Where would netbooks be without Windows XP? Probably nowhere, so why have Dell decided to combine the low-power Atom Z-series with Windows Vista on their new 12" laptop? There’s two reasons.

1 – To save a few watts/degrees/mm

2 – To enable a high-end video experience

APCMag and LaptopMag have both done some reviewing and its hard to see any reasoning behind Dells move because neither of the reviews shine. 3hrs battery life and sluggish performance are nothing to write home about, even if the device uses a smaller battery.

The one thing that hasn’t been tested yet is video. The Poulsbo chipset offers hardware decoding for a number of video encoding formats and maybe Dell want to use this as the main feature but from what I can see, there’s no HDMI or composite output so they are obviously not aiming the device at media fans, especially with that relatively slow and small 60GB, 1.8" 4200 RPM drive they’ve put inside. No, it looks like they wanted to go for the smallest, quietest and lowest power build and Menlow/Vista was probably the only choice. Many people are aware that XP drivers just don’t seem to be materialising for the Menlow platform so it looks like Dell made the choice to push out a Vista version rather than wait.

The problem they have now is that the first reviews will stick in the Internet search results and poison any future release of the same model. They also poison the Menlow platform. To me, the Dell Mini 12 is a big mistake. They really should have waited until Windows 7 was available.

Following up on the previous story I did about the 12" Dell Mini, it looks like it really is going to happen.

The size and form factor is of no interest to most readers but what’s going on underneath is very interesting.

Up until now, the performance of Z-series-based PCs running XP or Vista has been less than exciting. Video playback and 3D performance is almost non-existent in devices like the Kohjinsha SC3 and way below what people are seeing on the cheap Atom-based netbooks. In theory, it should be a lot better. Many people have been waiting for fresh drivers for the system controller hub (SCH, Aka Poulsbo) chipset under Vista and for XP-lovers, there’s absolutely nothing out there except rumours. Intel have no choice now but to ship good quality drivers otherwise they will have a big customer problem.

So why are Dell using the Z-series Atom processors? Battery life. Atom Silverthorne and the SCH offer much higher power efficiency so it gives Dell’s engineers the best possible chance to produce an 8hr device. The SCH also has the video decoding hardware built-in so we could be looking at a great long-haul video playback device here.

For those looking for Silverthorne/Poulsbo drivers, keep an eye on the Dell 1210 driver download page.

Source: CSM Report.

If I remember rightly, the Aigo MID is going to available in some Asian shops tomorrow. UMPCFever, however, have already had it for a few days and although it’s not coming to Europe or America, the Gigabyte version will so we can get some good ideas about performance of hardware, browser and multimedia functions from this.

UMPCFever have made some notes in English mentioning that the software build is much better than in previous versions they’ve seen. (Phew!) The UI appears to be very good (see video below)  and I’m pleased to see Bluesoleil in there. I hope it makes it through to the Gigabyte version.

In the notes, the browser and multimedia features are said to be "well organized and pretty good performance" although there’s no detail yet. We’ll have to wait and see as UMPCfever will be putting out more details test notes in the days to come. Lets hope those video drivers and codecs are all present! I’ve been testing H.264 on the SCH (chipset) today and it’s impressive when you get it working with the right software. More about that later. Video below.

Read the full story

UMPCFever are the source of the information here and I find myself more than a little interested in this 1.6Ghz Intel Centrino Atom-based (Silverthorne + Puolsbo) device having read the article. The Fujitsu U2010 appears to be a significant step forward for UMPCs and a possible replacement for my broken Q1 Ultra (more about that here and later.)

Improved:

• Keyboard
• Wifi/BT on/off switch
• Battery life
• Screen Res

UMPCFever have measured 3 hours WiFi-on, full screen backlight playing a movie. Remember this is on a 20wh battery. 7W drain under those conditions is nothing short of impressive. Expect around 7-hours music playback, 5 hours wifi-off typing or 3 hours browsing. If you so wish, you have a 40wh battery option which will bulk the device out a little but double your battery life.

The U2010 has many of the components of the SC3 but it’s smaller (click the size comparison on the left,) is more powerful and has better battery life. In my book, that’s worth paying for so it’s the reason that the U2010 has gone right to the top of my wishlist. Anyone want to buy an SC3 from me?

UMPCFever U2010 First impressions.

UMPCFever have also got pictures of the device disassembled. Check out the internals here where you’ll see the good news that the HD can be swapped out and the bad news that the memory is soldered.

We’re tracking and linking all the U2010 info as we find it on the U2010 info page.

The small size of this surprised me more than usual!

More information
on our SC3 info page.

Be sure to join me on umpcportal.com/live over the next hours (1900-2200 GMT) where I’ll be giving  overviews and demos of the device. The  chat  channel will be open for questions and I think JKK might pop in with a few Eees!

Jenn and I have been having a private race to see who was first to get the SC3. She won! On the upside, it’s made me even more excited to get mine. It’s looking like a real peach of a device. My worry about Vista is fading away too. Here’s what she says about that:

"Keeping in mind that my review unit has 2GB of memory installed, Vista Home Premium SP1 runs extremely well on the 1.33GHz Atom processor. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s downright zippy and on par with what I’m used to (which isn’t much). I’ve experienced no disk thrashing, lagging, or slow-loading menu items and icons. Anyone expecting Vista to perform on the Atom the way it did on the A110 will be pleasantly surprised."

This is in line with what JKK is experiencing with Vista on the Atom-based 901 and very good news indeed. Tablet lovers are going to get very excited as Vista brings significant advantages over XP where a touchscreen is concerned.

I’m looking through Jenns review and thinking…why would anyone by an HTC Shift, Q1 Ultra or Fujitsu U1010/820 now? It’s tiny!

Efficiency is in-line with what I extrapolated from the marketing figures. 2.5hrs battery life on a 20wh battery. Bear in mind though that the battery is smaller than one you’ll find on an Acer Aspire. The 4-cell version, still small, will give you 5 hours of work time.

A backlit keyboard, built-in 3G and on-frame mouse control would be the only things that would make this device any better for the pro-mobile user. The 3G requirement is arguable as you’ve got an ExpressCard/34 slot to play with on the SC3. Note also that the keyboard is relatively small. Smaller than the old Kohjinsha keyboards and the ones on the Asus 701/900/901. This may not suit those that need to input data over a long period of time. There’s also a heat-build on charging.

I’ll stop there as you need to go straight over to Pocketables to see it in all its ultra mobile PC glory. Well done for winning the race Jenn. See you on the next starting line ;-)

Specification and more links available in the UMPCPortal product database.

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.

Expansys sent over their demo M528 for me to take a look at. Thanks guys!

As you can see, it looks fantastic. Unfortunately it’s running a very early software build so I can’t make any valid comments about its UI, software suite and performance and so I won’t be putting that part of if under the microscope. Disappointing, I know, but i’m just happy to have it in my hands and not have to battle with exhibition crowds at the same time. More after the pics…