Samsung has officially launched its Q1 Ultra-Mobile PC in the United States. The device is scheduled to appear in Best Buy and "other retail outlets" for $1,099 on May 7. PC Mag has a short review of the device, which weighs just 1.7lbs and features a 7" 800x480 display, a Celeron M 353 ULV processor running at 900MHz, 512MB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive.

The Q1 is good for writing short e-mails without getting frustrated, but longer assignments are much harder, since, in practice, the side of my hand constantly hit the touch screen, causing the mouse cursor to fly off-target. Another alternative is to use Fortune Fountain's DialKeys software-a translucent virtual thumb board located on the lower corners of the screen. This comes preinstalled and works responsively, but it takes a while to get used to. Attaching a USB keyboard to either of the Q1's two full-size USB ports is probably your best bet. The unit also has built-in Bluetooth, so you can opt for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

The Q1 does a great job of keeping the base of the unit cool against both hands. Below the scroll button is an Auto Scaler button, handy for toggling the screen from 800-by-600 to 1,024-by-600 resolutions. You can connect to an external display via the integrated VGA port, using a handy Auto Scaler button . This is useful because when you move from a 7-inch screen to a larger display, you have to change the resolution to make it fit, most external displays are in the 4:3 aspect ratio. That's where the 800-by-600 resolution comes in. Although 1,024�by-600 is handier for 16:9 displays, the higher resolutions are good at making everything thing fit into a 7 inch screen. Alternatively, if an application is too big for the screen, you can make it fill in better by using a higher resolution. There are four programmable quick-launch keys arranged in a wheel. They can be customized to launch any application or keyboard effect, such as Internet Explorer, a Ctrl+Alt+Del command, the Print Screen function, and as a browser Back button. Further down, you'll find an Enter button and a key that launches a virtual control panel.