New Samsung Q1 versions: one with flash drive and one with Via C7-M?!?

CNET UK confirms what Samsung previously announced: a flash-based version of the Q1 UMPC is definitely coming. The NT-Q1–SSD will store data on a 32 GB flash drive which speeds up read/write times, has no moving parts and will help in the juice department as well. I’ve been contemplating a swap of my Q1 hard drive for a flash drive, but to this point, I’ve only found 16 GB flash drives and the price was as much as the original Q1 itself! (Don’t worry, I’m still watching and waiting… )

News indicates another Q1 version coming; this one will be the Q1b and most interesting are the updates: a 60 GB drive, a gig of RAM (you can do this yourself on the current model), and….Via’s C7–M processor. The CPU difference actually surprises me since folks were hearing that Samsung would be going with an AMD processor. Isn’t this the CPU that is contributing to battery life issues on the eo? Battery issues were fixed during the eo recall...which gives promise to this new Q1 model! (Thanks, Steve!)

(via Ultranauts)

Comments

[Steve Paine]

"Isn’t this the CPU that is contributing to battery life issues on the eo?"

No. Its the CPU that is on the eo that *had* the design problems. (now solved)
The VIA processor wasn't responsible for the battery life issues on the eo.

Just had to put that one straight!

Cheers
Steve.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Good to hear Steve! I haven't been watching the eo news as closely I should; thanks for the update!

[Bob Russell]

So is this new processor one of the new low-power chips that is going to bring us both lower prices and better battery life?
(Or is it the AMD chip similar to the current Q1 versions?)

As far as cost for a flash drive, you can get a 4gig SD card for ~$80 in single quantities, so maybe they could put together 8 of them for a 32gig drive at the cost of about $400 or less wholesale, plus enclosure costs to combine them. That would still be small enough, wouldn't it?

But I thought flash cards had limited read/write cycles before they fail. Wouldn't that be a problem for use as a main hard drive?

[jk]

I believe that the M-7 Via processor is the new one that ships in the DualCor. It runs at 1.5 GHz and is faster than the one used in the eo.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Tough to say as detailed specs aren't readily available. The eo V7110 uses a 1.0 GHz Via C7-M processor. According to Via's C7-M product page, the chip is capable of clock cycles between 1.0 and 2.0 GHz. 2 would be nice... ;) See: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7-m/