Windows 7 business tablets: Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 vs. Motion CL900

How we tested

To see how these business tablets compare with each other, I used them every day for several weeks in my office and on the road for work. I browsed the Web, read and wrote emails, gave presentations, updated a website and watched online videos.

After measuring, weighing and examining every major aspect of each tablet, I connected to my office LAN, a public Wi-Fi network and a mobile hotspot. Next, I used each tablet's screen with both a finger (or two) and the included stylus. I typed with its on-screen keyboard, manipulated icons, drew figures and used its multi-touch gestures. This was followed by use with the system's docking station, and tests with a wired external keyboard and then a Bluetooth wireless one.

Then, I tested the performance of each system. First, I looked at overall performance with PassMark's PerformanceTest 7.0 benchmark test. The software exercises every major component of the system, including processor, hard drive, 2D and 3D graphics, and memory and compiles the results into a single score that represents its performance potential. I ran the software three times and averaged the results.

I also ran CineBench R11.5's benchmarks for graphics and processor performance. The software renders several photorealistic 3D scenes that stress the processor and graphics chip by manipulating up to a million polygons. It reports scores for each, but in this case I used it to measure only processor performance, since neither of the systems had the graphics muscle to run the video software.

Next, I measured each system's battery life. With a memory key containing six high-definition videos connected to the system, I set Windows Media player to shuffle through all the videos while PassMark's BatteryMon charted the battery's capacity and recorded the time it ran out of power and shut down.

Because businesses will need to depend on these systems, the tablets have to be reliable. I set each system up with Passmark's BurnInTest, which runs portions of the Performance benchmark in separate windows over and over again continuously, trying to find operational flaws. Both systems ran for more than three full days without incident, compiling more than 20 trillion processor operations along the way.

Brian Nadel is a frequent contributor to Computerworld and the former editor in chief of Mobile Computing & Communications magazine.