Sony Vaio P or Fujitsu LifeBook UH900?

The Sony Vaio P is a tiny little computer. The Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 is also a tiny little computer. So which one is better?

If you're a fan of tablet computers and touch screens, then the UH900 is the obvious winner. However, neither device is "perfect" in my opinion. If you're a busy health care professional and you're looking for a tiny little computer that you can put in your purse or glove compartment, then either of these will suffice.

Unfortunately, these novel computers are not priced like netbooks. However, let's hope that prices will come down as more competition arises. I'm not sure that I'd buy a clamshell computer if I want something really small. I currently have both an OQO model 02 and a Samsung Q1 Ultra, so I've experienced the mini tablet, the slider QWERTY, and everything in the middle.

Installing Windows 7 on my Samsung UMPC

I spent some time last night installing Windows 7 on my Samsung Q1 Ultra which is an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC). This tiny little tablet computer came with Windows Vista or XP Tablet. I've mainly been running XP but I've also been using Windows 7 RC (release candidate - build 7100) on this machine. Now, I'm in the process of reloading all my applications so that I can test the RTM (release to manufacturing) version of Windows 7.

I'm eager to see how Windows 7 performs on this device. Win7 RC worked fairly well. It was certainly much better compared to Vista. I'm hoping that Windows 7 with all its tablet-friendly features will motivate more physicians to start leveraging the tablet computer for its touch screen. I still see so many health care professionals using convertible tablets as laptops. Pick up the pen and use the screen, not the keyboard!

What's the best feature of Windows 7?

To me, the best feature of Windows 7 is the rapid boot time. On my Lenovo Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC (which originally came with Windows Vista), I get to the log-in screen in 50 seconds from a cold boot! Then it only takes another 10 seconds for the desktop to appear. These are amazing boot-up times! Win7 has many other nice features, but I think this is an amazing improvement. Like Vista, the resuming from sleep is instantaneous. Resuming from hibernate takes only 25 seconds!

Here are the specs on my Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC:

• Intel Core 2 Duo CPU L9400 running @1.86GHz
• Processor score of 5.2 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 4 GB of RAM
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM (imagine what would happen if you had an SSD!)
  

So, I repeated this experiment on an older machine. I took an HP dv1550 laptop that is a few years old. This machine originally came with Windows XP. Here are the specs:

• Intel Pentium M processor running @1.60GHz
• Processor score of 3.0 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 2 GB of RAM
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 4200 RPM
  

The cold boot time was 1 min 10 sec (before I saw the desktop). I am very impressed at how well Win7 runs on older machines.

I finally ran this experiment on my Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC (ultra-mobile PC). This guy has a really slow processor (800 MHz). Here are the specs:

• Intel processor running @800MHz (roughly 1/2 the speed of the old HP above)
  
• Processor score of 1.5 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 2 GB of RAM (yes, I upgraded the RAM to 2 GB)
  
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 4200 RPM

Cold boot to desktop was 55 seconds! I've also installed it on a few older desktops and the cold startup times all seem to be very similar - roughly around 60 seconds. Way to go Microsoft!

Windows 7 Build 7100 Running Fine

So far, so good. I've been running Windows 7 build 7100 (yes, this is the Release Candidate version) on my Samsung Q1 Ultra and it feels just like build 7077. In fact, I don't know what they fixed between build 7077 and 7100. I'm guessing that they are minor tweaks and adjustments. I'm still toying with the idea of installing Windows 7 on my OQO. My OQO used to have Vista Business, but then I replaced it with XP. If OQO releases drivers for Windows 7, then I think I'll make the switch at that point.

The Samsung Q1EX-71G UMPC

The Samsung Q1 was one of the first tablet-design ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) that was part of the Microsoft Origami campaign. Then, Samsung came out with the Q1 Ultra UMPC (to confuse people with the naming convention). The Q1 Ultra was also called the Q1U and had a BlackBerry-style keyboard on the front of the device. The buttons were so small that most people couldn't use it, so then they started asking, "what's the point of this the tiny keyboard?" To maximize battery life, Samsung used a very slow processor in the Q1 Ultra.

Since the Q1 Ultra was so slow, Samsung created the Q1 Ultra Premium (once again, the naming convention was to confuse consumers and healthcare professionals who use tablet computers). This model was called the Q1UP. Are you keeping up? We have the Q1, the Q1U, and now the Q1UP. Keep in mind that these are all considered ultra-mobile PCs (or UMPCs), so the "U" for "ultra" gets redundant if you're calling it the Q1 Ultra Ultra-mobile PC.

The Q1UP looked almost identical to the Q1 Ultra, but it was thicker and the tiny keyboard buttons were a bit larger and were placed in a slanted position. This device was overpriced and still underpowered.

The latest Samsung Q1model is the Q1EX-71G (or Q1EX for short). This model is a simple slate with no buttons or keys on the front. So in some ways, Samsung has almost made a complete circle with their Q1 line of ultra-mobile PCs. Now, if this naming convention isn't confusing, then what is?

Testing Windows 7 RC (build 7100)

Someone provided me with a copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100), so I decided that I'd try it out on my Samsung Q1 Ultra (UMPC) tablet. Build 7077 worked really well, so I'm sure that build 7100 will be fine. I've got the whole weekend to reinstall all the applications! Fun, fun fun...

The later builds of Windows 7 are much faster on my slow Q1 Ultra. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that this runs as efficiently as XP if I disable all the eye candy. It's definitely faster than Vista!

I've also been thinking about installing Windows 7 on my OQO model 02. I hope OQO releases drivers for Windows 7 before they close their shop. I'm currently running XP on my OQO and it's working fine, so I'm not in a rush to make changes on it yet.

Will Windows 7 be the next dominant operating system for heatlhcare professionals? Since you can run XP within Windows 7 (in a virtual environment), I think people will be fine using Windows 7.

Windows 7 Build 7077 on the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC

This is my next project: Windows 7 Build 7077 on my Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. This build 7077 is rumored to become the RC or Release Candidate version of Windows 7. The last time I installed Windows 7 on my Q1 Ultra, I was not impressed by the results. However, now that Microsoft has had a chance to fix some bugs, clean the code, and make some improvements, I'm willing to give it another try.

The future of medicine relys advances in technology such as mobile computers, UMPCs, gadgets, and other devices. It's exciting to see how the world of medicine is changing because of technology.

Windows 7 Build 7077 Runs Well on the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC

I'm happy to report that Windows 7 (build 7077) actually runs quite well on the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC (or Q1U, for those who like to differentiate them from the original Samsung Q1). I had tested a few of the earlier builds on my device and they did not work well at all. Somehow, the engineers at Microsoft have refined Windows 7 so that it actually runs fairly well on a slow machine that has an 800 MHz processor. I've been pleasantly surprised by Windows 7, so I've removed the Vista partition on my device and I've replaced it with Windows 7. I still have XP as a backup, but over the next few weeks I'll be mainly using Windows 7 to see how well it works on my mini tablet device.