Gigabyte's M912 mini convertible tablet gets priced

Gigabyte's M912 has remained largely in the shadows since peeking its head out in early June, but now we're finally getting a hint as to how much coin we'll be forced to lay down in order to acquire one. Based on information from a Taiwanese poster over at UMPC Fever, the M912V, which arrives with Windows Vista, 1GB of RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth, should cost around $656. The WinXP-based M912X will reportedly check in at around $620, while the M912M arrives with a lower resolution display (1,024 x 600 versus 1,280 x 768 on the other two) and no Bluetooth for $556. Take all of this with a tablespoon of salt for now, but at least you've got a general frame of reference to work with as you plan out which netbook to squeeze into your gadget portfolio.

[Thanks, YpoCaramel]

[Kao @ Jul 20th 2008 11:54PM]

i still want one

[Kao @ Jul 20th 2008 11:57PM]

i still want one

[Jon Doe. @ Jul 20th 2008 11:57PM]

People need to STOP putting Vista on systems with less then 1.5GB of RAM. I've tried it. Even after tweaking services it still sucks. With the price of RAM now a days, esp the type that is in these systems, there is NO reason not to drop 2GB in there beyond the time it takes to write the hibernation file to disk.

[Pochi @ Jul 21st 2008 12:25AM]

This is like when console developers put in like, 4MB of RAM and just let the developers deal with it (I mean you, N64). Or what did the PlayStation have... like 2? For God's sake, it's such an integral part of the whole machine. JUST SHELL OUT SOME BUCKS AND DO IT

[TareX @ Jul 21st 2008 12:38AM]

Maybe, but having Vista's handwriting recognition capabilities is an absolute must in a mini-convertible tablet.

[Linkman2004 @ Jul 21st 2008 12:39AM]

Nonsense! Call me crazy, but I was actually running Vista on 512MB of RAM(with Aero, no less) up until I upgraded to 1.25GB. Sure, it wasn't the fastest experience, but it didn't exactly chug, either.

[Pochi @ Jul 21st 2008 1:00AM]

@Linkman2004

Calling total shenanigans on that.

[BigD145 @ Jul 21st 2008 2:33AM]

@TareX
You mean, XP Tablet edition doesn't do handwriting recognition?

[greg @ Jul 21st 2008 2:49AM]

I'm running vista with aero on a 1gb of ram and I have absolutely had no problem.

[Joe H @ Jul 21st 2008 3:57AM]

BigD... Vista's handwriting recognition is far superior to that of XP.

[Joe H @ Jul 21st 2008 4:00AM]

Oh, and I also ran Vista with 512 MB of RAM and Aero at one point, and agree entirely with the above poster's comments about it.

For those who don't believe me, in RC1 of Vista I believe it was, Aero worked fine with 512MB RAM, no modifications. In the subsequent preview build, there was an artificial restriction set where you needed 1GB or more. Through some registry hack I believe it was, I was able to remove the restriction again. However, the machine was long overdue for more RAM (and as mentioned, it was a little sluggish with that little RAM), so I upgraded it to 2GB.

[roach @ Jul 21st 2008 12:34PM]

Whatcha talkin bout Willis!
One of my laptop with Vista and 1 GB of works just fine.

[YpoCaramel @ Jul 21st 2008 12:23AM]

This is the image of the actual advertisement. It was buried the thread:
http://www.umpcfever.com/news/?postid=1059

[lukas88 @ Jul 21st 2008 12:25AM]

To quote the lady in Napoleon Dynamite when uncle Rico shows her the model pirate ship:

"I want that"

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jul 21st 2008 12:40AM]

At $556, it sure looks like an eeePC killer to me.

[Mike @ Jul 21st 2008 1:25AM]

give me an option for 2 gigs of ram, and its mine

[manimal @ Jul 21st 2008 1:03AM]

I wonder how well the new Ubuntu umpc distro will handle on this, I could see this being a nice replacement for my first gen eeepc..

[silverblackvoid @ Jul 21st 2008 1:09AM]

i think this convertible is awesome. now why cant Dell produce something like this?

[philos.bonacci @ Jul 21st 2008 1:10AM]

more tablet netbooks please, I recall drooling on my first Zaurus SL-C1000.

[milklok @ Jul 21st 2008 1:25AM]

I think the poster UMPCfever is a Hong Kong guy instead of Taiwan guy because UMPCfever is run by Hong Kong (Chinese) people.

[alex @ Jul 21st 2008 11:03AM]

"UMPCfever is run by Hong Kong (Chinese) people"

Errrrr Taiwanese aren't "Chinese?"

[bot @ Jul 21st 2008 1:28AM]

Man, I'm so bummed that alot of these netbooks are using HDDs instead of smaller SSDs like the Eee. This one looks like a winner at 1200 grams, which is just a tad bit heavier than the Eee 901 but has way more features. But there's just no way I'm up for having a regular hard drive in a device that I plan on taking just about everywhere.

