Fujitsu has been showing off its latest tablet PC in Japan, the Lifebook U. At a mere 580g this is the ultimate in portability and if you've ever lugged a 3kg notebook with you around a trade show as some of us poor journalists have to do, you'd love to have one of these. It has a 1,024x600 touch screen display that measures 5.6-inches, not huge, but good enough for typing stories on. It can be swivelled around 180 degrees for pen input. The Lifebook U only measures 171×133×26.5-32mm (W×DxH) which almost makes it pocket friendly. It is based on the new Intel Ultra Mobile Platform 2007 and is powered by an Intel A110 processor at 800MHz and the Intel 945GU chipset with integrated graphics.

Fujitsu is currently taking orders in Japan and are expecting to ship the first units in June. You can specify hard drive, wireless connectivity options and choose between Windows XP or Vista. A basic system with 512MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Windows XP would set you back in the region of US$1,260, which isn't exactly cheap considering the basic specifications. The Lifebook U has a single USB 2.0 port, Compact Flash and SD card slots, a finger print scanner and breakout cables for Ethernet and D-Sub connectors. With the standard battery you should get between 3.5-4h battery life, while the extended battery should last somewhere between 7-8h. Not a bad little machine, it's just shame that it looks to be quite expensive and there's no word on availability outside of Japan.