Fujitsu has announced the availability of the Loox C, its entry into the 11 inch screen segment of the netbook market in Japan. I have a Fujitsu device and I must say that their build quality is excellent, with the products manufactured in Japan. And that’s also the reason why they’re expensive – for the same specifications, they can be 20% more expensive than their Taiwanese competitors, but I guess one has to pay for quality.
The Loox C in Japan will come in two variants – one (C/E70) with a Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor running at 1.4GHz, the other, cheaper model (C/E50) will come equipped with a single core SU2300 Celeron processor running at 1.2GHz. Other common specifications include an 11.6” screen with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, Intel GS45 express chipset / GMA 4500MHD graphics, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 320GB HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium. They come in red, black and blue colours and weigh 1.6kg, the same weight as the Acer Aspire 3810T Timeline. Both Fujitsu models come with Windows 7 pre-installed, hence the pre-installed 2Gb RAM. I have to say that the 1.6kg seems heavy for a 11″ netbook – after all, the Aspire 3810T Timeline, with a 13.3″ screen, also weighs 1.6kg.
Here’s the interesting claim: the C/E70 supposedly can run for 9.2 hours on a single battery charge, while the C/E50 will be able to run for 6.2 hours. Bold claims indeed, one which I don’t see realised in real world usage. But if the more expensive model can run for 6 hours in a “typical” usage scenario (if we can even define what “typical” is), then I’ll be suitably impressed.
The price, as usual, is typical Fujitsu: the C/E70 is expected to cost around US$1,100 (RM 3,714), while the C/E50 will cost US$890 (RM 3,004). Like I said, expensive. But this is the price you have to pay for something completely manufactured in Japan, like the VAIO Ps. At these prices, I think if they ever make it to Malaysia, it will mostly be targeted at the corporate/business segment only. It’s difficult to sell these in volume when your competitors are selling for RM 2,800 for the C/E70 equivalents.
Source. If you read Japanese, here’s the product pages.
