Samsung to update UMPCs in early 2009

Samsung expects to refresh its ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) lineup by the start of next year, the company's chief research engineer Jeongseon Euh has said in an interview published today. The developer offers few details but expects both a design refresh and a performance upgrade to be ready sometime in early 2009. The update is close enough that it could come towards the very start of the year.

"We'd expect to see a version ready in time for January's [Consumer Electronics Show]," Euh says, referring to the Las Vegas-based show that has played home to the launches of the Q1 Ultra Premium and earlier models.

The most likely upgrades are likely to revolve around the processor. At present, the Q1 Ultra Premium uses a 1.33GHz Core Solo but is under pressure to improve both performance to aid Windows Vista as well as to increase battery life. Intel is set to improve both speed and longevity with 45 nanometer low-voltage chips that would fit inside a UMPC such as the Q1 Ultra and will start shipping them in September, ahead of the Q1's replacement. Samsung hasn't discussed the possibility of using the Intel Atom in a smaller platform.

Filed under: computers, gadgets
Other story tags: Intel, Samsung, UMPC