Deep Blue H1 Mini Notebook Review

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief August 12, 2008 · 3 min read

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Ang Deep Blue H1 na mini notebook ay may maagong pakinabang sa UMPC market ngunit tila hindi nito nakapagpatuloy ang posisyon nito laban sa mga bagong dumating. Tignan natin kung maaari bang maging magandang kalaban ito sa Asus Eee PC 701 series.

Ang Blue Digital Systems ay gumamit ng processor na Via sa H1 -- isang 1.0GHz Via C7-M. Mayroon din itong 1GB RAM na naka-install nang pre-installed at isang 40GB HDD. Sa aking 7-inch UMPC Rounds-Up noong nakaraang Abril, ang Blue H1 ay lumabas bilang pinakamura at puno ng mga katangian sa pagitan ng apat na modelo. (Tingnan ang mga larawan sa unboxing dito.)

Blue H1 Notebook

Marami ang nagsasabing ang processor na Via C7-M ay walang katumbas sa Celeron 900MHz. Siyempre, kailangan kong subukan ito mismo. Gamit ang SuperPi, 48 segundong ginamitan ng Celeron 900MHz at 7 minuto at 26 segundong Via C7-M para makagawa ng 1M na digit. Masyadong mabagal ang mga CPU na Via o kaya ay hindi ito nakadisenyo para sa floating point calculations (ang aking hula ay ang huli).

Blue H1

Ang trackpad ay mukhang medyo maliit ngunit pagkatuklas, katumbas lang ito sa sukat ng Asus Eee PC (1.75" x 1.25"). Ang natatanging mga buton para sa kaliwa at kanang click ay nakakatulong para mas madaling mag-navigate. At habang ang sukat at orientasyon ng keyboard ay pareho, mayroong mas maraming espasyo ang Blue H1 para sa palm rest na nagpapahusay sa pag-type gamit ang mga daliri.

Deep Blue H1

Ang Blue H1 ay mas malamig (mas hindi mainit) din, baka dahil sa low-power na Via at ang magandang bentilasyon sa ibaba (may apat na butas ng grilya doon).

Ang default na OS ay Windows XP at napakaresponsibo nito kahit mababa ang SuperPi results. Kumpleto rin ito sa connectivity -- mayroon itong 2 USB ports, 1 LAN, 1 modem, isang 4-in-1 card reader, at WiFi 802.11 b/g.

Kabuuang, ito ay isang magandang unang henerasyong UMPC at madali nating maipapalago ang Eee PC 701 kung mabuti itong ipinagbenta. Ito rin ay 15% mas murá kumpara sa karamihan ng mga UMPC noong una itong lumabas. Kung magpapababa ang Blue Systems ng kasalukuyang presyo hanggang Php9,995 ngayon (kumpara sa Php13k na kasalukuyang presyo ng 701), sigurado akong makikita ng mga tao na ito ay isang magandang napakagandang deal.

What processor does the Deep Blue H1 mini notebook use?

The Deep Blue H1 uses a 1.0GHz Via C7-M processor.

How does the Via C7-M processor compare to the Celeron 900MHz in SuperPi?

The Celeron 900MHz completed 1M digits in 48 seconds, while the Via C7-M took 7 minutes 26 seconds.

What is the weight of the Deep Blue H1?

The Deep Blue H1 weighs 1.2kg, which is heavier than the Asus Eee PC due to the HDD.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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242 Comments

lhez · 17 years ago

I recently installed XP professional SP2 and im having problems configuring the video card, ive already installed the latest adobe flash player. java and direct x but when i browse the internet the pictures wont appear, plus if what Mr. Client said that he was able to adjust the resolution to 1024Ã—768 can somebody help me do that, i’ve been to different websites (s3graphics, via, etc.) but i still cant the correct driver for me to adjust the resolution, I cant even run dinner dash which is a low resolution game..! can someone pls. help… tnx!

