Last Easter I was at a rockin' party in Indianapolis. Sitting around a campfire with my internet friends from around the country, knocking back a couple of brewskies, and telling stories of heroic deeds. My buddy Elle asked if I wanted to see her new laptop, and pulled a Fujitsu P1500 out of her purse. I'll admit that I fell in love with her laptop instantly. I've been waiting for the new model before making a decision, and Fujitsu has made me a very happy Johnny.

Fujitsu has updated their smallest LifeBook convertible tablet line with a speed bump. The new P1610 runs a U1400 Core Solo at 1.2 GHz. The most redeeming feature of the P series is size. At ~9x7 inches it's only a little larger than a paperback and sports a tiny 8.9 inch WXGA LCD. That's 1366 x 768, and quite a bit better than the 1024 x 600 resolution of previous models.

While some tablets offer active screens with a magnetic stylus, the Fujitsu tablets have stuck with a passive screen. An active screen needs a specialized "no contact" stylus for input, but a passive screen will work with any blunt object that makes contact. In case of a misplaced stylus there's always the emergency finger poke with a passive touch screen.

Engadget's Dr. Paul Miller gave prudent advice with his counsel to ditch the standard three cell battery for the upgraded six cell. The prime reason for buying an ultra portable is always having a ready machine so it's disappointing that the original battery only provides 3.5 hours of charge. The double size six cell will last for seven and that's a bit more useful.

The full package carries an 80 gig hard drive, Bluetooth, and a gig of RAM. My only complaints are that the RAM capacity maxes out at one gigabyte, and that there isn't an optional battery powered docking station for adding a DVD drive on those days when I do want to travel heavy.