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GCN Home > 10/06/08 issue

Moving pictures, on the move

Samsung takes ultraportables in a multimedia direction

By John Breeden II

THE WORLD OF ultraportable computers continues to evolve, and the Samsung Q1U-CMXP offers one direction that might appeal to some users, though certainly not to everyone.

The problem with portable computers is that as things get smaller, features also tend to dwindle. You are never going to have as many features or as much raw power in an ultraportable as you will in, say, a desktop-replacement laptop PC. So the questions become which features should be preserved in an ultraportable design and what is the cost in other areas.

The Q1U-CMXP puts an emphasis on multimedia applications with its big seven-inch LCD screen and HD-quality audio. It’s a svelte 0.93 inches thick by 8.98 inches long by 4.88 inches wide. It only weighs 1.52 pounds. We must admit that we enjoyed our time with the Q1U-CMXP, although its emphasis on multimedia comes at the expense of other areas.

The most notable deficiency was processor performance, which started to show when using large programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and even Excel. The 800 MHz Intel Ultra Mobile Processor A110, backed by 1G of RAM, was huffing and puffing to try to run some applications. To a lesser extent, the input devices on the Q1U-CMXP were a little difficult to use, though this could get easier once you got used to the interface.

It was difficult to get past the slow processor. With a score of 104.6 on the Passmark Performance Benchmarks, it was the lowest rating of any device ever tested by the lab using this method and below even other ultraportable systems. For example, the Itronix GoBook MR-1 scored 190.6 and was visibly faster. Even simple tasks seemed to take the Q1UCMXP a long time. Opening the control panel took between four and 10 seconds from the time you clicked, depending on what else the system was doing at the time. Opening a simple Word file sometimes took more than 10 seconds, although everything seemed to work fine after that.

But at least it did not refuse to run anything. Our test unit came with Windows XP Tablet edition, though one slightly higher model, the Q1UP-V, ships with Vista Business. Regardless, you have a full operating system that can run multiple Windows programs without restrictions.

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