If you’ve seen one mini-notebook, you might think you’ve seen them all—that is, until you lay eyes on the Gigabyte M912V. Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Gigabyte, most known for making motherboards, has introduced this hybrid tablet to make some waves in what’s becoming a flooded mini-notebook market. The stylish M912V sports a unique 8.9-inch, swiveling touchscreen and is powered by a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM. For $699 the touch and tablet experience are good for the price; however, this system suffers from poor battery life, uncomfortably hot temperatures, and a cramped keyboard. Gigabyte says the M912V may not come to the U.S. at all, but even if you can get your hands on one, we would buy with caution.

Snazzy Lid, Comparably Larger Footprint

The Gigabyte M912V’s glossy black lid, complete with a modern silver-square inlay pattern, looks like a kind of sci-fi circuit board and is fetching both up close and from afar. Unlike the black shiny lid on the Eee PC 1000H, the silver imprint hides fingerprints well. Measuring 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.1–1.7 inches, the system is nearly an inch thicker than the 10-inch MSI Wind; and at 3 pounds, it’s 6.4 ounces heavier than the Eee PC 901. Nonetheless, the M912V slid nicely into a backpack and didn’t weigh us down. Gigabyte has also kept the power brick slim, bringing the total travel weight to a manageable 3.4 pounds. 

Cramped Keyboard, Smooth Touchpad

In a market where recent mini-notebooks have keyboards friendly to touch typists (we’re particularly fond of those on the Acer Aspire one and the HP 2133 Mini-Note), the Gigabyte M912V takes a step back. The keyboard has a nearly identical look and feel to that of the original Eee PC 701 or the Everex CloudBook. Our hands felt cramped and we frequently made typos. Nevertheless, the keys provided decent feedback with little flex.

The touchpad has a metallic surface that matches the M912V’s wrist rest, and it offered a nice textured feel as we navigated around the desktop. Unlike the rock-hard buttons on the Eee PC 1000 and 901, the two mouse buttons, located below the touchpad, were easy to click.

Good Port Selection, Solid Speakers

The M912V’s slightly larger size pays off in ports. The system manages to fit three USB ports, as well as VGA, Ethernet, microphone, and headphone ports. It also has a 3-in-1 memory card reader and a ExpressCard/34 slot, which was perfect for popping in a mobile broadband card.

The integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam worked when we initiated a video chat over Skype, but our face looked washed out, and our caller complained of motion blur as we moved our hands. The microphone, located above the keyboard, provided decent audio to our caller; he could hear us well without us having to speak up. The speakers, placed right under the keyboard, delivered strong and solid sound. Streaming music over Slacker played loud enough to fill a small living room.