UltraMobilePc
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Viliv, UMPC and MID proponent, reportedly exiting the ultramobile game
Last we heard from Viliv, one of the OGs of the MID and UMPC world, it was throwing its hat in the tablet arena with a pair of Android slates and a Wintel slab at CES. Now, rumor has it, the company is prepping to close up shop and make a graceful exit from a market segment it helped pioneer. This is according to sources talking to UMPC Portal, but there have been other clues. The manufacturer was conspicuously absent from Computex in June and, when we reached out to its PR line, our emails we're bounced back as undeliverable. We're not quite ready to start digging Viliv's digital grave just yet but, in the face of competition from the likes of Samsung and Apple, we'd say the writing is on the wall.
VIA announces VX700 chipset for UMPCs
Hinted at last month by Microsoft, chip maker VIA has officially announced its VX700 chipset for Ultra Mobile PCs (otherwise known as UMPCs, in case you've been living in a cave) which promises to allow for smaller-sized devices with a much needed boost in battery life. In fact, VIA says devices could potentially be 40% smaller, although they haven't said exactly what the power savings will be in real-world terms. Based around VIA's C7-M and C7-M ULV processors, the 35-millimeter square chipset packs in VIA's UniChrome Pro graphics core and Vinyl HD Audio controller, along with support for DDR2 memory (up to 4GB), two each of either SATA 150 or SATA II devices, six USB 2.0 ports, four PCI slots, and one EIDE channel for up to two devices. It's only just going into mass production sometime this quarter, though, so it'll still be a while yet before we actually see any real world products -- Vistagami, anyone?[Via The Inquirer]
C1's not-a-UMPC UMPC
When's a UMPC not a UMPC? When it's a Micro PC, like the Vaio UX. But when's a UMPC a UMPC... that's not a UMPC? Well, C1 claims to be one, but from what we understand it's not running Tablet with Touch Pack -- just XP -- so while you're getting a very small 2.6 pound 1.6-inch thick device with a 1GHz Via Eden, 80GB drive, 1GB DDR RAM, 8.4-inch SVGA display, PC slot, 3-hour battery, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, and Ethernet, what you're not getting is an ultramobile PC / Origami / whatever you want to call it. But if those otherwise decent specs weren't enough to convince you of this $1,900 US device's merit outside the UMPC space, peep all those feature logos. Audio recording, MP3 playback, and freakin' 360° rotation, dude! This thing is so obviously an EUMPC; hells yes that E is for "extreme."[Via TabletPCBuzz and JKOTR]
Samsung Q1 UMPC to go on sale May 7th for $1,100
At a San Francisco press briefing and product demonstration that hopefully went better than its disastrous Korean counterpart last month, executives from Samsung, Microsoft, and Intel jointly announced pricing and availability details for the official U.S. release of the Q1 UMPC. Starting on May 7th, early-adopters will be able to pick up a Q1 -- along with all the high-profit-margin accessories -- at Best Buy's e-tail location for $1,100, with an in-store rollout planned for "later this summer." As you're probably already aware, the Q1, along with models from Asus, Founder, and TabletKiosk, is among the first generation of so-called Ultra Mobile PCs designed to enhance your on-the-go lifestyle, and sports a 7-inch touchscreen, Celeron M ULV processor, 40GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0.
