All right, folks, it looks like we've got ourselves a competition here.
Just when we thought the Viliv N5 would be crowned king of the clamshell MIDs and the lowly UMID BZ would be sentenced to a life of servitude, an all-white special edition of the BZ appears with specs that give the N5 some serious competition.
Dubbed the UMID mbook SE, the device one-ups the original BZ with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 802.11n. Carried over from the older unit are the 32GB SSD and Windows XP Home operating system, though the full list of specifications (below) is careful note that "Windows 7 Driver Support" is included.
There mbook SE doesn't appear on UMID's website yet, but an online retailer in Korea is already selling the device for 698,000 SKW, which works out to about $574. Availability outside of Korea is currently unknown.
Viliv N5 or UMID SE? Viliv N5 or UMID SE? Which one are you getting?
Thanks, Maxwell!
Compared to N5, like the Z530 1.6GHz (N5=Z520 1.3 GHz), WiFi n and above all VGA out.
But: build quality?, cheap white plastic??, not fully migrated to Win 7 …
I think I’ll buy the N5 for it’s build quality then regret not having the premium version of the N5 if/when that comes out with video out, 64GB SSD and maybe faster cpu too
The battery seems to be higher capacity too at 2800mah compared to the current 2600mah.
$574 is a pretty good price. The Viliv N5 is already predicted to be 700++ with a slower CPU and no VGA out which is a deal breaker for some.
The UMID BZ quality is actually not bad and an all white version might even have better build quality.
Have you tried the current UMID BZ. It is a very decent machine. Only exception is the 512MB RAM deficiency which this version seems to address. XP Home is fine for me.
10 year old OS? Pass…
Wish they had an all-black version!
Well, whichever company comes out in black and greater than 1.33 GHz CPU in the US will be the one I’ll buy.
Actually for something which has only 1GB RAM, XP is perfect. The OS is not important. The Applications are. It doesn’t matter what OS they run on. Windows 7 still can’t touch XP when it comes to resource utilization.
Disappointed there’s no 3G HSPA. How come the first gen M1 had 3G while its successor the BZ didn’t? Now the even newer version comes with no 3G… and in white! Cheap plastic white!
What’s even more frustrating is knowing that in a few months there will be a better N5 with 64 SSD & multi-I/O port. A newer BZ will probably come black and with all the goodies too.
I can’t play the waiting game forever. N5 it is.
Well, I have the M1 and the BZ and find it great, if I can find this SE I’ll buy it instead of the N5.
I’d like a black one. Why is UMID going back to a cheap looking white. Looks like something a 5 year old would use. Too bad the gray BZ also looks pretty toy like but it’s better than white.
I’d like my toys to ummm not look like toys.
N5 is too little for too much and too late. UMID was bound to do something like this to upset the apple cart. I will probably wait until a 64 GB version of the N5 is available on Newegg before I take the plunge…maybe sometime this winter.
I heard Viliv should have the premium version of the N5 out by January 2012, for only $999
If they take that long to release it, sadly they will have come too late. Umid’s already offering that equivalent soon, and the likely hood of selling a niche market a very similar product twice is very small.
Considering the fact that win7 takes up roughly two thirds of the hard drive in these just for the OS, I think having XP take up <5gigs would be a godsend. This won’t be an issue if you have a 64GB SSD however.
I’d rather have XP over 7 on a unit like this, but 2 gigs of ram would really make this shine. I know it can do decently with 1 gig on XP, but there’s no reason not to have 2 in this day and age.
One reason for there only being 1gig of ram is it requires less power and thus has more battery life. Also the more ram a machine has, the longer it takes (in my experience) to come back from hibernation etc, which is used by a lot of mobile devices.
I was actually being a bit sarcastic, hence the “smiley wink” at the end. I think Viliv has already missed its window of opportunity with the N5, especially with me, and I no longer have any interest in it.
Since it’s taken Viliv nearly 7 months to release the N5, which looked identical and ready to go at CES this past January, any future versions will probably take just as long.
I dont care if its Win 7 or Win XP. On a small device like this i just want it to be fast.
I have an Mbook BZ (Bought a month ago !) so its frustrating they now announce this. I’m very happy with the BZ, granted i wish it was a fraction faster but i love the battery life, connecting it to my large TV and the weight of this device.
Hope this new BZ is a big success
I’ll be getting neither. The N5 is too much money for what you get. The SE looks like a cheap toy and has an awkward mouse placement.
Pocketable laptop form factors are going to cost a large premium. I have not seen the build quality on the new SE’s. Hoping they have made some revisions in that aspect however.