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Samsung goes via VIA for latest UMPC
November 15, 2006
The Ultra Mobile PC that was launched to a lukewarm reception by Microsoft, Intel and Samsung six months ago is back with Version 2.0 of this new category.
Rather embarrassingly for Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker and champion of power-efficient processors is now missing from the triumvirate.
Samsung has replaced its original Q1, which was criticised for its poor battery performance and high price, with the Q1b. It has also subsituted Intel’s original processor with one from its much smaller x86 rival VIA.
VIA is currently proudly showing the Q1b around town. It points out its processor has enabled battery life to be doubled from two hours to four hours, despite a 30 per cent increase in screen brightness, and the Q1b’s price has been dropped $200 to a more affordable $900.
Intel has more than 1,000 engineers working on the UMPC concept so to drop the ball and allow tiny VIA to step in shows they are going to have to work a lot harder.
While there are other manufacturers of UMPCs, Samsung’s Q1 has been the flagship product of the category.
Intel is expected to announce more partners at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but VIA says it will have several announcments as well.
With AMD not featuring in this segment yet, the Intel goliath has another "David" to deal with in UMPCs.
Chris Nuttall, San Francisco
