There comes a time in every tech writer’s life where you come across a product which makes you arch your eyebrow into a perpetual quizzical look and for lack of a better phrase, you “can’t brain” it whatsoever. I get the idea of making products targeting women as your main selling point, but when there are alternatives out there which do way better than your product at being a “product for women” without outright stating it and going all Ru Paul up in the heezay, you’re in for a problem.
The Fujitsu LifeBook CH702 “Floral Kiss” was just one of those products. Right down to the name (where there is nothing floral or Kiss-like about the laptop mind you), the CH702 is designed in such a way that was as if the design and concepts team sat down with every conceivable stereotype associated with women and pulled them out of a hat to tack it on to the device.
“Ooh, girls like bling! Let’s put it in.”
“Girls love shiny stuff right? Let’s put that in.”
“PINK! YES THEY LIKE PINK! Let’s put that in.”
“THEY LOVE FLOWERS! AND KISSES! How do we… Ah! Let’s just put that in.”
I could rant on forever about how misplaced their efforts lay with making this laptop, or how quite a few devices do a much better job of being a laptop for women just by being a great device and for much less, or how the build quality was completely unbefitting to such a high pricetag but I’ll let the video do the talking for me.
I did try to look at this from the most neutral perch in KL, I promise I did. I didn’t have any preconceived notion to this device, not having attended the launch myself, I went purely on first impressions. Surely there has to be a redeeming feature about this laptop, if looked at objectively, the specs of the CH702 aren’t half bad. Benchmarks wise, it would do pretty well but unfortunately for the CH702, this is before you see the laptop in person and actually see how much it costs. This is also before you use the insanely irritating keyboard which just doesn’t fit! Also admittedly with regards to the build quality It’s worth noting that what we got was an evaluation copy and not a retail one fresh from the box, but still, don’t you think even it should be able to stand up to SOME wear and tear?
Sorry Fujitsu, this time it’s not just an airball, it’s as if you didn’t even leave the locker room after the first quarter. I would not recommend this laptop to anyone, guy, girl or cockatoo. But don’t take my word for it…
