Samsung's Q1 Ultra released, starts at $799

Samsung's getting all cutesy on us by launching the new Q1 Ultra exactly a year after the Q1 first arrived on shelves May 7, 2006. Luckily for us, May 7, 2007 is looking to be a bit more exciting for the UMPC lovers among us, since Samsung has boosted the battery life to a "minimum" 4.5 hours, added an LED backlit 1024 x 600 screen and stuck plenty of wireless connectivity into the new unit. The split-QWERTY keyboard held up well in our initial, informal encounters, but that's the largest departure for the new device, and hopefully it does indeed mark an end to UMPC input woes. But despite all those spec enhancements, the best news is the price: Samsung's starting these out at $799, not cheap enough to start a revolution, but at least edging the UMPC away from its current luxury status.

[Jonathan Keim @ May 7th 2007 10:18AM]

This is a full PC right? And $799 isn't cheap enough :0

This is one very good looking device, if I had a need for one I would probably get one

[Parm @ May 7th 2007 10:28AM]

Can't wait! Hoping to get my hands on one of these, looks like a great piece of kit.

[robi @ May 7th 2007 10:32AM]

Om my god $799!!!

count me in

[Preston @ May 7th 2007 10:46AM]

I'd have to get my hands on one and see if it's really light and portable enough for my own use before I get one. The UMPC idea is great and I'm sure will eventually become a very common item, but I just am concerned about it's usefullness for the common user.

[_man1c_ @ May 7th 2007 11:00AM]

i want an umpc. maybe not particulary this one, but i do want one. the price is also getting close enough to the average consumer. i hope maybe in 08 these will be more common, and less. as in what everyone wanted/expected them to be. in the $599 price-range. once they hit that price-point ill def. try to pick one up.

[Daryl Herbert @ May 7th 2007 11:14AM]

The split keyboard looks like it would be very useful for gaming, especially console emulation.

[Dah Cheet @ May 7th 2007 11:19AM]

Any other finalized specs? That would be helpful. Link seems to be down.

[steve @ May 7th 2007 11:23AM]

If it has a 32 GB flash drive, I'd get it. But if it's just a 2.5" drive, then it's $200 overpriced

[Jeff Lewis @ May 7th 2007 11:43AM]

WHERE???? I want one NOW! This is the UMPC I've been waiting for - but it looked like it was going to come in at $1600. $800 is excellent.

[tiuk @ May 7th 2007 11:49AM]

If they could halve the price I'd be in. Even $600 I might consider. I know it's wishful thinking, but given time, who knows.

[blachole @ May 7th 2007 12:20PM]

Where can I buy one of these? I can't seem to find a site that has this new model.

[Eric Chiu @ May 7th 2007 12:27PM]

only if they don't use piano plastic finishing... enough fingerprints... aluminium pls. make it match my 15" macbook pro

[Mark Rich @ May 7th 2007 12:42PM]

Can someone please explain the point of the UMPC? It seems to me to be a solution waiting for a problem. The screen is too small to be useful as a laptop replacement and too large to replace a PDA.

[bob @ May 7th 2007 1:00PM]

why do you have to think in such narrow paradighms? theres a HUGE jump all the way from PDA screen sizes to notebooks . look at the trends.. pda screens are getting bigger and bigger and laptops are shriking in size , obviously this is what people want.

[Mark Rich @ May 7th 2007 1:07PM]

>>obviously this is what people want.

Is it? I remember this was a concept by Microsoft to see if PC's could be made into this format. Noone was shouting for this type of platform. All the areas one could use a UMPC for are already covered by established technologies such as PDA, Handheld games units, Tablet PC's and laptops. This isn't a technology the world was waiting for to fill a gap and until their release wasn't high on peoples wish lists; it's a design to create a micro PC because they can not because we needed it and to which for Joe Public has very little use.

[bob @ May 7th 2007 1:14PM]

well . I was waiting for it . I drive a lot and I was using 3 different devices because a laptop is too inconveniant to use. the potential in these devices is huge. the only reason they have not come sooner is because the technology was not there .
it wasnt microsoft that started it either. they only noticed the trend. there were already umpc's out on the market.

