Samsung Q1 in the buff!

Brace yourselves, because this isn’t pretty. It’s one thing to have an unboxing video of the Samsung Q1, but viewing the UMPC stark naked is a whole ‘nother matter. In fact, just to keep it clean for those under 18, I’ve only put a thumbnail pic here; a virtual UMPC peep-show if you will. Assuming you’re of age, you’ll have to click the jump for the full thrill ride.

Why is the Samsung Q1 in the raw, you ask? Well, for one thing, I have a very bad habit of wondering how things are engineered. After all, we’re talking about a full-fledged Windows XP machine in the size of just a hard drive some eight years back. It’s downright scary when you think of it that way, no? Another reason to crack the case: Samsung states that the Q1 can handle up to a gig of RAM, although it’s currently only available in a 512 MB configuration. Since Kingston’s memory configurator now shows the Samsung Q1 for a 1 GB SODIMM module, I had to see how difficult it would be to upgrade.

OK, if you clicked to get here and can read this, don’t say I didn’t warn you. For the technically squeamish, you might want to turn your heads now. Here’s the guts of the Sammy:

I only had to remove six tiny little screws to see this X-rated view. In the pic, you can see how tightly packed the whole contraption is; it appears that there are actually two circuit boards in the unit; one on top of the other. You can clearly see the 40 GB hard drive in the upper left, the wireless module under that, the 512 MB SODIMM RAM module in the middle, and Intel chip and the fan on the right.

Looks like this will be a snap to upgrade to 1 GB for folks that choose to do so. I’m not sure what Samsung will charge for a 1 GB Q1, but the prices I’ve found for the 1 GB module are in the $145 to $185 range. Of course, since this is a single slot, the 512 MB module becomes worthless to the Q1.

Since you made it this far in our peep show, we’ll leave you with a full, in-the-buff view of both the bottom and the top half of the unassembled Q1, along with the battery as an added bonus. This Q1 will be appearing at Hef’s mansion later this month; we’re under negotiations for a centerfold spot.

-kct

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