Samsung Q1 ultramobile PC

Pros: Small, powerful, full windows (not WM), compact flash, 60 gb hard disk, vista

Cons: battery lasts 2.5 hours. 4-5 hours is possible with extended battery. detachable keyboard should be included

Summary: My model came with 1gb of RAM, 1Ghz Pentium ULV and Windows Vista Premium.

I won't review the vista features here, but needless to say its a major step up from XP, especially for portable computers.

Its interesting to read the CNET review which totally misses the point of this device. It is neither trying to compete with mobile phones, or fully featured laptops. The review reminds me of the panning 'bill & teds excellent' adventure got when it came out. it was then a cult success. Although the Q1 won't be mega-selling, there is every evidence that the UMPC concept is taking off and the Q1 sales have been over Samsung's original target.

Firstly this device is small and light. The difference between this and a laptop means that you would actually bother to carry this about in a backpack. It weighs less then my camera ....

The connections are nice. the compact flash is useful for backing up my DSLR pictures on holiday and additionally can be used as a supplementary solid state hard disk (16 gb is very affordable now and 32gb is available soon).

The twin USB ports and external display are built in, which is a step over the Sony UX which requires the docking port.

The screen display is 800x480. If would have been nice to be a bit higher. But to be honest its the right balance for reading text and fantastic to watch video as 480 vertical video compressions take up less space then full DVD but usefully fill the whole screen without scaling up.

I bought a micro keyboard (ASK-3100) for $29 which is useful for entering text.

The wifi and bluetooth work well and its nice to have microphone and speakers built in.

To be honest the only thing I would add are a 6 cell battery in the case and samsung should chuck in the keyboard free for the $1199 I paid. Will a price fo $799 I reckon this would sell like hot cakes.