Jesmon · 17 years ago

Anybody here where I can buy blue h1 keyboard? I’ll appreciate any info regarding this. thanks!

anton · 17 years ago

where can you buu the notebook at the price of Php9995?

benj · 17 years ago

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

mark b. · 17 years ago

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!

niko · 17 years ago

buy first gen eeepc. lots of support at eeeuser.com.
iv tried h1, its fast if only linpus.

daphne · 17 years ago

oh, may i know where i can buy this? i need one asap. :(

amor_malaya · 17 years ago

where can i buy this now (june 2009)?

thanks.

Anonymouse · 17 years ago

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.

jampfong · 17 years ago

this thing is really really slow..

punkypaige · 17 years ago

Sir yuga Interested po ako bumili ng Blue H1. please help me naman to buy para maka discount. Thanks po. Please email me po.

joan · 17 years ago

hi… lexis how much for the H1…OS–>>windows XP, plus ms office

carlo · 17 years ago

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

jolly_nong · 17 years ago

hey lexis_tech! how much lower with XP os? plan to buy one for my wife…best buy with budget! thanks

lexis_tech · 17 years ago

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******* / 0923.2700.186

Lynn · 17 years ago

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.

Lynn · 17 years ago

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!

fran · 17 years ago

please let me know if you are selling your Blue H1 laptop, i’m interested to buy.thanks

Lynn · 17 years ago

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.

dave · 17 years ago

tnx yuga… just got blue h1 and its working fine.

Cyd · 17 years ago

ei yuga,

Astone and H1,can they play DVD’s?

tnx

Cyd · 17 years ago

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

dave · 17 years ago

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….

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 17 years ago

Hi dave! Go with the Blue H1. Proven and tested among the 3 you mentioned.

dee · 17 years ago

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

edwinz · 17 years ago

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..

edwinz · 17 years ago

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!

edwinz · 17 years ago

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…..

elian · 18 years ago

hi yuga.i just want to know if this is the cheapest laptop you know that a student like me can afford to buy.
tnx in advanz

Ike · 18 years ago

Hi guys! i’m choosing between the h1 or the astone. I like astone coz of its 60G HDD and VIA C7-M 1.2GHz plus touchscreen
but i like the fact that h1 has better ventilation and longer batt life( i think its 1hr better than astone). And I’m worrying about astone getting too hot after an 1hr or so.

What i really need is umpc that can support XP or Vista, Photoshop, Surfing, Office and a snappy performance. I know both can support my basic needs but weight, batt life, durability would be a plus. Both are now in the same price range so i really don’t know what to get.

I’m leaning more towards the astone model hoping that it would be be faster in performance than the h1 but i might be wrong. So i’d like to hear the comments from other users of both models first before i buy one.

mark b. · 18 years ago

@ clowee

you need to have a external disk drive so you can reformat it via windows xp or windows FLP which is more recommended. its just like reformatting your desktop. :)

clowee · 18 years ago

just want to ask how to reformat this Deep Blue H1? i got linpus linux…just want to change the OS to windows XP…

doms · 18 years ago

I just bought one as my christmas gift to mysel last December 19. :)

mark b. · 18 years ago

@ Zack

The true capacity of the memory of the blue h1 is 1024MB the thing is it has a shared memory with the video so if you are using 64MB of video the RAM that will be displayed is 960MB instead of the full 1024MB so technically it still has 1.024GB of RAM :) hope this helps.

Zack · 18 years ago

Regards with the blue H1… Since the unit is running 1GB of RAM on it, how come in the system properties shows 960MB of RAM. Could someone explain it to me? It should said there 1GB instead 960MB

mon · 18 years ago

Hi Yuga,

I’m planning to buy a UMPC.
Can u help me decide on choosing the right device for me. In terms of specs, affordability and reliability.
Where can i find the best deals and when is the right time to get one. Are there ones coming out w/ better specs i hope i can read it on your reviews before I purchase one.