[Mark Rich @ May 7th 2007 1:32PM]

If it has a use then fair enough, however I can't help but see this a device born of marketting departments.

There still needs to be a killer app/reason/requirement for many in the street to need rather than want one.

[68newyorker @ May 7th 2007 1:26PM]

That price, layout and screen res just put these things on my radar. Might be time to scuttle my elderly Tosh m200 and grab one of these.

[bob @ May 7th 2007 2:00PM]

i think the killer app is already there , and thats the size. its early yet but i can see these things really evolving. i would have one of these in my house just to pass around to people when want to see a cinema listing . the dimensions seem perfect for watching movies or browsing the net and you arent limited to doing it at a desk . u can just take it int he kitchen, the sofa , pull it out when u need to fix or repair soemthing.

[ronkos @ May 7th 2007 1:47PM]

If you want to wait a couple more years, then yeah, I'm with you, but can you even buy a 32gb ssd for under $500? You could build your own with 2 16gb CF cards, but hey, that would still run you about $500. So I don't think you'll be seeing a UMPC with 32gb ssd for under $600 for quite a while.

[Basic @ May 7th 2007 1:49PM]

For me, it's about managing my network remotely, as well as being able to run the various specialty applications that we use over VPN. This would be much more convenient than a laptop, and a PDA, while it can remotely manage a network, is limited in the applications it can run. The biotech industry generally doesn't create PDA versions of it's applications...

[Landlocked @ May 7th 2007 2:22PM]

Who the heck has these in stock? I can find a Q1 P Ultimate Vista..but it doesn't have some of the specs like GPS, camera and 60 GB flash memory.

[nemi @ May 7th 2007 2:27PM]

ronkos. lol - you tempted fate.

16Gb CF Sandisk extreme III cards are now $110 after rebate....

:-)

[xplode @ May 7th 2007 2:36PM]

1: where can i get it?
2: can i get it with xp?

i quite liked the piano finish of the q1p...

[jillbert @ May 7th 2007 3:19PM]

It's perfect for me, but I can't find a store shelf that has one. Anyone know where it's available?

[Ivo @ May 7th 2007 4:03PM]

I hope this article is true and it can run (Ubuntu) Linux!

http://www.gadgetfriends.net/?q=umpc+ubuntu

[ScOObyDoo @ May 7th 2007 5:37PM]

It's a pretty fucking sad state of affairs when Samsung can make a fullblown UMPC for the same price Nokia charges for their high-end phone.

[Shinji @ May 7th 2007 6:29PM]

Common to all the models is 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, same screen, inputs, GPU, cameras, etc.

The differences are:

The 799 model has a Stealey A100 CPU 600MHz, 40GB HD, and XP Tablet

A 1199 model comes with a Stealey A110 CPU 800MHz, 60GB HD and Vista Home Premium

A 1499 model comes with a 80GB HD and a HSDPA modem

And a 1999 model comes with a 32GB SSD HD

http://www.gottabemobile.com/SamsungQ1UltraUMPCSpecsAndPricing.aspx

[nemi @ May 8th 2007 3:56PM]

The funny thing is the $799 one will run faster and have just as much free HD space as the 1119+ versions due to XP vs. VISTA ram and HD requirements.... lol.

[jesse calderon @ May 8th 2007 12:21AM]

These things are awesome... however they still don't have the price right. If they get the price to $500 they are going to sell a ton of them.

[joe @ May 8th 2007 1:08AM]

i want one!

[hoc.hoc @ May 11th 2007 6:50PM]

The design is smart. It provides comfortable keyboard access while not consuming too much of the valuable space in the device to host the keyboard.

With the price and Samsung's brandname, it means the competitors like OQO and Sony Vaio are going to have a very hard time. Let's see the dogfight in this red-ocean.

[marc @ May 19th 2007 6:08AM]

when is this baby comingout? $800 ....thats a steal. Sony sucks when it comes to pricing their products.