All Entries Tagged With: "Gigabyte"

Gigabyte M912M With Vista and OS X

GBM reader Hector Gomez has taken ownership of a Gigabyte M912M and has been putting the M912M through a variety of scenarios, even installing Mac OS X (which we don’t recommend due to license violations).  That said, it is quite cool to see a touch-based netbook running Mac OS X. Give his full review, along with pictures, a read here.

Overall I like the M912, its fast enough for everyday use of email, word, excel, and web browsing. I have been able to edit pictures with Adobe Photoshop Elements with no problem. The battery life so far is giving me 3 hrs with Wi-Fi on and with Wi-Fi off around 3.30 hrs. Compare to the SC3 which gives me 2.25 hrs with Wi-Fi on. I do have BT on most of the time. The M912 is very easy to upgrade if you like. You open the bottom panel and you have access to hard drive, memory (which I upgraded to 2GB) and the PCI slots for upgrading. One of the PCI slots is disabled from the M912 but you can still use it by typing PIN 20 from a 3g card or Wi-Fi card. The screen brightness is not as bright as my Kohjinsha SC3, and also the colors are not as rich as the SC3. But this is still good enough for a mobile device. It would have been nice if they would have added a hardware on/off switch for the Wi-Fi and BT. The hard drive it comes with is a 5400 RPM drive which is nice.

Touch Screen Mac OS X on a GigaByte M912

We’re seeing more and more mods of Netbooks using Mac OS X, but this is the first one I’ve seen that works with a touch screen. The Gigabyte M912 does come with a touch screen (see this Laptop Mag review) and it looks like it is working just fine with the hack. Thanks to jkkmobile for the link.

GigaByte MID Price and Config Changes Again

Uh, oh. Like everyone else we got excited last week when it looked like the price for the GigaByte M528 MID had finally come close ($685) to what we think MIDs should be sold for. Perhaps we were too soon in our glee. Steve “Chippy” Paine is reporting that we may all have been too anxious here.

Apparently that $685 price does not inlcude a 3G module making the M528 only usable with WiFi hotspots. It also looks like the US site for Expansys has removed the GigaByte M528 at the moment.

GigaByte M528 Now Available For Order on Expansys at $685

Well, this one has a few folks excited. The GigaByte M528 now has a real price of $684.99 and looks to be shipping soon from Expansys for US customers. The site says it can be ordered on request which I take to mean you plunk down your cash and you’ll get your hands on the GigaByte after Expansys does the dirty work of importing it for you. Ship date is listed on the UK site as September 17.

The price on this in early speculation has been all over the map (as high as $1131) so the below $700 price point is good news, given that last we heard was around $750. 

Via UMPCPortal

Laptop Magazine Mini-Review of the Gigabyte M912

Joanna Stern at Laptop Magazine has posted a mini-review of the GigaByte M912V ultra-portable (or whatever you want to call them). She finds some things she likes and some things she doesn’t, which I’m guessing is going to be a continuing theme as we see more and more of these small devices hit the market. She’s not a fan of the keyboard calling it a “throwback to an earlier generation of netbook” Keep in mind the M912 has a swivel screen that Tableteers are used to. She like the touchs creen but points out that since this unit shipped with Vista Basic she had to add third party software to take full advantage of touch on the device.

Check out the full review here.

In other GigaByte news, Engadget is reporting that a 10–inch version of the same device might be in the works that is running Intel’s dual core Atom 333 CPU. Keep in mind that dual core chip has been delayed until at least the end of the year.

Gigabyte M912V update: real for Asia & Europe only.

I recently spoke with a Gigabyte representative about requesting a demo unit of the upcoming M912V netbook tablet.  Unfortunately for our US readers, you’ll have to find alternative ways to get your hands on the M912V as it will not be released to the US market. 

The Gigabyte representative writes, "I am sorry, but this product will not be released in the US/Canada Market. It will only be available in Asia and Europe."  Bummer for those looking for a possible netbook with tablet potential.  Why is it that so many cool products are being developed but withheld from the US market?  Does this illustrate that there is less demand for these types of devices?  Vent your frustrations in the comments.

Read the original post here.

Gigabyte Netbook M912V becomes real.

As the netbook craze continues, Engadget is reporting news of Gigabyte’s upcoming netbook tablet.  PCLaunches.com tells us that the M912V will be available later this month and clock in at $699.  The M912V will have a touch screen, and will not simply be a netbook with a convertible screen as previously anticipated. 

The specs appear to follow the traditional netbook model, although it would be nice to see a little better battery life:

• Intel ® Atom 1.6GHz
• Genuine Microsoft Windows®XP, Genuine Microsoft Windows VISTA®Home Basic, Linux
• Chipset: Intel ® 945GSE
• Memory 1GB, HDD 160GB
• LCD: 8.9”LCD panel/WXGA 1280×768, w/Touch screen, LED Backlight, as 180° rotation angle
• HDD: 2.5", 9.5mm S-ATA HDD
• Optical Drive (optional) - External ODD by USB connection
• BlueTooth 2.0 built-in
• 1.3M pixel web camera
• 802.11b/g by mini-card
• Li-ion 4500mAh, Battery life 3.5 hrs
• Dimension: 235 x 180 x 28~42mm
• Weight: 1.3kg (include 2.5"HDD)

Read and see more at the official Gigabyte press release page. 

GigaByte M704 Video and Unboxing

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!

GigaByte M528 MID Pricing Set. Still Too High

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.

GigaByte M912 Swivel Screen Ultra-Portable

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 1280×768 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.

Josh Bancroft Checks Out MIDs

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.

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Video of the Gigabyte M528 MID

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

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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.

GigaByte M700 UMPC: What’s This? A Slate?

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, 1024×600 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.