Way, way back in the early days of Vista testing, Kevin Tofel highlighted the problem of WDDM drivers for the Intel 915 chipset which would result in a reduced Vista experience for UMPC users. Although the 915 chipset was old at that time, it was a core component of nearly all Intel-based UMPCs. People moaned. People even campaigned for the problems to be fixed but neither Intel or Microsoft saw fit to modify anything that would enable WDDM drivers…
I wrote about it again back in Jan when I found out that a lack of WDDM drivers not only prevented some enhanced graphics support in Vista but also completely blocked certain programs from running. Windows Movie Maker and DVD Maker were unuseable which seemed even more stupid considering that cutting and compressing a movie is a 2D mathematical operation. The issue stopped me from upgrading to Vista and really killed my upgrade path. I still don’t use Vista on a UMPC.
The research at that time seem fairly conclusive. Microsoft wouldn’t change the WDDM spec and Intel didnt seem worried at all that most of the Intel based UMPCs were going to be hit, Intel had already made their statement and given their technical explanation and even end-of-lifed the 915 chipset. Intel UMPCs were kicked hard.
A few months later with the knowledge that Intel have created a new platform for UMPCs and are putting a lot of money behind the development of a UMPC-dedicated platform for 2008 it seems obvious why it was done. UMPC 2006 was a market research excercise and there’s no way that the 915 chipset could remain part of the platform but why why why are people still promoting 915 based devices? They are no longer supported and it should be made clear to customers that if you’re buying a 915 based device you are buying old, unsupported technology. Samsung should not be promoting Vista-based Q1 UMPCs without making it clear that there are going to be limitations. The R2H is in the same boat.
Need more convincing that nothing is going to change? Take a look at this Intel interview. Its clear.
So if you’re thinking of buying a Samsung Q1, ASUS R2H, TabletKiosk i7200 series or even the brand new Flipstart UMPC, be careful. My advise is to wait. On April 18th you’ll hear a lot more info about the new Intel platforms and 4 new UMPCs. At that point, the pricing for existing UMPCs has to move and all customers will be able to make a more informed decision.
