In my recent discussion about whether netbooks are already obsolete, I said that the segment needed a real game-changer, because it has become increasingly difficult to find the marketable advantage. With the GIGABYTE M912 netbook, we may have found a possible answer. Unlike so many other netbooks that are flooding the market these days, the GIGABYTE M912 isn’t just a little laptop; it also happens to be a convertible tablet PC.
We had the opportunity to take a look at the M912 during CES 2009 and now we’ve finally managed to get a review unit in our hands. GIGABYTE tells us that this is quite the hot item and they can’t stock the shelves quickly enough. Let’s see what this buzz is all about.
Features at a Glance
The vast majority of netbooks on the market today fall into one of two categories. You’ve got the cheaper variants with perhaps an 8GB solid state drive and a Linux operating system, and then you’ve got the Windows XP-powered offerings with 80GB or larger hard drives. The GIGABYTE M912 netbook, as a premium unit, falls into the latter category. The key differentiating factor, of course, is that its 8.9-inch display is a touchscreen that can rotate 180-degrees.
The GIGABYTE M912 netbook features the following specifications:
- Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor
- Windows XP Home
- LED backlit 8.9-inch WXGA touchscreen with 180-degree rotation
- 1GB DDR2-667 SO-DIMM RAM
- 160GB 1.8-inch SATA 5400rpm hard drive
- Intel 945GSE chipset
- 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
- Integrated Bluetooth 2.0
- Stereo speakers (1.5W x 2)
- 1.3 megapixel CMOS webcam
- 4500mAh lithium-ion battery
- Dimensions: 235 x 180 x 28~42mm
- Weight: 1.3kg
In addition to giving you the functionality of a convertible tablet PC, you will also notice that the very same 8.9-inch display rocks a higher resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. Contrast this to the 1024 x 600 resolution that you find on most netbooks today. The rest of the specs are pretty much in lne with the rest of the segment.
As far as pricing and availability, the GIGABYTE M912 seems scarce, but is listed for a price of around $799 US at most retailers. It’s not cheap, but it’s also not as expensive as some premium netbooks that have popped up on the market recently.
Simple Yet Clever Packaging
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make all the difference. The outward packaging of the Gigabyte M912 isn’t anything too out of the ordinary with a picture of the unit on the front, a list of specs on the back, and a few slogans smattered along the way. For example, GIGABYTE reminds us that we can “turn the world around” with this netbook, reminding us of the rotating touchscreen display. How clever!
Where I thought they were being even more clever was with the inside of the box. A pair of foam inserts hold the netbook itself in place, cushioning it against any sudden drops or tumbles while on the way to its final destination. Aside from that, there is a simple white box wedged in there that holds all the other accessories that come included with the M912. More on that in a moment.
No, this isn’t exactly revolutionary, but it keeps everything nice and tidy. It also makes it easy to pack everything back into the box if you need to do so.
What’s Included in the Box?
Inside the white box, you’ll discover the usual smattering of included accessories. You have the standard battery, the power adapter and cable, supporting documentation, and a provided soft sleeve with a Velcro enclosure for ease of portability. You may not want to use this sleeve on its own, but it provides some added protection for when you toss the netbook in your backpack. There is also a sheet that fits between the screen and keyboard when not in use.
Overall Design, Connectivity, and Ports
By and large, the GIGABYTE M912 is pretty conventional with its overall approach to design. If you’ve ever used a convertible tablet PC in the past, you should feel reasonably at home with this device, although it is a fair bit smaller. It is a netbook after all.
I think it’s nice how the top plate of the netbook comes with a bit of a design to it, giving you a little splash of style to an otherwise conventional-looking portable computer. The version I received had a black geometric design, though there is also a “Cafe Book” variant with a brown color scheme. The screen is held in place with a small pivoting joint near the center.
The footprint for the M912 is similar to other 8.9-inch netbooks, but it does appear to be a little bit thicker than some of its direct competitors. I would have preferred a thinner profile. Also, I found the overall build quality to be somewhat sub-par, as the choice of plastics seems to be on the cheaper side of things. You may also notice a little bit of flex and “creak” when manipulating this netbook; it doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall apart, but it doesn’t feel as solid as the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA, for instance.
Taking a quick spin around the GIGABYTE netbook, you’ll find no ports at the back. On the left side, you get the Kensington lock port, Ethernet port, exhaust vent, USB port, SD card slot, and ExpressCard slot. The front edge is home to the stereo speakers. Along the right side are the power switch, two USB ports, headphone and microphone jack, VGA port, and power jack.
It’s interesting to find the audio jacks on the right, since most laptops I’ve used have them on the left. This may cause a little bit of tangling for right-handed users, particularly if they are using an external mouse. Also, most headphones have their cord oriented to the left so it can possibly cause a bit of a crossover tangle. GIGABYTE should definitely consider moving those jacks to the left.
