring immaculate precision and durability. The screen is well calibrated (for stylus only) and offers a native resolution of 1024x768 pixels. Along with the stylus, the bezel houses a finger print scanner and five hot keys.

Connectivity options include gigabit Ethernet, a 56k modem, and a Wi-Fi a/b/g/n module. The Wi-Fi standard ‘n’ will suffice for future standard hot spots. Although feature-rich, the 4220 doesn’t have an integrated webcam which might come across as a downside.

Build quality: Having an all-silver matte finish classy casing, it offers good build quality and overall sturdiness. The well-placed stylus, hotkeys and ports offer quick accessibility. Usability too is quite impressive, for instance, the touch pad and buttons are a user’s delight. When in tablet mode, the adjustable notch at the top of the screen can be used to lock the screen which is a pretty cool feature!

Performance: The LifeBook 4220 performs well for mainstream and mid-level applications. Graphically intensive applications may topple, as discrete graphics is absent. That’s precisely why game benchmarks were not included while testing the T4220.

For real-world benchmarks, we used file compression and A/V encoding. Most of the tests churned out impressive scores except for some memory-centric ones, such as memory bandwidth. This is due to its relatively lower memory speeds.

Verdict: It’s a useful tool for designers and illustrators to make digital imprints. If budget is not a constraint and you need a tablet offering an excellent feature set, good performance, and a nice touchscreen, then this is a great option.

For: Good touch response, overall performance, feature set, Wi-Fi ‘n’ standard.

Against: Slightly heavy on the lap and on the pocket. More memory would have been great.