Fujitsu's LifeBook P1620 is lighter than (MacBook) Air
Fujitsu's P1620 was just announced with a Stateside price starting at $1,599. This quicker update to the highly praised P1610 boasts a new ULV 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo processor with up to 2GB of memory and 100GB of disk …
Context & Ripple Effects
Fujitsu spent 2007 building an ultraportable line around small, power-sipping parts: the company adopted flash memory for its tablets back in March 2007, then shipped the 3.3-pound T8140 with an SSD and 11-hour battery that June. The P1620 extends that playbook to the P1610 convertible, swapping in a ULV 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo, up to 2GB of RAM, and a 100GB disk at a Stateside starting price of $1,599.
The timing is pointed: Apple has just reset the conversation about thin-and-light laptops with the MacBook Air, and Fujitsu's confirmed framing is that its machine weighs less. It also follows cheaper entries into the space, like VIA's $600 NanoBook, meaning the ultraportable bracket now spans roughly three price tiers.
First-order effects
- Buyers shopping a sub-3-pound convertible now face a direct choice between the $1,599 P1620 and the MacBook Air, with Fujitsu competing on weight and tablet functionality rather than brand pull.
Second-order effects
- Rival ultraportable makers are pushed to answer on the same axis — weight-per-dollar via ULV processors and flash storage — squeezing the gap between budget devices like VIA's NanoBook and premium machines like Fujitsu's.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the ultraportable segment consolidates around Intel's ULV Core 2 Duo platform and SSD options as the default ingredient list, making component choices rather than industrial design the differentiator between brands.
The trend: Laptop vendors are converging on ultra-low-voltage processors and flash storage to chase ever-lighter machines, with Apple's MacBook Air resetting the benchmark the rest of the market races to undercut.