Steve “chippy” Paine has been checking out the GigaByte M704 over the last few days and has provided an unboxing video along with a range of other thoughts. So far, chippy hasn’t  found a show stopper with the device and seems quite pleased. Finally we’re getting some info on this device, so Bravo, chippy!

UMPCPortal is reporting that GigaByte has set pricing and availability(at least in Taiwan) details on the M528 MID. The M528 will debut at $750, which if you ask me is still way to high for the MID space. That price does include a 3G option so you’ll need a contract with a carrier. This MID is scheduled to roll out in late July, again in Taiwan.

Again, I think $750 is too high for a device in this space. There’s confusion reigning about MIDs anyway and if the manufacturers don’t find a way to bring these in at a sub-$500 price point, I’m not sure how they will fare in a market of ultra-net-mini-sub-low-cost devices. There’s also that iPhone 3G thing at $199.

OK, it ought to be obvious by now, but my brain is swimming. As if the name game thing wasn’t crazy enough, comes this headline from good friend Steve “Chippy” Paine at UMPCPortal: GigaByte M912 Convertible Tablet. Bringing UMPC Features to the NetBook Market. UMPC? NetBook? Tablet? I’m starting to wonder if anybody can figure this out.

That said, the GigaByte M912 certainly looks intriguing with that swivel screen at 8.9 inches and a 1280x768 display. It is supposed to be running Intel’s Atom processor. But as Kevin Tofel points out there are some interesting things going on here regarding calling this a Tablet PC or for that matter a ULCPC. Microsoft’s plan to get their foot in the door in this wacky market is to offer XP (Home Edition) as the OS, but with a few catches.

• Screen size must be under 10.2 inches
• Hard drive size must be 80GB or lower.
• And no touch screens.

If you look at the specs on Engadget (and granted it is still early, as I don’t think this has been officially announced yet) you’ll see that the M912 fits the screen specs, doesn’t seem to have a qualifying HD option, and it does have a touch screen. So, I’m just asking here. What good does that swivel screen do if it isn’t a touch or Tablet PC screen?

And you wonder why I’m having a hard time keeping track of all of this.

I guess one of these days MIDs will leave the realm of trade show shiny objects and make it into the real world. But until then, quick video clips and trade show attendee comments are what we make do with. Josh Bancroft is over in China at the Intel Developer’s Forum and managed to check out the GigaByte MID.

The CeBit Boys, jkkmobile and Steve “Chippy” Paine give us another interesting video, this time of the GigaByte M528 MID.

In his post, Chippy talks a bit about the Moblin software platform and the focus that seems to be going on behind the scenes for these devices, which I find interesting.

Something is happening behind Intel's Atom branding that's more than just silicon development. There's a software infrastructure building that is big, financially supported and not far removed from the way Apple are doing things with the iPhone. The control is there. The guidelines are there. The restricted hardware set is there. The ISV process seems to be both accessible and well controlled and with 150 people working on the Moblin core and distribution through partners like Canonical and Asianux who are also working on optimisations and UI, you know there's some big numbers involved.

While I’m in the camp that says news from CeBit was mostly lackluster, GigaByte looks like they were one of the few companies to score some points with their upcoming products. Now if they can ever get to market, we’ll see just how much so.

Yesterday’s CeBit reports brought news and pictures of GigaByte’s M700 UMPC. And guess what, no keyboard. That’s right, a slate UMPC. Most thinking and most of what we’ve seen in the last several months had left those looking for keyboardless slates wanting, but if GigaByte can make the M700 UMPC go, at least there will be one choice on the market beyond the Asus models that offer a slate form factor.

From what I’ve seen the M700 comes with a 7 inch screen, 1024x600 display and 2GB of RAM. It’s running VIA’s 1.2Ghx C7–M CPU, has two webcams, GPS, and a Wi-Max capable Express Card slot, and weighs in at 1.43 pounds. No word on pricing and availablity that I have found yet.