Fujitsu to Offer Solid-State Drive LOOX U50XN Notebooks

Just as Apple announced the availability of the MacBook Air in a solid-state drive version, Fujitsu performed a quick and clean update to the U50XN notebook line. Since there is a long way from a generic notebook to a Mac-powered masterpiece, they could only add a 64GB SSD option to their ultra-portable business laptop.

Solid-state drives are known for their faster response time as compared to spinning platters as well as for better power management options. While a hard-disk drive would considerably diminish the battery lifetime because of its mobile parts, a solid-state drive will have much improved access times and will be more energy-efficient.

Fujitsu's LOOX U50XN, also known as the U810 on the United States market comes now with a 64 GB of solid state drive, that will dramatically improve its performance, but, at the same time, will punch a $900 hole into your pocket. This is quite acceptable, since the 64GB of SSD would cost a MacBook Air owner some extra $1,200.

The business ultra-mobile notebook comes in multiple colors, ranging from blue to cherry. It is powered by an 800MHz Intel A110 processor, and features up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM, between 20GB and 40GB of hard drive space (now available in the SSD version), a 5.6-inch LED-backlit LCD with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, 802.11b/g, USB 2.0, VGA output, SD / CF card slots and built-in speakers. The whole system is powered by Windows Vista.

The notebook is available for some time in its initial configuration, and is priced around $1600. The 64 GB version will cost $2300 and will become available in March. However, if you are in a hurry, you don't have to wait for it. Since there will be no other hardware changes, you can easily purchase the standard configuration, get yourself a 64 GB SSD from any retailer and swap the drives (they all use the same SATA interface).