Kohjinsha SA1F00A ultra-portable reviewed

The fine folks at Impress' PC Watch recently got a chance to check out Kohjinsha's attention-grabbing SA1F00A ultra-portable laptop to see how it stacks up to the competition (UMPC and otherwise), finding the pros and cons to mostly break down as you'd expect. While some of the finer points are lost in translation, they do seem to have dug the unit's small size and smart design, not to mention the UMPC-beating price point. On the downside, while the 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor helped to keep the battery life in check (about five hours of juice), it is somewhat underpowered compared to other, pricer devices -- although it should still be more than adequate for most common tasks. The small size also means a compromise on screen real estate, with the 7-inch display pumping out a scrolleriffic 800 x 480 resolution, though we suspect that's a price most will be willing to pay.

[Daniel Leithinger @ Nov 11th 2006 7:44AM]

The form factor of this machine is just exelent, it's exactly the way I would design an ultraportable (Although I would probably add a touchscreen with pen input). Also the price of 89,800 yen (~600 �) is very nice. Does anyone have info on availability in Europe or the US?

[Linda @ Nov 11th 2006 9:52AM]

This UMPC looks sweet. And the price makes it even greater. I hope it gets released in the US for the same or lower price. :)

[cm.marshall @ Nov 11th 2006 10:19AM]

Dynamism has it listed for $999

[alexq @ Nov 11th 2006 12:42PM]

conics have it listed at US$818 (or GBP430) :

http://conics.net/catalog/product_info.php?currency=USD&cPath=22&products_id=196

:)

[Oddmanout @ Nov 12th 2006 8:31AM]

"with the 7-inch display pumping out a scrolleriffic 800 x 480 resolution"

Well, with a 7-inch screen your choices really are low rez and carpal tunnel, or high rez and eye strain. 6 in one / half a dozen in the other...

As for it being underpowered...I think if you put Win2K or lite-ish breed of Linux on it you'll get all the functions you want at a reasonable level of performance. It wouldn't win any speed contests, but Win2K runs alright on my old K6II based laptop @ 475mhz. I assume a Geode can do better than that...or at least as good...

[Mike Scragg @ Nov 13th 2006 2:04PM]

At last, something which I would really consider as a replacement for my Psion 5mx - as Daniel says, a touch screen (not as a replacement for the keyboard !) would make it perfect - it's so handy to be able to draw when you are explaining something. Let's hope it soon gets into Europe.

[Mike Scragg @ Nov 13th 2006 2:06PM]

At last, something which I would really consider as a replacement for my Psion 5mx - as Daniel says, a touch screen (not as a replacement for the keyboard !) would make it perfect - it's so handy to be able to draw when you are explaining something. Let's hope it soon gets into Europe.

[Peter @ Dec 17th 2006 4:53AM]

A really portable IT gadget. Have placed an order with Brett at Conics, Japan.

[Reuebn @ Dec 26th 2006 8:30AM]

Just got mine from dynamism. I am using it now to type this. So far, I love the form factor (as you might expect). The processor is slower than we all now consider normal, but it is more than adequate for basic web/email uses. I have not yet been able to successfully play my i-tunes videos on it. I'm not sure if the geode can handle it, but I intend to find out. I upgraded to 1 gig ram.

[gadjitfreek @ Jan 7th 2007 7:46AM]

My Fujitsu P1510D is virtually identical in size, has an 8.9" screen (less bezel), runs a Pentium M at 1.2 GHz, a 60 GB hard drive and is truly a tablet PC. And the extended battery gives me 5-6 hours of run time. A little more money gets you a whole lot more computer.

[Seoulman @ Jan 20th 2007 2:08PM]

I looked at these in Yongsan, the big electronics market in Seoul, S.Korea, today. Cute! On the shelves now, 40GB was going for ₩700,000. 80GB version was ₩770,000. Pointer joystick was a little difficult to use. Seems there's a lot of wasted (could have been more screen!) space around the 7" screen. Had Xp installed.

[gord @ Feb 5th 2007 11:35AM]

"Fujitsu P1510D .... A little more money gets you a whole lot more computer."

I second that motion!

My P1510D is a true UMPC that is functioning as my main computer -- i make Access databases, websites, email, photo-art, small hobby videos, and anything else you'd do on a desktop.

It weighs only 2.7 lbs! I backpacked across Europe last summer and barely noticed I was carrying the P1510!