I just cant wait any longer for that Kohjinsha SC3 to arrive. The videos and feedback from early tests have proven to me that this could be one of the best ultra mobile PC / mini-notebooks yet. Its tiny, light, well-specified and looks great. The question we are all asking though is…”How good will Vista run.” We’re one step closer to the answer today because I’ve just recieved a set of CrystalMark test results from DFJ. I believe this is the first ever set of test results for a production Menlow (Silverthorne/Pulsbo) device so lets take a quick look and I’ll make some comments below.

Detailed results here.

The tests were done on a stock device (Vista Home Premium. 1GB RAM) and overall, its looking good. The CPU figures are quite impressive. Better, in fact, than any other ultra mobile PC platform. Only the Intel notebook-based CPU’s used in the Q1 Ultra Premium and the Sony UX are better. Memory speed is also good. Top marks! Looking at the disk (Spinpoint N, HS06THB, 60G, 4200 RPM, PATA(ZIF), 8MB CACHE) I see a high average which, if you look at the detailed results, translates to a max read speed of 30MB/s and a max write speed of about 27MB/s. For a 1.8″ drive, this is about as good as it gets right now.

Looking at the graphics scores shows some very low-end results. They dont quite tally with the Vista performance score we saw so for anyone looking at gaming on this – dont! For the 3D components in Google Earth and Itunes, we’ll have to see how it performs when we do tests. I suspect it will be OK.

For a big list of comparable CrzstalMark results, see the list that Frank keeps over at Tweaks2K2.

Note that the CrystaMark test doesn’t show us any video performance results. The Poulsbo chipset contains hardware acceleration for many common codecs and we wont see those results until someone does tests with a media player. In theory, results should be good.

So will it run Vista? The jury is still out on that one. Ive seen Vista Home Basic running acceptably on the HTC Shift but it wasnt exactly fast.  With some optimisation, i think Vista is going to be acceptable for most people. For others, upgrading the RAM to 2GB might be the answer and for a few people, it simply wont be good enough. The flip-side of the coin is that we know it would run XP extremely well. I hope, after time, a downgrade to XP will be possible. Ive taken the precation to include Vista Ultimate in mz purchase so at least i’ll have the license when it’s a possibility!

Thanks to Direct From Japan for the test results.

‘Atom performance better than expected’

‘Great battery life’

’15mm keyboard pitch difficult’

Apart from the keyboard, which I’m prepared to adapt to if this baby performs, its getting better every day. This is definitely a ultra mobile PC and not a netbook!

Video from wowpow blog who haven’t announced this video yet so expect a new blog entry soon.

Click the image for more info on the SC3

Before we discuss, let it be known that this is only a performance rating!!!

These figures come from an image that Conics took of the SC3 yesterday. They’ve surprised me somewhat. Are we looking at a device that could be as spritely as a Q1 Ultra Premium?

Remember the SC3 uses a Z520 at 1.33Ghz (with 533 FSB and Hyperthreading) and the test was done with 2GB of memory installed and Vista SP1.

We’ll find out soon enough because our order is due to ship from Japan today.

Q1 U Premium scores from Frank.

Image from Conics

More info on the Kohjinsha SC3.

Kohjinsha will launch the S130WG, a slightly modified SC3 (DMB receiver instead of 1-Seg) in Korea.

Local price for the GPS version will be just under $1000. For more information check out our Kohjinsha SC3 coverage and the SC3 datasheet. We should have one of these a few days after they are launched in Asia (expected 2nd week July) so check back for hands-on news.

Aving.net

Despite my little moan about JEITA battery life tests yesterday, the SC3 is looking very interesting as a UMPC. We’ve been in touch with Direct From Japan (DJF-Store.com) a company that operates out of the Akihabara district in Japan and they tell us that they will be able to ship the SC3 and from the 3rd of July. The SX3 should be shipping from Japan at the end of July.

Prices:

• SC3KP06A Black (and available in white) $989. (approx 640 Euros)
• SC3KP06GA Black (BT & GPS) (and available in white) $1049. (approx 680 Euros)
• The SX (8.9″, 1.2KG, DVD writer) is also available for $1199 (Black or white. Shipping at end of July)

Remember that you are responsible for import duty on the shipments. In Europe, you’ll have to pay your local sales tax/VAT/MSt etc. Shipping charges are also added to those prices [Update: DFJ offer free global shipping.] but with the dollar rate so low at the moment, the prices are looking excellent for Euro and Pound customers.

We’ve agreed to carry a DJF-Store advert in the SC and SX product pages (that will be up soon) in return for an early shipment and a discount so naturally I’ve placed an order for the SC3. I’ll be able to report on the DFJ service and detailed specification of the device (keyboard, language options, manuals etc.) and hopefully, get down to some hard work with Silverthorne. This could be one of the first Silverthorne devices to ship so there’s a lot to learn from it.

Click on the images below for full size versions of images that I pulled over from the Kohjinsha website into the gallery.

Click for SC3 and SX3 product details.
(UMPCPortal database.)