Medion ditches Intel for UMPC

 

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Posted on 19 Apr 2007 at 17:32

Medion has snubbed Intel's new ultramobile processor platform with the launch of its first UMPC.

The RIM 1000 will feature a VIA C7-M 770 ULV processor, 768MB of RAM and a 6.5in touchscreen. There's a 30GB hard disk, and future versions will "probably" have a solid state hard disk, according to Rick Munday, who handles product marketing for Medion. The device boasts 802.11b/g wireless and an integrated webcam, and Munday hinted that a future version may ship with a SIM card slot for HSDPA network access.

There's also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard; part of a growing trend in UMPCs. Samsung announced that it would be revamping its Q1 machine with a keyboard split on either side of the screen last month, and devices such as the Sony VAIO UX1 and VAIO VGN-UX50 have a similar slide design.

The VIA C7-M CPU runs at 1GHz, and while no claims were made about battery life, the chip's 5W thermal design power (TDP) should make the RIM 1000 more than a match for devices powered by Intel's new McCaslin CPUs, which have just over double the TDP at 12W.

The price for the RIM 1000 has been set at £799, which Munday claims makes it "one of the first [UMPCs] that will be affordable to the consumer", although the word "affordable" appears to be used strictly in relation to the rest of the UMPC market.

Medion also announced that it will be selling the RIM 1000 in a well-known but as-yet undisclosed supermarket, with Munday admitting that sales from such an outlet were hard to predict, saying "it will be a test for us."

Author: Dave Stevenson