In the relentless march towards thinner, lighter, and more minimalist laptops, some features have been unceremoniously left by the wayside. The headphone jack had a fight on its hands, but the optical drive? It was declared all but extinct years ago. But in the wonderfully peculiar world of the Japanese laptop market, where round trackpads are a staple and portability is redefined, the past has a way of clinging on—and sometimes, it makes a compelling comeback.
Enter the Fujitsu FMV Note A, a new 16-inch laptop that proudly, and defiantly, features a built-in Blu-ray drive. In an era of streaming and digital downloads, Fujitsu is betting that there's still a market for physical media, and they might just be right.
A Niche Answer to a Specific Need
The timing of this launch is anything but accidental. With Microsoft officially ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025, a massive wave of users and businesses are evaluating their next PC purchase. For a significant number, the transition is complicated by one crucial piece of legacy hardware: an archive of data, software, or media stored on DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
The Fujitsu FMV Note A positions itself as the perfect solution. Instead of juggling a clunky external drive, users get a seamless, all-in-one device ready to handle both their modern computing tasks and their legacy media needs. You can learn more about the model's specifications and design philosophy directly on the official Fujitsu FMV Note A product page.
Under the Hood: Not Quite Cutting-Edge, But Capable
While the inclusion of an optical drive is a throwback, the rest of the FMV Note A's specs are a mix of modern and modest. The top-tier configuration is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 7735U processor from 2023. This is a capable 8-core CPU based on the Zen 3+ architecture, offering plenty of power for office work, multimedia consumption, and even some light content creation.
However, it's paired with what many would consider the bare minimum for a premium experience in 2024: 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This suggests Fujitsu is targeting a specific user who prioritizes the optical drive over top-tier performance.
The 16-inch IPS display features a comfortable 16:10 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. It’s not the sharpest or brightest panel on the market, but it provides ample screen real estate for multitasking without draining the battery too quickly.
Form Follows Function: Substantial Size and Solid Connectivity
You don't get a built-in Blu-ray drive for free. The FMV Note A pays for its unique feature with its physique. At over an inch thick and weighing in at almost 4.2 lbs (1.9 kg), it’s what we used to call a "desknote"—a laptop that’s perfectly portable, but you wouldn’t call it lightweight.
The connectivity, however, is a strong suit. Fujitsu has equipped this machine with a generous port selection, clearly understanding that its users will have peripherals. It includes two USB-C ports, with one supporting the speedy 40 Gbps standard of USB 4. For older accessories, there are two USB-A ports, an HDMI output, a Gigabit Ethernet port for reliable wired networking, and even an SD card reader. This robust I/O panel is a welcome sight in a world of dongles and adapters.
As recently highlighted in an analysis by Tom's Hardware on the persistence of optical drives, this feature remains a unique differentiator in the Japanese market, catering to specific professional and consumer needs that have largely been abandoned elsewhere.
Battery Life and Pricing: Managing Expectations
With a modest 50Wh battery and power-hungry components like an optical drive, battery life was never going to be this laptop's flagship feature. Fujitsu itself advertises a runtime of just 6.7 hours for video playback, so keeping the power adapter close by is advised for extended mobile use.
The Fujitsu FMV Note A is already available for purchase in Japan. The entry-level model, featuring an Intel Core i3-1315U, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a DVD drive, starts at approximately $820. The flagship AMD Ryzen 7 configuration with 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the Blu-ray drive commands a price of around $1,400.
For international buyers, there's a catch: Fujitsu's FMV laptops are typically not officially sold in Europe or North America. Acquiring one will involve navigating the import market from Japan, adding potential costs and complexities.
The Bottom Line: A Calculated Anomaly
The Fujitsu FMV Note A won't be for everyone. For the vast majority of users who haven't touched a disc in years, it’s an anachronism. But for a specific niche—archivists, professionals in media production, users with vast libraries of Blu-ray films, or businesses managing a transition away from Windows 10 with legacy software on disc—this laptop is a rare and thoughtfully designed tool.
It’s a bold reminder that in a homogenized global market, regional peculiarities can still thrive, and that "progress" doesn't always mean leaving every old technology behind.
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