Gigabyte's M912 swivel screen netbook gets unboxed on video

If you've been patiently awaiting the arrival of Gigabyte's M912 convertible tablet / netbook hybrid, seeing some lucky fellow far, far from where you are unbox it isn't apt to make the wait any easier. Still, there's at least some level of comfort in knowing that these are indeed filtering out, and besides, it gives you a chance to really size up what you're about to get yourself into. Hop on past the break and press play whenever you're ready.

[Via SlashGear]

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jul 24th 2008 3:34PM]

Am I alone in wanting to enter the frame, throw him out of the room and play with that stuff?

[Metkis @ Jul 25th 2008 4:06AM]

Kaiser? Fancy seeing you here!

Gizm- I mean.. Engadget appreciates your comments.

[Andrew @ Jul 24th 2008 3:38PM]

Out of ALL the netbooks.. This one I think is definitely the most practical IMO. Yes I know you can add a touch screen onto basically any of the previous versions, but making the screen swivel is a completely different story.

[totoro @ Jul 24th 2008 3:52PM]

whoa, whats with the giant floating tennis shoe?

[Matt @ Jul 24th 2008 3:52PM]

This is a touchscreen, not a tablet. :(

[farfisa @ Jul 24th 2008 4:02PM]

It has a pen though (around the 6:15 mark) but he doesn't manage to use it before the battery dies...

[thesimplicity @ Jul 24th 2008 5:04PM]

For those of us who have no idea what the difference is between a tablet and a touchscreen... what's the difference?

I just want something small that I can have photoshop and illustrator on.

[Sarig @ Jul 24th 2008 5:58PM]

Active digitizer and just plain old touchscreen is a big difference, you can't do too much serious stuff with a stylus on the latter one.

If I were going for photoshop, I'd rather get a proper convertible tablet, and not something trying to squeeze its way into the ultra mobile category; since this thing has a lot less raw power than a conventional tablet.

[Eds @ Jul 24th 2008 11:19PM]

the major difference that I find the most important reason to have a proper "tablet" with an active digitizer is that a "touchscreen" has 1 level of sensitivity. Active digitizers usually have around 250 though some have more.

The sensitivity is a huge bonus in apps that support it (e.g. photoshop) as you can use it to change the size of your brush stroke and such to make things a lot more "natural" looking

[Eds @ Jul 24th 2008 11:19PM]

the major difference that I find the most important reason to have a proper "tablet" with an active digitizer is that a "touchscreen" has 1 level of sensitivity. Active digitizers usually have around 250 though some have more.

The sensitivity is a huge bonus in apps that support it (e.g. photoshop) as you can use it to change the size of your brush stroke and such to make things a lot more "natural" looking

[Kald @ Jul 24th 2008 3:54PM]

4-cell battery kills this thing for me

[sodapop @ Jul 24th 2008 3:54PM]

Is it just me or have the majority of Engadget editorials taken on a snarky and otherwise negative tone?

[ichheissesuperfantastisch @ Jul 24th 2008 7:42PM]

apple stories notwithstanding. then they're all informative and light-hearted.

[farfisa @ Jul 24th 2008 3:55PM]

You are not alone.

[Minilap @ Jul 24th 2008 4:01PM]

This little bastard will probably run OSX right out of the box because it's a Gigabyte.

[Boyo @ Jul 24th 2008 4:10PM]

That made the MSI wind look good.

[Steve @ Jul 24th 2008 4:05PM]

All in all, it looks like a solid device. I like the addition of swiveling it into a tablet. If the build quality is solid, the additions already make it more attractive than the Acer and MSI Wind, maybe even the Dell.

Price is a bit steep for the high end (600ish, yikes), but for the lower end it might be worth it.

[alex @ Jul 24th 2008 4:10PM]

It might be a tad lower if there's an Linux version which so far I haven't seen.

[Steve @ Jul 24th 2008 4:14PM]

I'd be down, save me putting it on there myself.

[BigD145 @ Jul 24th 2008 4:14PM]

Too heavy for one handed tablet use? Well, it's a good thing humans have an extra hand or two to use it while holding it.

[iofthestorm @ Jul 24th 2008 4:20PM]

How is that too heavy? My HP tx2000z is a normal 12" tablet and I can hold it with one hand fine. It's actually on the heavy side for 12" laptops.

[Joe H @ Jul 24th 2008 4:51PM]

Really? You mean you have three hands so that you can hold it in two hands and still use one hand to use it with a pen as a tablet? Wow.

[Steve @ Jul 24th 2008 4:57PM]

Damn straight iof, they call that upgrades. Now you can scratch your ass while keeping two hands firmly on your keyboard.

[David D @ Jul 24th 2008 5:39PM]

Where can I procure such an item?

[Rock Stone @ Jul 24th 2008 5:43PM]

Where oh where will U.S. folks be able to get a purchase?

As long as it has an english keyboard - I'm good to go! My 12" Motion Computing M1300 slate tablet is getting heavy after four years...

[Ron @ Jul 24th 2008 7:57PM]

Here's some more info for you:

http://forums.msiwind.net/other-umpc/gigabyte-m912-t137.html

[Eh @ Jul 24th 2008 6:59PM]

Why dont they grow a brain and release this thing with Linux to reduce the price?

Regardless of how cool it is they arent going to sell jack with it being over $500. How do people so stupid manage to get such high paying jobs?

[Eds @ Jul 24th 2008 11:17PM]

Did you not watch the whole section in the video about how it's going to be sold as a barebones system and the OS, HDD and memory will be up to the distributor? What is it Linux fan boys and being really ignorant? Everytime a new product comes up it's like "ZOMG BUT IT NEEDZ LINUX OR ELSEZ IT SUX"

[Eh @ Jul 25th 2008 6:16PM]

I only saw that they were selling 2 versions with only windows, and they were both over $500, I didnt listen to the sound in the video because its just an unboxing video. And sorry, but I hate Linux, so I probably dont qualify as a fanboy. The reason I want Linux is because its free and doesnt drive up the cost by more than $100. I have 2 copies of XP that are not being used anymore that I can install on one of these things for free, but my plan has always been to install OS X anyways.

[Qsat @ Jul 24th 2008 7:03PM]

That's what my desk would look like if my wife would gave me back my credit card...

[Mile @ Jul 24th 2008 8:16PM]

Damn it! I can't get past 29 seconds! The Navy ad comes on and orders me to "Click Here" and it keeps taking me over to the Navy site!

[Schfelzerberg @ Jul 25th 2008 12:17AM]

Eww... Passive touchscreen? It's like a giant PDA. I wouldn't mind paying about $100 more for a version with a digitizer, hopefully something like the ones Wacom has.