There’s a flurry of activity over at Origamiproject.com as US-based forum members swap hints and tips about buying the Q1 Ultra and using coupons to get further discounts. Buy.com appear to be taking orders for the Q1 Ultra EL for $779.99 with free delivery and someone has managed to redeem a coupon against it and get it for $723 with a further discount on an extended battery for a total of $809 shipped. That’s a fantastic price. This is the 600Mhz Q1 Ultra (I wonder how long it will take someone to work out a ‘fix’ for getting the 600Mhz part to run at 800Mhz) so its going to be interesting to see how Vista fairs.

So does this mean that the Q1b is no longer the best budget UMPC? Last month it was a sub $800 UMPC but the cheapest I can find today is $850 (CDW.com.) Do the people responsible for pricing think that the Q1b is better than the Q1U-EL? Does this say something about the Q1U-EL or will we see the price of the Q1b drop below $700 as soon as the Q1 Ultra EL is available?

Details on the various Q1 Ultra models are in our database. Here’s a comparison page showing all four models.

• Q1 Ultra Launch tomorrow. $1199 price rumor.
• Entry point Q1 Ultra. Minimalist , $900.
• Averatec AHI availability date.