Laptop Magazine, Hardware Canucks and Hardware Zone have all now published full reviews of the Gigabyte M912V, the 1280×768 version of the Gigabyte Netbook.
Nothing surprises me in any of the reviews. Laptop Mag, who published their review last month) highlights the battery life and the screen resolution as problem points along with small keyboard and lack of touch software. Hardware Canucks picks up on the same issues. Hardware Zone who, like LaptopMag, had a Vista version, highlights some exceptionally high battery drain figures.
I agree with most of the issues and documented the lowlights in my article after we did the live session with it in July. At least we all agree on the same things!
It really is a shame that the keyboard is the standard EeePC style keyboard as there’s definitely room for a better one. The styling could also do with some pep but some of those other issues might be cleared with the arrival of the M912M which is scheduled to be available next week.
Many of you that have been following the M912 screen saga will know that the M version, with it’s lower resolution 1024×600 screen, is said by Gigabyte to have the LED backlighting which should help on three counts. 1) Battery life. The 1280×768 CCFL-backlit screen seemed to suck exceptional amounts of power when I tested it so the LED-backlighting should help a huge amount. 10% less drain overall is the minimum I’m expecting but it could be up to 20% in some scenarios. This should take the device over the magic 3-hour battery life. 2) The brightness and contrast should be far better on the LED-backlit model. 3) There should be a reduction in heat both under normal use and in tablet mode. I’m quite sure that Windows XP is going to help too.
The M912M also comes with a smaller disk, lower price and, in some cases (check with your reseller) there won’t be a Bluetooth module. Maybe this fits with your requirements, maybe not, but for me its turning out to be an attractive package that I’m looking forward to testing. The Medion Akoya Mini is good (very good actually) but I need Bluetooth and with the ability to reach 3hrs of online battery life (30 minutes more than the Akoya Mini/Wind) the possibility of an internal 3G upgrade (Note: Some reports are coming in that the PCI Express Mini slot is not working) an easy 2GB memory upgrade, easy access to the hard drive and a fun, convertible touchscreen, has me really interested in the 912M as a better alternative. We’ll see next week when we put the Everun Note, the Akoya Mini and the M912M side-by-side.
Heat, speed, battery, and build quality are all pretty important things that the 912 needed to improve upon. Can’t wait to see how the tests come out.
Also, why does that hardwarezone review report that the price is $1199? I thought it was supposed to be around $700USD
That is in Singapore dollars not US$.
Chippy,
Seems battery drain is a huge issue with every review?
If you wanted to do an interesting ground breaking interview (I don’t know if doing interviews is your thing)… then contact Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen at Pixel Qi …and find out if she can hint at what she means by this:
“We have partnership agreements with some of the world’s largest manufacturers to create our screens. Additionally, we have some even larger customers lining up to use our innovative new screens. These will be sampling in Q1 2009 and mass-production-ready in Q2 2009.
* Extreme low-cost
* Extreme low-power
* Mass producible new display technologies
* Outdoor use, sunlight readability and robustness
–> and ask what better battery times that she predicts will be the result of using “those OLPC-like screens” in the UMPC and Netbook space?
http://www.umpcportal.com/2007/01/24-hr-battery-life-is-possible-today/
Im a big fan of that screen. Thanks for the suggestion.
Steve
Heat is STILL an issue with the “M” version. It just won’t be as bad in Tablet mode with the cooler screen, but laptop mode should be just as hot with the same cramped hardware in the main casing.
Same exact components with same size case equals same heat problem right? Why the assumption it will be cooler in the bottom portion?
Less heat generated through DC DC components on the mobo? But I agree, Its not higly ikely that there is a big change.
Youve tested the 912M?
Steve
So when are those laser screens coming projecting image on a polyvinyl sheet?
hehe
I would have thought people to complain about the resolution,but it rather seems to be about the power the screen is drawing….
the extra resolution is quite a breather on applications like VB, or C++.
Also powerpoint and maybe acces benefits lots from it!
Quality and outdoor capability are the issues as well. 8.9″ screen will never be comfortable tool for applications you mentioned. Sure, it is best to have bigger high resolution led, but I am not going to wait for M1012 :)
Chippy, it seems to me that you always think of the Medion Akoya Mini when you speaks about the MSI Wind. But there is some differences between the Akoya Mini and the Wind, in particular the Wind has a built-in BlueTooth module, which the Akoya Mini hasn’t.
I wanted to explicit that point because it is not the first time that you dismiss the Wind with the argument that is doesn’t have a built-in BT module, but actually you’re wrong. It’s the Akoya Mini which needs to be blamed, not the Wind.
You’re right. Ill change that.
Sorry for the error. If you spot it again, don’t hesitate to shout.
Steve
Hi,
I can confirm the second pcie slot does not allow radio to be enabaled on 3g cards or wifi cards.
I have an M912V & a Expedite EU850D and are not woking.
It works if Expedite 3g card is put on the first pcie but then wifi is not working in second pcie.
Hope somone makes a custom bios to enabla radio on the second pcie, until then im using a Merlin X950D on the express card slot.
Maybe the “second pcie slot” is not a pcie slot, then, but a slot for SSD. Think of EEE PC and the kind. That’s a PCIe connector but actually it does not work like a PCIe slot.
Please note that at the beginning Gigabyte planned to release the M912L version, for “low-end” and “Linux”, with a 4GB SSD.
I think that makes sense. Maybe somebody like JKK who owns several such SSD board could try them in a Gigabye M912?
Another possibility is that this PCIe slot is designed to be solely used with the future tuner card of the M912T.
I believe if the second pcie slot was just for ssd it should not have seen the 3g or wifi card at all.
This is not the case here; the cards on the second pcie are installed just fine, the OS sees and initialize them without any issues, except radio which cannot be enabled.
Also the M912 with DVB tuner will be using the second pcie slot I believe, where else to put the DVB Module !?
Also curios is that there are no options in the bios to turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, webcam etc, witch makes me to believe its just a bios think to get radio enabled on second pcie.
Well, I received one of the first M912V and quite frankly was deeply disappointed. I returned it after 1 hour trying to work with it and bought the MSI Wind instead.
The screen was awful dark, the keyboard too small to work on it. The stylus wasnt too comfortable as well. The thing I really liked was that very small power brick.
If only Wind was a tablet…
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