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Jul 21st 2008 1:31AM]

I would personally have a 2.5" HDD instead.
Realize that the EEE doesn't use a "true" SSD, more like flash memory you see in a USB flash drive or SD card.

Besides, I can always upgrade to a 2.5" SSD and prices are dropping, unlike the SSD in the EEE which is soldered. Or a bigger 2.5" HDD.

[bot @ Jul 21st 2008 3:14AM]

I do realize that the Eee doesn't use an SSD like the ones available for retail purchase, but they're not exactly the same as flash drive/SD cards. For one, I believe they're rated for at least 20MB/s which is on par with higher end flash and maybe even some conventional (maybe 5400rpm or at least 4800rpm) HDDs. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If I remember correctly the Eee 901 has 4GB soldered onboard (which actually just happens to be the exact amount I need for a Windows XP installation plus a little more) and then a removable drive of differing capacity depending on if you get the Linux or Windows version. I believe it's in the 2.5" form factor as well, so it's easily replaceable. So I think you're a little misinformed there. With this Gigabyte I might just get it anyway and use its HDD to replace my 12" laptop HDD which has a 40GB, and then try out one of the more affordable SSDs that are coming out since they seem to getting nice reviews.

[nicko.dvz @ Jul 21st 2008 2:02AM]

Awesome for schools!

[Sebastian Wells @ Jul 21st 2008 2:28AM]

http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=171309 have it listed at £375

[BigD145 @ Jul 21st 2008 2:31AM]

That looks pretty darn spiffy at that price. I've seen Tablets that could barely run XP for more than that.

[MattyG @ Jul 21st 2008 3:08AM]

i hope they've improved the screen lock and the quality of the hinge otherwise i'm going to be pretty disappointed. the video's i've seen of the thing haven't impressed me much

[winterhasnoname @ Jul 21st 2008 3:20AM]

I'm so there.

two gig's of ram would be a nice option, but it's an option I can live without for that price.

[ssrat_ @ Jul 21st 2008 4:08AM]

I those prices are correct then it looks like this just killed the EEE, especially if you consider the fact that you have to buy and add the screen to get touch, plus it is NOT a twist, or even a full fold back.

PLUS it has 2x the HDD space (160), all it has to do is have at least 2usb and easy access to upgrade the ram and there is no way they can make enough of these

Plus I can EASILY drop down tho the lower screen/no bluetooth since it is a secondary system/ALL format reader/surfer I am getting it for

They also need a good battery (hopefully cheap aftermarket upgradeable as well)

[DeadEagle @ Jul 21st 2008 7:04AM]

This shall replace my EEE PC. I love the little guy to death, but I want just a LITTLE bit more, and this is probably going to have the best bang for the buck as far as netbooks go.

[MikeWard1701 @ Jul 21st 2008 7:45AM]

Looks promising :)

[KyleK @ Jul 21st 2008 8:39AM]

Why can't this be available now. Soooo long to wait :(

[Ricardo @ Jul 21st 2008 11:58AM]

Look at all that glare! You need to be inside a cave to use this, because any light will prevent you from seeing anything on this screen.

[dandy411 @ Jul 21st 2008 10:56PM]

Bad new guys gigabyte rep told me this toy will only be in Europe and Asia :(

[Arlo @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:40AM]

@dandy411:

I know! Horrible news! When I get my netbookish thing next month I'll go with whatever sounds reasonable for what it can do (still wondering about those Dell ones), but I'd happily pay for Fujitsu style tablet PC for 1/3 the price! (That's probably why they've been releasing statements declaring gloom and doom for the entire computing industry...)

[.avi @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:33AM]

Its great, except that no one in North America will be able to get one without importing:

http://www.mobilitysite.com/2008/07/gigabyte-m912v-wont-see-usa-territory/

:\

Unless things have somehow changed since then.

If it does hit North America, I'll probably pick up the XP version (assuming the same specs as the vista) and put either Vista Business or XP Pro on it. I wish there was a linux version so I didn't have to pay for a liscence when I already have two legitimate liscences lying around.

[arfster @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:34PM]

Right design for three reasons:

1) tablet allows new ways of using it (it's really nice for web browsing for example, no need to use the touchpad)
2) 1280*768 is so much more usable than 1024*600 (and allows for 1:1 pixel display of 720p content)
3) Nice big battery capacity, without making the unit huge. That's double the capacity of the 3cell the Wind has.


Oh, and Vista with 1GB is fine, I've used it on a Pentium M 1.1 ghz, which is way slower than an Atom.

[Paul @ Aug 14th 2008 10:52PM]

Handwriting recognition?

This thing is soft-touch isn't it? So you aren't going to be inking on this thing unless you like hovering.

Where is the linux option - I do not want shell out for Vista / XP.