Gigabyte M912V- 8.9 inch Tablet PC for $699
The mini-notebook space is heating up with the first Tablet-capable gadget getting ready for release. The Gigabyte M912V was first announced earlier this year at Computex and according to PCLaunches should be released this month for only $699. This price is higher than most mini-notebooks but the M912V is the first 8.9-inch notebook with a touchscreen that swivels to form a convertible notebook. There’s no real information about how well that touchscreen will perform as a Tablet PC but at that price point it might be worth trying to see. The M912V sports the Atom processor and fairly decent specs for a sub-$700 notebook:
- Atom 1.6GHz processor
- Intel 945GSE chipset
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- 160GB HDD
- 8.9”LCD panel/WXGA 1280×768, w/Touch screen, LED Backlight, as 180° rotation angle
- 80 key keyboard
- 3x usb ports, dual 1.5 watt speakers
- 1.3mp webcam
- Bluetooth, 802.11b/g wireless
- Li-ion 4500mAh, Battery life 3.5 hrs
- Windows XP, Vista Home Basic or Linux
I should point out that the Vista option is the only one that will provide full Tablet PC support so if that’s what you’re after then be sure and get the Vista model. I’m pretty sure that will bump the price up somewhat.
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WHOA, holy crap Batman where did this thing come from? this is pretty much exactly what ive been looking for, a cheap alternative to the P16xx series. i thought this market space was only going to be comprised of mini laptops, had no idea mini convertibles were on the way too.
convertible & 1280 x 768 (finally another 1 besides HP), where do i sign up?! Windows XP + that 2.5″ HDD bay (7200RPM for me) should really get some nice performance out of this thing.
i have a big powerful primary laptop for all my heavy computing but was looking for a small secondary PC. so last year i was looking at getting a P16xx series but then this cheap/mini laptop craze exploded. so i thought i would sacrifice tablet functionality & just get a EEE/Wind/2133 instead just to save money. now i dont have to do that & can have the best of both worlds!
i am stunned by this as well, but i do see a couple problems.
why only offer XP & Vista Basic? there is no XP Tablet or Vista Home Premium & up? why not at least offer it for those people willing to pay a little more? … does Vista Basic even have all Tablet implementation?
that battery looks pretty pathetic, would most definitely have to buy another 1.
i dont get why when a manufacture comes so close to perfection they fall short in a couple critical areas that would be quite easy to fix for those of us willing to pay a little extra.
Correction – Vista Home Basic does NOT have Tablet PC features. It’s the only version of Vista that doesn’t. Which brings to mind the question – what good is the touchscreen with the OS software offered?
Michael
I was looking into buying a HP mini, but I haven’t done so since it is using a Via(yeah I know prejudices…). I cannot understand why all those netbook are using those crappy 1024*600 Displays.
Anyway at since I live in happy euroland where an EEEPC 900 costs 400€ I can afford those extra 50€ for the Gigabyte^^ even though there might be additional shipping costs…
You’re all right, Vista Basic does not include the tablet bits so this thing is only a touch-screen notebook at the base level. Perhaps they will end up offering a Vista Business or above option.
The price has been removed from Gigabyte web posts.
I have to say that if you take a look back at this from a technical-philosophical point of view, if this product is the harbinger of things to come we could be seeing a radical change in the way that information is created, consumed and shared. We are just a small stone’s throw from the slate computers of Star Trek. Couple a Tablet PC that is usable and affordable with the ability to work in the cloud (thanks for the example Kevin) you have a whole new way of working with colleagues and clients. Work and projects become much more “connected”. I know we have seen the future coming with notebook prices falling, but I can see how an affordable Tablet would be a much more accepted tool to use in the business environment. As a CPA I can see how a client of mine would react much more positively to my scribbling away with a stylus versus typing on a keyboard with a screen that cuts me off from their view.
Just my point of view
Yeah, I’ve heard of this. I’d like to see some reviews. Even if it’s not inkable/HWR, that twist screen has its advantages for web browsing and ebooks. And that 160GB HD sounds niiiice.
nice, cant believe i am just now hearing of this. guess thats what i get for visiting jkontherun more than other sites, other people have been blogging about it for over a month. IMO, this is the kind of stuff jkontherun should be writing about instead of those goofy little PDA software articles Kevin seems so fond of.
here are some positive hands-on impressions with video
http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-on-with-the-gigabyte-m912