LifeBook E series, now with AMD. Classic business laptops are a dying breed but the compact Fujitsu LifeBook E5412A is rushing to help; with two RAM slots, long key travel, AMD power, RJ45, easy servicing and long battery life. However, the Japanese manufacturer has made a clear faux pas, especially when it comes to the laptop’s $850 price tag.

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

For its E series, Fujitsu has opted for a mixture of business understatement and smart elegance: a silver case lid with a dynamically curved logo, complimented by sleek black for the rest of the chassis. A welcome accent can not only be found in the form of a typical red line below the keyboard but also in the indicator LEDs on the front and next to the power button.

Less elegant is the stability of the plastic case. The base unit and lid can be easily twisted and intentional pressure can quickly result in distorted images on the display. However, this isn’t really annoying when it comes to everyday use. The hinges are firm but don’t allow the device to be opened with one hand. However, it can be opened to a maximum angle of almost 190°. The surfaces are slightly textured and the hand rest area has a rippled texture which is good at resisting fingerprints.  

With a weight of 1.39 kg and a thickness of nearly 20 mm, these dimensions accurately represent the average of mid-range business laptops. This is also reflected in our device comparison table. 

      Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G3 21C50030GE       Lenovo ThinkPad E14 G4 21EB0041GE       Fujitsu LifeBook E5412A E542AMHAAMDE       HP EliteBook 645 G9, Ryzen 7 5825U       Dell Latitude 3440       Dynabook Portégé X40-K       DIN A4 {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_331368’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_336312’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_336312’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_336311’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_336311’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_332658’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_332658’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_338015’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_338015’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_331228’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_331228’).checked = false;return false;” title=”hide all”>❌

The Fujitsu LifeBook comes with a section of well-chosen ports: You get two USB-C 3.2 Gen2, with charging functionality and DisplayPort 1.2, 1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 per side, HDMI 2.0b, a microSD card reader, Gigabit RJ45, an optional smart card reader, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a Kensington lock device. There is a nanoSIM slot in WWAN (ready) models on the laptop side.

The installed WiFi-6 module from Realtek (including Bluetooth 5.2) delivers average-level transfer speeds of ~900 MBit/s. Mediatek’s chips are mostly faster, such as the one found in the ThinkPad L14 G3 AMD, and the EliteBook 645 G9‘s’ Qualcomm module also delivers better results. Our review model doesn’t have WWAN on board, but the provided antennas can be upgraded. 

Fujitsu has only “treated” its LifeBook E5412A to a 720p webcam that is subpar even for applications such as video calls because it delivers blurry, out-of-focus images. An infrared camera allows the user to login via Windows Hello with the physical camera while the shutter offers additional security.

Typical for the business segment, Fujitsu’s laptop offers many security features. In Addition to TPM 2.0, there is an optional smart card reader, a Kensington lock device as well as the previously mentioned IR camera with its physical shutter. Likewise, a fingerprint reader is optional but was included in our SKU. Other SKUs are equipped with Fujitsu PalmSecure as an alternative, biometrical login method via palm vein scanning.

The LifeBook comes with a 65-watt USB-C power adapter and the packaging itself is environmentally friendly. Amongst other optional accessories, there is the USB Type C Port Replicator 2 docking solution.

In order to access the device’s internals, 11 crosshead screws have to be removed. The whole matter is simplified due to the absence of plastic clips which makes removing the base a simple task. 

You get access to the two RAM slots (both occupied), the M.2 2280 slot (SSD) and two M.2 slots for a WLAN and WWAN module (upgradeable). The fans can be easily cleaned and the screwed battery can be just as easily swapped. However, it is advisable to press the off button next to the CPU and also when expanding the RAM.

In the EMEA region, Fujitsu has granted its laptop a 12-month guarantee. Additionally, the availability of replacement parts is guaranteed across all regions for at least 5 years.

The textured Touchpad surface makes smooth operation a little difficult but still manages to offer somewhat greater control. The dedicated Touchpad keys are a nice change from typical Clickpads. However, the very short travel and spongy feedback mean they simply take up more space from the already small Touchpad.

At first glance, our reviewer was unsure whether we were dealing with a TN or IPS panel. That’s how dull the screen is. However, the stable viewing angles confirm that we have in our hands one of the worst available IPS panels.

