Samsung’s Origami ultra mobile PC has rivals

Samsung stole the limelight at the start of Cebit when Microsoft and Intel helped launch its ground-breaking Q1 ultra-mobile PC.

But it is not the only model at the show to be based on Microsoft’s Origami specification (you can a 360° view of the Samsung product here).

Asus showed a 960 gram model called R2H, for which prices will start at just $700 when it launches later this year – and that could include a built-in TV. The R2H, like the cheaper of the Q1 models, uses a low-voltage Celeron.

Concerns that these first models would not have the legs to cope gracefully with the extra overhead of the Tablet PC interface seem unfounded. We tried handwriting recognition on a Q1 running a 900MHz Celeron and it was not noticeably sluggish.

Though how it would cope with several more than one app going at once is another matter. The Q1 has array mikes, which should allow owners to use it without a separate mic for speech recognition. That too would strain these first-generation processors.

These dissipate about five watts, which is about the limit for this type of machine. But Christian Morales, vice-president of Intel Europe, pointed out that his company planned to reduce this consumption to half a watt, while increasing performance by 28 per cent with future generations of its processors.

One Origami model on show did not use an Intel processor. Amtek, a small Taiwanese company, is using a 1GHz Via C7M NaNo processor. According to a spokesman, Microsoft asked the company to use a Via to ensure that not all models run on Intel.

This model, which would probably be rebranded if sold in the West, has a target street price of around $800.

Street prices will be higher for the first wave of ultra mobile PCs, but as the format becomes mainstream, this Cebit could be seen in retrospect to have been a watershed in computing.

You can read more on Origami in our Test Bed blog.