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The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550
As the industry moves at a breakneck speed to iOS, Android and other new mobile operating platforms, Fujitsu has opted for an approach that may be viewed as a lot less bold: its new tablet, the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550, is loaded with Windows 7 Professional. (for more, watch CRN's video review of the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550)
But that’s exactly why it is such a bold choice: In an industry that is telling enterprises that they need to invest untold millions in integrating brand-new operating environments into the workflow, Fujitsu is telling them, “No, you don’t.”
We like this approach, and, after having the chance to look at the Stylistic Q550, we can recommend this device without hesitation for enterprises that want the ease of a tablet form factor without the cost of porting Windows infrastructure to Android or iOS. This device will provide more than a full-shift of battery life (we measured it with about 9 and a half hours in moderate use, with more than a full day of standby power.)
The tablet is built with a 10.1-inch, touch display; 2 GB of RAM and an Intel Atom processor. Its antiglare screen is noticeable, compared with slick displays on other tablets, and is decidedly unflashy but will work better in outdoor or higher-light scenarios. The Stylistic Q550 supports Bluetooth, has a SIM card slot for those who wish to incorporate with a 3G network service, an SD card slot and provides a USB 2.0 port. It is built with a VGA front camera and 1.3-pixel rear camera. Our review showed it to be of noticeably less quality than other tablet cameras, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the iPad 2. However, for most work scenarios including videoconferencing or video chat, it’s fine.
It comes with 30 GB or 62 GB of on-board storage via its integrated SSD drive.
When we ran videos on this device, the quality was OK—but not great—compared to prosumer or consumer devices.
We can’t find anything bad to say about the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 that wouldn’t be nit-picky. (It’s bulkier than the Samsung or Apple tablets, and it runs Windows 7 are the two biggest knocks you could take at it.) Just the opposite: This tablet will give an enterprise the benefits of a tablet without the risk or cost of a new platform.
And, frankly, it completely eliminates the question of whether or not there are enough apps available to give the device more value. Out of the box, this device will work completely seamlessly with anything else in a Windows-based organization.
In an enterprise world that is still overwhelmingly dominated by Microsoft platforms, the fact that Fujitsu has delivered a tablet that runs Windows 7 means that it can roll out across an enterprise without the complexity of integrating a new platform. While the Stylistic Q550 is pricier than its tablet competitors, measured against the mobile-use limitations of a desktop or laptop it is still fair. It passes our cost-and-complexity test.
In a PC world that is competing ever more with mobile device world, Fujitsu tries the difficult task of trying to straddle both. It succeeds.
Technical Stars: 4
Channel Stars: 4
Price: $729 for 30 GB (list)
NEXT: BlackBerry Playbook
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