The Deep Blue H1 mini notebook had an early mover advantage in the UMPC market but it seems it wasn’t able to hold its ground against the newcomers. Let’s check out and see if this unit would have made a good competitor to the Asus Eee PC 701 series.
Blue Digital Systems went with a Via processor with the H1 — a 1.0GHz Via C7-M. It also has 1GB of RAM pre-installed and a 40GB HDD. In my 7-inch UMPC Rounds-Up last April, the Blue H1 came out on top as the cheapest and feature-packed among the four. (See unboxing pics here.)
Many claimed though that the Via C7-M processor was no match for the Celeron 900MHz. Of course, I had to test this myself. Using SuperPi, it took 48 secs. on the Celeron 900MHz and 7 mins. 26 secs. on the Via C7-M to run 1M digits. Either Via CPUs are too slow or they’re not built for floating point calculations (my guess is the latter).
The Blue H1 has a compact built though the battery pack is protruding from its back side. Like many other 7-inch laptops, the screen real estate is barely enough and with a body that’s 9.5″ wide, the screen’s 6″ horizontal width seems a bit small which made you think the space was under-utilized. It’s a little heavier than my Asus Eee PC but that’s because of the extra weight from the HDD (1.2kg).
The trackpad looks a bit small but after measuring, it’s actually the same size as that of the Asus Eee PC (1.75″ x 1.25″). The distinctive left and right click buttons helps for easier navigation. And while the keyboard size and orientation is the same, the Blue H1 has more space for palm rest which makes it easier to touch type.
The 0.3 MP webcam sits on top of the screen but it’s a little distracting to see the text that states “Digital Camera” beside it, in bold all-caps print.
The Blue H1 is cooler (less hot) too, maybe because of the low-power Via and the good ventilation at the bottom (there were 4 grill slots in there).
The default OS is Window XP and is quite responsive despite the low SuperPi results. It’s complete in connectivity too — 2 USB ports, 1 LAN, 1 modem, a 4-in-1 card reader and WiFi 802.11 b/g.
Over-all, this is a good 1st generation UMPC and could have easily surpassed the Eee PC 701 had it been marketed properly. It’s also 15% cheaper than most UMPCsd when it first came out. If Blue Systems can drop the current price down to Php9,995 today (compared to the 701′s Php13k curent price tag), I’m sure people will find it a good great bargain.
i bought one last feb 14….i was impressed of its capability, esp the batt life….i think this is more ok than that of Eee PC mini notebook, besides it is less expensive than the latter…..
can anybody give suggestions on other possible applications to be installed (useful)for Blue H1 without affecting much to its capability…..thanks..and more power to yuga!
by the way…truth to tell the one i bought was already 60g HDD (on same price huh!) instead of original 40g….it’s the one i’m using whenever i visited Samal Island (beach hopping….lol)… bought it at PC-EXPRESS, Market market, Global City..
which one is better po ba this one or astone? im from butuan city and im looking for sellers online that will sell these products with windows xp na. if you guys have info please share:) thanks a lot
hi yuga… can you pls help me on what is the best umpc… im choosing from astone, blue h1 and packard bell… from which all umpc price are all the same… and im planning to buy one asap… tnx n advance….
Hi dave! Go with the Blue H1. Proven and tested among the 3 you mentioned.
ei yuga!
im caught in the middle! looking for the best UPMC for school,work and gaming/videos,top choices are Astone and Deep Blue H1,but i cant decide what to get,do they both play DVD’s?
pls help…cyd rodriguez
ei yuga,
Astone and H1,can they play DVD’s?
tnx
tnx yuga… just got blue h1 and its working fine.
Hello. Ask ko lang po if you have any problem turning a blue h1 laptop. I bought 1 last november and so far wala namang problema but when i sold it just yesterday, the buyer keep on complaining it won’t turn on not until nakaplug ang adapter. So far naman, with my experience, wala namang problema about turning on. So after daw fully charging, it won’t turn on not until isasaksak ulit ang adpater to the power source. May I ask what’s really the problem here? Or may may mali lang sa process ng pagturn on or pag gamit?
Please help.
Thank you so much.
please let me know if you are selling your Blue H1 laptop, i’m interested to buy.thanks
Hello po. I sold it already. Yun nga the buyer keep on complaining na it won’t start if it is fully charged not unless the adapter is still plugged. I haven’t really experience this before. By the way, its Os is XP professional. Anyone having trouble turning on your blue laptop after charging, please share your thoughts about this. Thanks!
Hi. My husband installed XP professional over linux. Meron din Corel Draw, encarta 2008, torrent, office 2003. Very nice laptop but too small screen plus i cant play Pet society there due to super low flash player.
Hi people, I’m selling Blue H1 units. It’s selling like pancakes!!! Much lesser price compared to other stores. for more info, call or text 0917.822.3696 / 0923.2700.186
hey lexis_tech! how much lower with XP os? plan to buy one for my wife…best buy with budget! thanks
hello guys…
my blue h1 is perfect for my research work…
from linpus i changed to xp then… currently am using vista…
with vista os…. it is as fast as when i was using linpus…. vista makes my blue faster operationally than when it was xp pa….
and am using ms office 2007 na…. much faster na sya ksa sa 2003 ko dati….
so i kept my on vista…
ang galing pa nga dahil sa S3 video controller i use my old computer monitor as an extension display…
parang i have two different computers in one…
further more with my virtual machine… parang i have 5 computers operating in one… can even have 5 yahoo messenger online at the same time….
super galing…
i have a lide 100 canon scanner… i just scan the journals i need from the library… no need to photocopy… with the dual monitor capability i can read, cut and paste while typing the main manuscript….
during presentations… by changing the primary monitor settings i can easily read the manuscript from my laptop while presenting using multimedia projector…. and a handy presenter…
super galing and all for a price of Php 9995
hi… lexis how much for the H1…OS–>>windows XP, plus ms office
Sir yuga Interested po ako bumili ng Blue H1. please help me naman to buy para maka discount. Thanks po. Please email me po.
this thing is really really slow..
My personal experience with it.
Sobrang bagal; is it just me or as in ang tagal mag respond nito even slower than my cousin’s very old sempron 900mhz with 700mb+ ram desktop.
Ginamit ko sa MS-Powerpoint for a group project.
Pag press ko ng play slideshow, ang tagal magrespond; then while playing, slow motion or rather very laggy.
I only used it for a few hours coz sa classmate ko ito so hindi ko na i-test any further and I wasn’t able to tweak the system but my first impression of it is very slow. Btw, I tested this more 5 months ago. Also, since di akin yung notebook, chances are maaring mas mabilis pa pla to if tweaked.
However, yung 4-4.5 battery life is tempting. Kung aus naman ang playback ng 200-300mb HD mkv, then ayos na rin siguro to. Otherwise, yung Asus with N280 kaso more than 2x yung price nun.
where can i buy this now (june 2009)?
thanks.
oh, may i know where i can buy this? i need one asap. :(
buy first gen eeepc. lots of support at eeeuser.com.
iv tried h1, its fast if only linpus.
hi guys no complains with my blue h1 been with me na for almost a year. still functioning as it should. running on windows flp. office 2007. happy with it so far and very useful for my school work. microsoft one note is very useful tool too!
good afternoon, in terms of durability and performance combined, alin ang mas okay? kasi im willing to buy an external hard disk to compensate for the small memory of the eee pc as long as it performs better all around…what can you say guys? maraming salamat sa mga magrerespond. God bless. :D
where can you buu the notebook at the price of Php9995?