Samsung said to be prepping lower cost, education-minded Q1 Ultra

Samsung's already busted out a handful of different Q1 Ultra models, but it looks like it's now come up with yet another variation to throw out there, this one aimed at the education market. According to Pocket-lint, Samsung is dishing out this latest incarnation in order to compete with Asus' upcoming 9-inch, Windows-based Eee PC, although it's not quite going head-to-head with it in terms of price, with this particular model apparently set to demand £399 (or just over $800) when it hits the UK next month (no word on a release 'round these parts). While complete specs are still a bit light at the moment, the new Q1 will apparently drop the spiffy dual camera and cut back on the hard drive to keep the cost down.

[zomg0t @ Mar 17th 2008 2:56PM]

I meant to rank you up but accidently hit the negative button. I'm sure this mistake happens a lot, so if your comment becomes the lowest ranked, please don't take it the wrong way. ;)

[enzo @ Mar 17th 2008 2:57PM]

It's about time...

[teamshred @ Mar 17th 2008 3:09PM]

I have a Q1 Ultra, trust me it doesn't need less power. The thing is already underpowered.

[huh @ Mar 17th 2008 3:24PM]

Underpowered, and the camera quality is awful, and the keyboard is awful, and the LEDs are annoying in use, and countless other faults I happily forgot about when I sold my Q1U. Nice try, but an utter failure, except maybe as a travel photo storage/movie viewing machine with poor battery life. A really low quality choice to give to students.

[teamshred @ Mar 17th 2008 3:32PM]

I really just use mine in the car, so it's not that bad.

[huh @ Mar 17th 2008 4:02PM]

Absolutely, teamshred, for specific uses it's not bad, but for handing to students as a generic "computer," as much as I love the idea of a device as a do all communicator, computer, media capture/player, it's a horrible choice, because it does none of these things very well.

[Jeff Lewis @ Mar 17th 2008 10:45PM]

I dunno - I've had one since last October - the Q1-V - and it's fine. I don't expect it to be a laptop replacement - I expect it to be a superPDA and that it does magnificently. It runs MapPoint well and connects to my bluetooth GPS with no problems. It plays video fine. I've even run Visual Studio on it (although I wouldn't recommend that...) and this is all under Vista with full Aero.

Maybe you have unrealistic or inappropriate expectations?

[NG @ Mar 17th 2008 3:28PM]

Just got myself a R2H...

[frankXchange @ Mar 17th 2008 4:58PM]

...and?

[NG @ Mar 17th 2008 6:37PM]

should have waited

maybe i will sell my kidney for this next month

[Matt @ Mar 17th 2008 4:46PM]

If the shift just had better battery life, it could surpass the Q1U. But for now the Q1U is the best umpc out there.

[E71 @ Mar 17th 2008 4:56PM]

What do you mean Doom isn't educational?

[OneLove @ Mar 17th 2008 4:56PM]

I got mine to play crysis

[dvdivx @ Mar 17th 2008 6:25PM]

Play and slideshow are two different things.

[geognerd @ Mar 17th 2008 5:44PM]

I can see these getting beat to hell by kids.

[Virtuous @ Mar 17th 2008 6:03PM]

I'm glad the schools in the US aren't falling for Samsung's tricks. To get a Vista Q1 to run at an acceptable speed you need to clean install Vista to remove the crapware and even some of Samsung's own utilities. You can install more memory, but you probably void the warranty and have to practically disassemble the thing. To top it off Samsung never bothered to fix the Wifi 100% processor utilization bug. This bug slows down the Q1U to a crawl.

[OneLove @ Mar 17th 2008 6:23PM]

I have 2GB installed and it runs vista home premium "ok". Thats with a fresh OS install and basic crapware. I tried using a tv tuner (with media center) but the slow hard drive, processor and DVR functionality made the video stutter. I assume if I turn off the dvr service it might improve or just use the tv tuner application. Anywayz I am sure this thing runs fast with XP.

[Podaman @ Mar 17th 2008 6:58PM]

I have a Q1U running XP. Works OK at browsing the internet from the crapper and watching movies on my side in bed.

BUT, it really needs larger back-lit keys and a faster processor.

The Zero Weight Keyboard is better than the actual buttons:

http://www.freshnet8.com/

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Mar 17th 2008 9:59PM]

What are those buttons near the top on the left and right sides? They look frighteningly keyboardish...

[Jason @ Mar 17th 2008 10:25PM]

Those tiny keyboard buttons were placed at both corners so users can type with their thumbs like they do on cell phones. It sounds like a great idea until you actually try that thing. Those keys are too small, too cramped, and very uncomfortable to use.

[Jeff Lewis @ Mar 17th 2008 10:57PM]

Ok. Some points.

First, if you shop around, you can get the low end Q1U for under $800 NOW.

In terms of power, this is NOT a desktop or even a laptop replacement. I think people who complain about it being underpowered are simply not getting what it's intended to be used for.

It's meant to be a lightweight computer that you can carry literally everywhere and use it for lightweight tasks like surfing, email, video and so on. It does these things quite well. Think of it as a PDA on steroids rather than an underpowered laptop.

But what makes it different from PDAs is that it's running full Windows and can run most Windows apps - so you don't have to compromise with WinCE's cut down OS. More importantly, it's running *Tablet PC* (or Vista which has that included). The entire design is that it's a very small tablet PC and you're supposed to use the SCREEN for writing and keyboarding.

I've never understood people who get upset about the thumbboard keyboard because it's only there to fill in - it's not supposed to be the main way you enter data. If you MUST have a full keyboard - either pick up a compact BT one (oddly - Apple's new Wireless keyboard is a good choice), or get a real laptop - but don't blame the Q1U if you bought it with the wrong use intention.

As for power - well, mine is running Vista with full Aero and it's fine. Hardly the fastest computer I've used, but it gets the job done. To get more performance out of it, you'd have to bump the CPU speed and that would kill the battery life. The Q1 Ultra Premium increases the CPU to 1.33GHz and compensates by making the battery larger and upping the weight from 1.5lb to almost 2.0lbs. I prefer it at 1.5lbs, thank you.

[Armen @ Mar 18th 2008 10:14PM]

I own a Q1U-XP for about 3 months and I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I use it for reading news and internet surfing. I nestle back in the armchair with my feet up :) I've had maybe around 16, 17 Firefox tabs (and some other in IE) open at the same time and it handles it smoothly. Remember that this device for sure is not a desktop replacement, I use my laptop for emailing and other things that require more typing. Though there is a full-size USB keyboard available for it. I've ordered it but haven't opened it yet so I can't tell you about texting on it. But I find the little split-keyboard extremely practical, almost a necessity when (most of the times in my case) holding the device with two hands. I've used and been ok with the split keyboard for:
- short-cuts like Ctr-D, (I've activated Sticky-keys) Ctrl-W, Ctrl-F, Ctrl-S, Ctrl-N etc
- entering search text in google or for searching in a page
- entering id/passwords for websites
- creating/renaming folders/files.

So if you need to enter a lot of text get the USB keyboard or get a laptop (if you need a big screen). But if you read a lot of e-material and don't want to be chained to your desk then this is a good product. I've never tried to do anything demanding on it, because obviously my laptop is a better choice for that. And i love the 'grab and drag' plugin for Firefox :) lovely, smart implementation!