Here are some devices from your reviews that im planning to chose from:
1.BLUE H1 vs
2.ASUS EEEPC 4G
3.NEO X1
4.ASTONE
Prices at 10k bracket.

Thanks! and More Power!

RDD · 18 years ago

@yuga, in you opinion, which among H1 and Astone is better in terms of features given that both are priced the same at P9995.

Thanks.

RDD · 18 years ago

@MPS, you might want to check your windows display setting first. Normally, if the display setting is not compatible with the software installed in the projector, it will not normally work. This also happen for laptops as well.

MPS · 18 years ago

I recently bought this cute UMPC with windows XP. However I can’t get my projector to work on it’s VGA out, tried pressing fn f3, but it won’t switch from H1 LCD to my projector, however if i restart it, while booting it’s view is on my projector, but before it logs on to windows, it’s view returns on my H1 LCD. I also tried using an ordinary VGA Monitor and I got same results. Can somebody help me?

Mark · 18 years ago

wow this worth it planning on getting a new umpc would this be worth it?

Mark · 18 years ago

Love this Blue H1, very compact and lightweight. the performance is satisfying considering its size. The battery life is as truthful as published (4 – 4.5 hours). always watch movies on it. and i seldom turn it off. all in all its a UMPC that gives you value for your money. :)

TMR · 18 years ago

I am very interested in a small device like this as a backup and side kick at work. Can anyone tell me how I can purchase one from here in the United States?

I would greatly appreciate your advice.

Clint · 18 years ago

Hi yuga,

I have a blue h1 which I bought at PC Express, and to date, I’m loving it (I installed XP Home). Yes, it is slow at floating point calculations (as expected of a via), but nevertheless, if you don’t use applications for it extensively, you’ll get along pretty fine.

I sometimes use it as a secondary work laptop – when I don’t like to tug along my 12″ laptop. In fact, I installed Dreamweaver CS3 on it for my work and it works pretty fine (especially when I’m on the go and need to do emergency work). I use the generic via v800 graphics driver from via arena to get 800×600 (and even 1024×768) on the small LCD screen. As a side

@shing – you can play xvid/divx/mpeg/mpeg2 videos quite fine. H264 videos can play, but not really well (it stutters from time to time), which is expected as H264 videos require lots of CPU juice.

Also, if you’re into linux stuff, you may want to check this out. It even shows how to use the hardware encryption capabilities of the via processor – quite good info on the h1 capabilities.

http://www.a110wiki.de/wiki/Main_Page

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 18 years ago

No, I return them back. The review units are passed on to other journalists and bloggers. If someone is interested to buy them, maybe I can get them a discount from the manufacturer.

Phaw · 18 years ago

That’s cool. So after testing them, is it yours already? If yes, are you selling them for a discounted price? :D

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 18 years ago

@shing, this unit might fit you well for that budget.

@phaw, some of them I buy on my own if I can’t source it. Otherwise, companies regularly send me test units to review.

Phaw · 18 years ago

Just curious Yuga, did you buy all this stuff just to test it?

Phaw
http://www.phawville.com/blog

shing · 18 years ago

hi! I’m scouting for small, cheap, and very workable laptops…I might get myself one for my birthday December), and my only requirements are that they can work with the basic Office Suite, Play Multimedia files, etc. I teach/do seminars, and a portable laptop for basic grade computing, editing, and presentations would be nice. My bigger one can be the stay-at home and file storage. What would be your suggestion if my budget is 15K or lower? Where can I get one?

Thanks much!

Lucien Dominick G. Tiojanco · 18 years ago

Blue should re-release this model with an 8.9″ 1024*600 LCD, a VIA VX800 chipset (instead of the the ULV chipset – VX800u), and a VIA Nano 1.2/1.3 Ghz processor (which should be as powerful, if not more powerful, than Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz)

Oh, and check this out guys -> http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1540/intel_atom_vs_via_nano_platform_comparo/index.html

It’s another comparison between Intel Atom and Via Nano. And yes, I just love under dogs. :-D