The Sticking Points of the Keyboard
Not surprisingly, the keyboard on the GIGABYTE M912 takes a little getting used to, because it is a fair size smaller than the keyboards you find on larger laptops and with desktop computers. All the keys are quite small and GIGABYTE probably could have expanded the keyboard a little closer to the outer edges of the chassis. This is the case with the Acer Aspire One, a similar 8.9-inch netbook that happens to have a more comfortable keyboard. If they can do it, so can you GIGABYTE.
Another sticking point for me is the placement of the right shift key. Just like I experienced with the Asus Eee PC 1000HA, the right shift key is located to the right of the up arrow. Presumably, this is so that the keyboard is a perfect rectangle with a clean lower edge. As a result, however, I found myself hitting the up arrow when I was really trying to reach for the right shift key. Since the keyboard is smaller, there isn’t as much of a pinky finger stretch here as the Eee PC, but it’s still a bother.
Also, since the `/~ key has been relocated in between ESC and F1, the 1 key is further to the left than it usually is. I’m not perfect with touch-typing the number keys, but I can do it reasonably well. Without looking down on the keyboard, I found myself hitting “2” when I really wanted to hit “1.” Given these curiosities and the smaller size, the keyboard has a bit of a learning curve to it.
Converting to a Tablet PC
To ensure that the internal cables and other inner workings don’t get all twisted, Gigabyte has designed the M912 so that the display only rotates in one direction. Located right next to the rotating hinge in the center, you’ll see a small arrow showing you that the screen should be rotated clockwise. It can stop at any location along the way, but you’ll go the full 180-degrees if you want to enter tablet mode. The flap can then close down and you’ve got yourself a fairly small tablet PC.
In order to achieve any kind of accuracy, you’ll want to make use of a good stylus when using a photo editor or other related applications, but the casual web surfing experience can easily be achieved with a fingernail. In fact, the touchscreen can come in pretty handy even when you are in conventional laptop mode.
While the right edge of the trackpad can be used for vertical scrolling, I found that it would often overshoot where I wanted it to go. Instead, I just ran by thumbnail lightly against the right edge of the window to scroll. Based on the resolution and screen size, the visible scroll bars are easily big enough to be handled by your finger.
Unlike most other netbooks and notebooks where the power button is located on the inside, Gigabyte decided to place a spring-loaded power switch on the outer front-right edge instead. The key advantage here is that you can turn on your M912 while it is closed. You know, like when you have it in full tablet mode.
Benchmarks
So, how does the Gigabyte M912 convertible tablet PC netbook stack up in the performance department? Based on the benchmarks we used, it seems to do reasonably well.
Running the 160GB Fujitsu hard drive through HD Tune provided the results shown above. We were able to achieve an average data transfer rate of 48.2MB/sec and a burst rate of 70.6MB/sec. It’s not really a speed demon, but this is more than adequate for an Atom-powered netbook.
Moving on, we fired the M912 through PC Mark 05. When I tried running the full slate of tests on the MSI Wind U100 and Asus Eee PC 1000HA, they were not able to complete them all. By contrast, this little wonder from Gigabyte had no trouble pumping out a final score of 1511 PC Marks. The processor and memory results were otherwise similar to the the MSI Wind, except for the hard drive score (better on the GIGABYTE).
Unfortunately, the GIGABYTE M912 could not complete the 3DMark06 tests, just like its competitors from Asus and MSI. It would reach a certain point where the screen would go black and the program would stop responding.
Final Thoughts
When you look at most of the other netbooks being offered by GIGABYTE’s competitors, they’re all very similar. They all have screens that are about 8.9 to 10.2 inches, they all get powered by an Intel Atom processor: the mini-laptop experience. Instead of tossing out another generic-looking netbook, GIGABYTE has tried to be a little different with the GIGABYTE M912 by making it a convertible tablet PC. That’s a huge plus, especially for artistic types. The downside is that it will probably stumble under the command of a real graphic artist with a full install of Photoshop.
On the bright side, Photographers that use less power hungry applications like Lightroom may find the added on assignment post processing and storage capabilities of the M912 to be an asset. It also beats carrying around a 15 inch MacBook Pro.
The GIGABYTE M912 Convertible Tablet PC certainly has its quirks, like the somewhat frustrating keyboard and the cheaper choice of plastic, but at least it’s trying to bring something innovative to the table. The performance is quite good and I liked having the higher WXGA resolution, especially when it came to surfing certain websites. There’s work to be done and the price may scare off some potential customers, but GIGABYTE may have just changed the game for everyone else.
Pros
- It’s a convertible tablet in netbook form!
- Best performance figures of reviewed netbooks to date
- Stylish background for top panel
- Power switch easily accessible while in tablet form
- High-resolution WXGA display can handle 720p video
Cons
- Considerably more expensive than most non-tablet netbooks
- Build quality and choice of materials are suspect
- Somewhat heavy and bulky for a netbook
- Kind of pricey at around US$800 MSRP
Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0
Discuss This Review in the Futurelooks Community Forums
GIGABYTE M912 Convertible Tablet PC Netbook Photo Gallery