It’s easy to imagine what we mean when you see the very grainy and blurry subpixels (see image right). This also makes images look very out-of-focus despite possessing FHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels).

Apart from that, the matte 14-inch panel doesn’t have much to offer: 60 Hz, 16:9 aspect ratio, a low illumination of 77 %, a contrast significantly below 1.000:1 as well as 56 % sRGB. That’s not all, the panel shines at an average of just 227 cd/m², which can make for a difficult viewing experience, even indoors. In addition, there is also Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) at brightness levels of less than 60 % and at a very low 60 Hz which can sometimes lead to headaches.

Apart from the Dynabook Portégé X40-K, all the panels in our field of competitors are considerably brighter, have better contrast and are less grainy, whereby the EliteBook 645 has indisputably the best display. Fujitsu only offers alternative panels specified with 300 cd/m² and a matte touch layer but otherwise the same performance data.

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The sRGB color space is only covered to 56 %. This means, in terms of color accuracy, photo and video editing are not possible. 

At DeltaE 7.2, colors deviate greatly from how they should be by < 3. We were only able to improve this minimally with the aid of calibration with X-Rite i1Pro 2. Nevertheless, this helps eliminate the green tint. Click on the following link to find a download of our calibrated color profile.

Display Response Times

↔    Response Time Black to White
25.6 ms … rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 13.2 ms rise
	↘ 12.4 ms fall
The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 53 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (22.1 ms).
↔    Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
35 ms … rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 17.8 ms rise
	↘ 17.2 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 39 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (34.9 ms).

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

Screen flickering / PWM detected	60 Hz	≤ 60 % brightness setting
The display backlight flickers at 60 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 60 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 60 Hz is very low, so the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches after extended use. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18972 (minimum: 5 – maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

Even indoors, the 227 cd/m² brightness can make life difficult and outdoors, even in the shade, it’s no fun at all to work with the Fujitsu laptop

We tested the Fujitsu LifeBook E5412A with an AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5675U hexa-core CPU. The Ryzen 7 PRO 5875U octa-core as well as the Ryzen 3 PRO 5475U quad-core, are also available. Graphics tasks are accomplished by the integrated Radeon RX Vega 7. However, you don’t get an RDNA 2 GPU and USB4 due to the older Zen 3 architecture. By contrast, Intel SKUs (LifeBook E5412) offer Thunderbolt 4 and are equipped, at best, with a Core i7-1265U.

A total of 16 GB of DDR4 3200 RAM (2x 8 GB occupied, maximum 64 GB) are available to the business laptop as well as a 512 GB, PCIe 3.0 SSD. This is more than sufficient for office tasks and surfing the internet. 

The Fujitsu LifeBook E5412A uses the integrated Windows performance modes but also has two additional modes called “Normal” and “Quiet”. However, the effects on the performance, fan behavior, heat production and battery life are marginal and come across as somewhat half-baked. The only real difference can be seen in battery mode combined with “Best Energy Savings” regardless of using normal or quiet modes.

We completed the performance test using “Best Performance” mode, combined with normal mode. When it came to battery life results, (WiFi and H.264) we combined the “Balanced” mode with the normal mode. In the following table, we illustrate the changes in performance.

The installed AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5675U possesses 6 cores, and 12 threads and is based on the Zen 3 architecture (Barcelu U Refresh). The performance is decent but it doesn’t reach its maximum potential due to the TDP limit of 23 watts: The 4.3 GHz turbo only managed 3.35 GHz in practice, and at 3 GHz, the 2.3 GHz base clock speed is often significantly exceeded.

In terms of performance ratings, the LIfeBook is outperformed by all of its competitors – with the exception of the ThinkPad L14 G3 AMD which delivers similar performance with the same CPU. The single-core performance found in the Intel-based competition even sits up to 30 % higher. In battery mode, the Fujitsu laptop’s performance doesn’t drop.

* … smaller is better

Help

The Fujitsu laptop responds exceptionally quickly in everyday use. Surfing the internet during 4K YouTube playback (few dropped frames) is a piece of cake for the AMD system. The PCMark 10 result is correspondingly high and is only topped by the ThinkPad E14 Gen4 AMD amongst its peers.

The web browsing performance, as illustrated by Mozilla Kraken 1.1, is a little better in Intel Systems, thanks to their higher single-core performance. 

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