Solid-state ultra-mobile PC goes on sale

A solid-state version of the Samsung Q1 ultra-mobile PC is to go on sale in the UK late this month – though it will be only available online.

It replaces the usual hard-disk with 32GB of flash memory and is the first mobile PC with no moving parts ever to be available in the mainstream market.

This makes it a double first for the Q1, which was also the first ultra-mobile built to Microsoft's Origami spec to be generally available. The model is being sold exclusively by Expansys .

The solid-state version will cost £1,399 - £600 more than the entry-level Q1. This is not expensive by the standards of ruggedised computers.

Samsung is also bringing out a Q1b model in October which uses Via's C7-M processor, and slightly improved disk space and Ram: 60-byte hard disk and 1GB of Ram. It will cost £899.

Dinesh Chand, product manager of Samsung's mobile computing division, said there are no immediate plans to bring out a more powerful models using the latest dual-core processors.

Samsung is also fitting HSDPA wireless broadband modules to its latest mobiles, capable of connecting at up to 1.8Mbits/sec. T-Mobile already offers HSDPA with its 3G services, and operator 3 is about to roll out similar services.

Among models using it is the new Q40, a slimline conventional notebook. It has a Sim card slot on the base.