Jkk has posted about a story from Aving.net about a forthcoming Samsung netbook. What does Samsung have to offer the bandwagon? Well for starters, the unit looks pretty slick. The bottom of the casing is curved and it appears to be quite thin. As far as I can tell from the translated page, the unit was announced at a WiBro event, so you can expect some WWAN in there (for US consumers that will most likely mean WiMAX through Sprint). The rest should be familiar to most of us by now, 8.9" or 10" screen (probably 1024×600), Atom CPU, built-in webcam, VGA output, 3x USB 2.0, ethernet port and mic in/audio out (from what I can see in the images).
It’ll be up to the quality of the keyboard (which does look nice), and battery life to determine whether a potential customer will pick up this netbook, or go with one of many other choices. According to the story, the Samsung netbook will be launched in late October. Click through to jkkmobile for pictures.
Forget the low cost PC market Samsung, there’s a million people out there that could benefit from a bit of SSD love on their daily compute.
"We’ve refined our manufacturing techniques and redesigned our low-density SSDs to get what the @low-priced PC market is looking for in the way of improved cost"
What I suspect is happening here is that Samsung have designed a product that can be made in the millions for direct sale to netbook OEMs. You might find these on Ebay at some point but don’t expect them to be easy to get hold of for the average punter.
"Samsung’s new MLC-based SSD at 32GB capacity will read data (sequentially) at 90MB/s and write it (sequentially) at 70MB/s – performance levels much greater than low-density SSDs on the market today. The 16GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 45MB/s, while the 8GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 25MB/s."
The Q1 Ultra has been my main mobile device since I switched from the Raon Digital Everun some months ago. It has been a near-perfect solution for me and having the SSD, HSDPA mods and optimised Windows XP solution has elevated it above all the other UMPCs I’ve owned or tested. It’s even convinced me that a 7" Windows-based ultra mobile PC is more suited to my business needs than the 4.8" Carrypad device I wanted before. That’s a very significant change in my requirement that I’ve already started to write an article about because it means that i’m no longer looking for a MID as my single Ultra Mobile computing device. I’ll try and finish that article this weekend.
But…the Q1 Ultra is dead now (RIP, friend) due to an accident with my charging solution last Friday. The overheated MP3400 charger appears to have shorted and killed the battery charging circuitry in my Q1 so now the Q1 only works on mains power. The Q1 Ultra charging circuit appears to be beyond repair (see image.) so now I’m in the position of having to choose a new UMPC. Here’s what I’m looking for…
How does a quality 7" 1024×600 ultra mobile PC for 385 Euro ($600) sound? If you’re a ultra mobile PC fan in Hong Kong right now you’re laughing because one of the best tablet-style UMPCs is now available in basic 800Mhz, Windows XP (Home) form for just 4690 of the local dollars. The Q1 U-C is part of a special promotion out there.
For the U.S. readers, that might not sound too cheap but in Euro-land, that’s about as cheap as it gets. Sure, you could buy an MSI Wind which is faster and has a full keyboard but it just doesn’t compare if you want to go mobile. Take it from me, a person who has just lost their Q1 Ultra to a broken external battery pack, the Q1 with 800Mhz and XP is a great device. Drop in a the simple SSD mod and you have something that’s as fast as any netbook out there and brings you over 3 hours online battery life.
Hong Kong is a long way away but I hope it kicks off a round of competitive pricing on the Ultra. As we move towards CES and a possible Q1 Ultra update, maybe it’s Samsungs plan to squeeze the last from the device before the new one comes in. Come on Samsung, bring us a sub $500 UMPC.
I won’t put this model in the database. Specifications-wise, it looks like the CMXP version is the nearest but with XP Home instead of TE (yes, some people won’t be happy about this) and I assume, no Bluetooth.
Last week I posted some tips on how to squeeze 3 hrs browsing time out of the Kohjinsha SC3. The method was a bit of a trick as it utilised a mobile phone data connection over Bluetooth but it was the only way to achieve 3 hours on the 20wh battery. It equates to an average 7W drain which is, even in ultra mobile PC terms, very efficient but it’s not as good as I hoped from a Z-series Atom-based system.
The reason why it’s not as good as I expected (and the reason why i’m not using the SC3 to write this post in my tent while the rain beats down outside) is that the Samsung Q1 Ultra (with SSD mod) is just as efficient with the previous generation Intel platform. As I write this post, perfom (try it, start->run->perfmon. Its fun to watch the battery drain) is telling me that the average drain is 6.9 watts. Meebo is running in the background, Friendfeed is updating, CPU utilisation is averaging 20%, brightness is set at 25% and I’ve got a LED lamp attached to the USB port to give me some light. With the standard battery, thats over 4 hours of online time. I’ve got the extended battery here which is showing 5.5 hrs @ 61% battery. (9hrs total)
With a refresh to a 1.33Ghz Atom processor and some tweaks to the motherboard, I’m sure Samsung could shave 20% off that drain figure and produce a 5-6 hr, 600gm device. They’ve proved themselves as one of the best at electronic design with their Q1 products and it excites me to think about what they might come up with next – as long as it has a lighted keyboard!
I’m going camping over the next four days. Here’s the kit that’s going to keep me productive.
[The Wife and little-one have planned a last-minute camping trip together and I was due to stay home and work but I’ve decided to go along and make a working holiday of it. Dads – this is the beauty of Ultra Mobile PC’s!!!]
It seems like half a year since I added the HSDPA-capable CMXP version of the Q1 Ultra to the database. Oh, it was!
Samsung have finally announced it in the US but unfortunately the price seems to have risen to $1449 which I find a little but over the top for a year-old, $1000 device that many people have already retro-fitted with a $150 HSDPA card.
It’s almost the same story with the Q1 Ultra premium. It’s been available for months with XP but only now have Samsung decided to announce it. Maybe Kevin Tofel’s reports convinced them.
Now seems a good time to mention that the Q1 Ultra with XP is a good performer, has excellent battery life and can be upgraded a home-built SSD drive. I’m still using mine although I am missing the keyboard that I’ve had on the M704 and SC3 recently.
[This pre-prepared and auto-posted as I’m on holiday – Back soon. Chippy.]
The Gigabyte M704 has really surprised me. I wasn’t really expecting anything too exciting due to having tested the older version of the hardware last year but the vastly improved screen, the better mouse layout and the 1.2Ghz processor have made an impressive difference. So much so that I consider it to be up there with the great all-rounder, the Q1 Ultra. But cheaper! It should definitely be on your shortlist if you’re looking at the Q1 Ultra.
The video below goes through most of the differences with the device and the only thing I can really add is that both devices perform as well as each other. The Q1 Ultra has the edge on video playback and on battery life but the M704 is a much nice machine to input text into. Where might only write a very brief ‘i’ll get back to you later’ email on the Q1 Ultra you’ll find that you can make a detailed response in comfort on the M704.
Anyway, take a look at the video and let me know if you have any questions. The M704 has gone back to Mobilx now but I’ll still be able to answer questions when I get back from holiday on Monday.
Jkk has posted about a story from Aving.net about a forthcoming Samsung netbook. What does Samsung have to offer the bandwagon? Well for starters, the unit looks pretty slick. The bottom of the casing is curved and it appears to be quite thin. As far as I can tell from the translated page, the unit was announced at a WiBro event, so you can expect some WWAN in there (for US consumers that will most likely mean WiMAX through Sprint). The rest should be familiar to most of us by now, 8.9" or 10" screen (probably 1024×600), Atom CPU, built-in webcam, VGA output, 3x USB 2.0, ethernet port and mic in/audio out (from what I can see in the images). 
