Cebit 07: Samsung Q1 Ultra uses new McCaslin platform

The new version of Samsung's Q1 Ultra ultra-mobile PC (see our Test Bed blog ) shown at Cebit today uses a new Intel low-voltage platform codenamed McCaslin, built round a chip called Steeley.

The name of the processor was left off the Samsung specifications, but Intel’s EMEA general manager Christian Morales let it slip when pressed by journalists.

The reason for the secrecy is unclear, because McCaslin was discussed, albeit with few details, at the Intel Developers Conference last autumn.

Steeley is single core and the Q1 version clocks at a relatively slow 800MHz, but the performance appears as crisp as you’d expect on a faster chip. The platform whizzes through Windows Vista’s 3D application scroller, which crawls on many faster-clocking notebooks.

Bill Mitchell, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for mobile and tailored platforms, said after the launch that we can expect to see a number of McCaslin-based tablets from a variety of manufacturers launched around the middle of the year.

The Q1 Ultra does have a fan but Mitchell said McCaslin is designed to be fanless for some tasks. “I’ve seen the chip running and you can actually touch it without being burned,” he said.

Morales described McCaslin as another generation of Intel’s Centrino mobile platform.

Samsung vice-president HS Kim dodged a question about whether the Q1 product would use Intel chips exclusively. "It is a Samsung product," he said guardedly. Some models of the Q1 have used Via C7 processors.

Comment: Getting shirty about the Q1 Ultra's mini-qwerty