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It was with skeptical interest, therefore, that I tested Fujitsu PC Corp.'s newest LifeBook notebook computer, the B2130. Fujitsu designed the LifeBook B line to be as small as possible without being hard to use. The model has serious utilitarian virtues.

At this point, attacking size in notebook computers is a challenge because equipment is pushing against the size limits of the two most critical parts of any computer: the input device, in this case the keyboard, and the screen. Computers such as the midget Windows CE devices crashed through the functional barriers, resulting in machines that, while compact, are too small for average-sized people to use. With keyboards that are too small to be effective and screens too small to show a standard page, even the best of the CE equipment, such as the Philips Velo, are mere novelty acts on computing's stage.

The LifeBook B2130 is closer to a standard small notebook machine: a little less than 10 inches by a little less than 9 inches, even with the port replicator attached. It's less than an inch thick and weighs a little less than three pounds.

The keyboard is small, and even with training, only a few touch typists will ever attain their best accomplishments. Despite the limitation, it's a serious keyboard with enough tactile feedback and travel to make it very functional. The pointer and mouse buttons are built into the keyboard plane, and they're adequate with a little practice. The screen is a 10.4-inch SVGA thin-film transistor display, very readable and clear in the unit I tested. Moreover, it's a touch screen, and the system comes with a small pencil-sized pointer that you'll probably use for most operations, instead of the keyboard.

The LifeBook B2130 is a very well-designed unit, with ambitious goals: a small, lightweight, powerful computer that doesn't sacrifice usability to size.

In general, it meets those goals well. The system is loaded with a lot of the equipment you expect to get in full-sized models: 2-Mbyte video hardware (NeoMagic NM 2160), sound and motion video support, 64 Mbytes of RAM, and a 6-Gbyte hard drive. Removable storage is stripped out for space and weight: the disk drive is standard, the CD-ROM drive an accessory. It has one PC Card slot and a built-in modem and network adapter, a pair of universal serial bus ports, and a 4-Mbps infrared port--enough connections to support the outside world.

Because the machine is muscular enough to support most contemporary desktop applications, however, it also has equipment to support it as a user's primary machine: an external monitor connection. It's only possible to use this, though, with the small port replicator attached. That device includes mouse and keyboard connections, as well as serial and parallel ports.

Bundled software includes Microsoft's Works program, which is useful, though it doesn't read all the file formats it should. You'll probably want to replace it with your preferred office suite anyway. On the utilitarian side, Fujitsu has rolled in two of the best hard-core utilities I know: LapLink.com Inc.'s LapLink Professional, which adds file transfer, even over USB ports, remote control, and file synchronization, and PC-Doctor Inc.'s analysis and diagnosis suite. Each is a best-of-breed product. While Fujitsu preinstalls Windows 98, it's at least willing to support both Windows 95 and Windows NT, an important benefit for those of us who've had vendors refuse to support our preferred operating system.

The proprietary Fujitsu add-ons include a utility that powers a set of buttons on the front surface of the machine; these buttons allow you to launch a specific program by pressing one. In principle this is a strong idea, but the task of reprogramming them with the bundled utility will be beyond the ability of most users.

With the replicator in place, the LifeBook is a strong candidate as a desktop replacement. I ran some 3-D rendering and desktop database software on it. The only current application that stresses this machine in its tested configuration is voice recognition, which stresses most contemporary desktops, too. Still, you can use this notebook for voice recognition, and that's particularly useful for a system of this size.

My hesitations about the LifeBook B2130 are few and not major, but I would like to see Fujitsu's ingenuity applied to them. First, it's hard to use the touch-screen pointer accurately in 800-by-600-pixel resolution. Euclid stated a "point" is that which has no dimension; with screen resolution being what it is today, sometimes it feels like the point between two letters in a document, or some menu selections, really has no dimension. Perhaps Fujitsu should tinker with Windows 98's default screen font selection and choose a bigger, more widely kerned typeface.

The other weak spot is the small, soft rubber gasket the company uses to protect ports when they're not in use. The gaskets are good in that they're less likely to snap off and break the way hard plastic doors do on other notebooks. But the small hassle is they're easily lost once removed, defeating their purpose. Finally, the unit I tested didn't always wake up from its stand-by state, requiring rebooting.

The reviewer of an earlier LifeBook model (June 21, 1999, p. 176; informationweek.com/739/notebook.htm) said the machine he tested was so good he wanted to own one, and I agree. The LifeBook B2130 embodies professional, utilitarian industrial design that is responsive to user needs. It's as small, convenient, and useable as any functional machine I've tested.