USmart's MC-1 claims 'world's smallest' title, certainly wins over our hearts

Some people have soft spots for puppies and panda bears; we have them for tiny laptops. Claiming to be the world's smallest computer, USmart's 4.8-inch MC-1 is about the size of a man's wallet yet manages to pack the guts of a netbook. That's right in that tiny little chassis is a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage. What it doesn't have is some sort of fan; when we put the little guy in our hand it was quite toasty. Wondering how in the world one would navigate Windows XP on such a small screen? Like the 4.8-inch UMID MBook BZ, it has a resistive touchscreen and comes with a stylus, but USmart will also sell an external touchpad / keyboard combo that's bound to be more comfortable. We're strongly questioning the practicality of this $300 device and its title of "world's smallest computer," but can you really argue with something so adorable? How about you tell us after checking out the video after the break.

USmart's MC-1 hands-on

[tylersmyler Posted Mar 4th 2010 8:14PM]

@benchun
wow, I thought OQO went out of business..
guess they are back

[GGG Posted Mar 5th 2010 12:08PM]

@benchun

It costs $300, it doesn't have to be better than the OQO.

[nikescar Posted Mar 4th 2010 8:10PM]

I'm using that touchpad/keyboard combo for my HTPC. It's build is pretty cheap but has been working fine. If only the keys stuck up above the case a little more it would be perfect.

link:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1311&_nkw=htpc+keyboard&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[kgwd Posted Mar 4th 2010 8:30PM]

I like and dislike at the same time. I really like its size, since it makes it a truly portable computer, but at the same time, it would be a pain to use for certain tasks. For example, I program on my netbook. I could not see myself trying to do so on a computer like that. But i can definitely see a market for this.

[blake101jbe Posted Mar 4th 2010 8:43PM]

Hey a matte screen. Awesome. I wish I had one of those. (hint hint Apple).

[DDragon Posted Mar 4th 2010 9:18PM]

It's a pocket dictionary killer.

[dragonfli Posted Mar 4th 2010 9:52PM]

Shoehorn in either a USB 3G modem with voice or an internal 3G/voice modem and I'm sold for this as my next smartbook/phone/whatever they want to call it next.

[Nemo4 Posted Mar 4th 2010 10:13PM]

So they can fit all that in a 5" netbook. Why can't the 10" netbooks fit the Ion GPU in with twice the footprint?

[tonyprince Posted Mar 4th 2010 11:18PM]

i actually have that external piece of shit keyboard. it sucks and broke a month later. its so clunky, its hard to press the buttons because its deep and it is just an overall cheap product made in China.

[artshark Posted Mar 5th 2010 12:16AM]

does that external mouse/kb look like an OLD blackberry to no one else?

[FADE Posted Mar 5th 2010 1:12AM]

NAS means never having to say I don't have room

[edceljohn Posted Mar 5th 2010 3:57AM]

Where is the spacebar?

[danielr2006 Posted Mar 5th 2010 4:31AM]

crazy ! ! !

look at this item !

http://www.geekozor.com/usmart-mc1-ordinateur-portable-nain.html

[kenjennings Posted Mar 5th 2010 9:08AM]

None of the years-old Sharp Zaurus qualify as smallest computer? My C860 runs a native C compiler. It has a 10G compact flash installed, enough for 18 movies with room to spare. I've been using it as a video ipod for years.

[DoctarPeppar Posted Mar 5th 2010 10:18AM]

I'm sorry but if I ever saw someone using this piece of crap I'd laugh histerically..

[GGG Posted Mar 5th 2010 12:10PM]

wow, that price is incredible, it costs half as much as my smartphone and it runs a desktop OS


DO WANT

[Jourdy288 Posted Mar 5th 2010 12:57PM]

Pretty cool, but the OS is on the SD card, which means two things:
A. You can swap Operating Systems, and
B. You need to suck up card space for an OS...
Advantage and disadvantage.

[Veacross Posted Mar 6th 2010 9:35AM]

Oh man basically a smartbook for a netbook price! Do want!