Fujitsu UH-X 2-in-1 laptop review: a lightweight convertible that ticks most boxes

Fujitsu’s comeback into the consumer laptop arena in India has come at a time when the segment is witnessing strong growth, thanks to the pandemic-fuelled demand. And from what I can make out, the UH-X Convertible 2-in-1 that I’m checking out now seems like a solid vehicle for the re-entry. Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning.

Design, display, and connectivity

The Fujitsu UH-X Convertible comes in a subdued shade of black – it’s not going to stand out in terms of looks, but it should feel right at home in a boardroom. I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled it out of its box – the laptop is super lightweight. At 997g, it’s touted to be India’s lightest convertible consumer notebook, and I can vouch for the fact that it’s really a breeze handling this device. It’s also astounding how much Fujitsu has been able to pack in inside such a light machine because as far as I can make out, it hits most of the right notes and doesn’t miss much.

At the outset, let me mention a couple of niggles first. One, the laptop gets smudged quite easily. And two, the rigid hinges mean that one needs to use both hands to open the machine. With those out of the way, let me delve into the positives, and there are quite a few. This is a convertible device, so the screen flips over 360 degrees and folds flat over the base, allowing you to use the device in various modes. The screen is touch-enabled, so you can use it as a tablet. It can even be opened up partly and used in tent mode, which is ideal for watching videos.

As per Fujitsu, the device is quite durable as well and goes through several tests to make sure it can withstand pressure and drops. And it does feel quite robust too, despite its light weight. It’s clear the guys at Fujitsu have paid a lot of attention to detail, which is evident from aspects like the resin bumpers that have been positioned at the front corners… to minimise damage in case of a fall. I also love the fact that the Fujitsu UH-X has a silo to stow away the included pen. Did I mention that the device comes with an active pen? The Wacom-powered pen supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and comes in handy for doodling, taking notes, and annotating documents. The built-in storage slot (positioned on the bottom edge on the right) not only ensures the pen goes wherever the laptop goes, but also charges the active pen’s battery.

Also located on the sides are the stereo speakers, and their positioning ensures that the sound doesn’t get muffled, especially when the device is kept on a cushioned surface, like a bed. The audio is quite decent too, though I think it could have been a little louder.

The 13.3-inch, FHD touchscreen is anti-glare and offers up to 400 nits of brightness. The screen does get quite bright, so you can use it under harsh sunlight if required, and reproduces colours well too. However, the bezels on the top and bottom are quite wide. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the number of ports available on the Fujitsu UH-X. In my experience, most thin-and-light laptops and convertibles require the users to compromise on this front, but not the UH-X.

Apart from the charging port to accommodate the power adapter’s barrel connector, the device comes with two USB-C 3.2 ports, two USB Type-A 3.2, an HDMI, a 3.5mm headset jack, an SD card reader, a Kensington lock port, and even an Ethernet port. The Ethernet port in fact, can be pulled out from the chassis and expands to accommodate a LAN cable’s RJ45 connector. There’s no support for Thunderbolt, but the Type-C ports can be used for display output, and in case you want to leave the bundled 65W charging brick at home, also for charging the laptop. Speaking of, the bundled charging brick is quite compact too. And while I’m on the subject of connectivity, worth mentioning that the Fujitsu UH-X supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 too.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is yet another feather in the Fujitsu UH-X’s cap. The keys are well spaced out, offer ample travel and are quite clicky too. I got accustomed to the keyboard very quickly, and absolutely loved typing on it. There’s a two-stage backlight available that lets you use the machine in the dark. The precision trackpad is quite responsive as well, though the presence of dedicated left- and right-click keys below mean that the touchpad size isn’t as large as I’d have preferred. Located atop the keyboard is a shortcut key that launches the Quick Notes app for when you need to jot down something in a hurry.

There’s even a 5MP camera above the keyboard, using which you can click pics conveniently by folding the lid completely, such that this snapper faces away from you. Counting the 2MP, FHD webcam above the screen, the Fujitsu UH-X 2-in-1 actually comes with dual cameras. And yes, Windows Hello is supported, so you can log in using just your face.

Software, performance, and battery

Software-wise, the Fujitsu UH-X 2-in-1 runs Windows 10 Home, so no surprises there. The laptop also comes with MS Office Home and Student 2019, which is always handy to have. There’s no bloatware on the device, and the only piece of software from Fujitsu I found on the laptop was a configuration utility called Function Manager. Using this tool, you can control battery charging settings, customise the shortcut key, and set charging behaviour for the Type-C ports.

Under the hood is the 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake CPU, which is an energy-efficient quad-core chip based on the 10nm fabrication process. It’s clocked at 2.8GHz and can turbo up to 4.7GHz. Mated to it is 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and the device also comes with 1TB NVMe SSD storage. Graphics are taken care of by an integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU. Clearly, this isn’t a machine designed for gaming, but that said, casual gamers can still run titles at basic settings. Day-to-day performance is extremely smooth, and I had no problems keeping a bunch of Chrome tabs open and running productive apps like MS Office alongside. The device’s solid performance is also corroborated by benchmarks, all of which show good scores. The UH-X logged 4,884 in PCMark 10, while CineBench R23 showed scores of 4,234 points for multi-core and 1,370 points for single-core. In Geekbench, the device logged 5,021 and 1,422 for multi-core and single-core tests respectively.

As far as battery life is concerned, the 50Wh pack is rated for up to 11 hours. In my usage, I got through busy workdays quite easily. The device supports fast charging as well, and the bundled charger can juice it up to 50 percent levels in just about half an hour. A full charge takes over 2 hours.

Verdict

The Fujitsu UH-X 2-in-1 will set you back by Rs 1,07,990 for the Core i7 model, and there’s a cheaper variant that comes with an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage, priced at Rs 88,990. Based on my usage, I can say the device has a lot going for it, and unless you want a more gaming-oriented laptop or for heavy-duty graphics work, the UH-X should serve your needs well. Fujitsu is offering a two-year warranty on the device, which is nice… and the laptop bears a ‘Made in Japan’ label if that’s something that appeals to you. The light weight, solid build, plethora of connectivity options, and the flexibility offered by its convertible form factor, all combine into a laptop that deserves close consideration in my opinion.

Editor’s rating: 4 / 5

Pros:

• Lightweight yet solid build
• Decent performance
• Excellent keyboard
• Full range of ports

Cons:

• Gets smudged easily
• Speakers could be louder
• No Thunderbolt support

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