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Samsung Phases Out 600 Mhz Q1 Ultra UMPC, Goes for Faster, Pricier Processor

Who's to blame? Windows Vista, who else!

Jun 11, 2007 11:00 GMT  ·  By
The Q1 Ultra UMPC from Samsung
   The Q1 Ultra UMPC from Samsung

Although UMPCs haven't really taken off so far, as their target market segment is not exactly a very wide one, it seems that manufacturers are trying to do their best in order to keep up with the market trends and demands. And a very good example of their commitment to development is the case of Samsung, who just canned its whole line of UMPCs fitted with 600MHz Intel A100 processors in favor of the more potent 800MHz A110 CPU.

The company announced back in early May its second line of UMPCs, which were going to sport a higher computing power than their predecessors and run Microsoft's Windows Vista. Back then, the people from Samsung announced that the models from the Q1 Ultra line would ship in mid to late May and released a price range of $799 - $1,499, depending on the particular features each of these devices had to offer.

However, the deadline has come and gone, and there was no sight of Samsung's new ultra-mobile portables. But things have now changed, as the people from DailyTech report, citing the posts published on the Origami forums. Thus, as you can see for yourselves on the Q1 UMPC website, the line's processors have been replaced with the 800MHz A110 model.

The sole reason for this movement is most likely that pesky Windows Vista Home Premium. As most users know, Microsoft's new OS is not exactly "resource-friendly", and the older, 600 MHz model probably simply couldn't cope with the huge computing requirements. After all, running Aero AND a bunch of other apps is not exactly a piece of cake, especially for a device with a relatively limited computing power, as the UMPCs are.

However, this move is not without consequences. Thus, the price tags for Q1 Ultra UMPC's lowest version have already gone up, the increase being of around 50-80 US dollars, which will most certainly represent yet another reason NOT to buy an UMPC (besides the already existing one, namely the fact that these things are more or less useless).

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