Gigabyte M528 MID
The Gigabyte M528 is a ultra-portable Mobile Internet Device that is scheduled for release later this year. The mobile device is powered by an 800 MHz Intel Atom processor, 512 Megabytes of on board Ram, a 4 Gigabyte Solid State Disk and integrated graphics.
The screen dimensions are 4.8" with a maximum resolution of 800x480 pixels and a touch panel.
Other specs include Bluetooth 2.0, Wireless Lan 802.11b/g a 300k Pixel webcam and a 3M Pixel Auto Focus Camera, a QWERTY keyboard with back-light and integrated GPS and 3G.
It runs on Linux and comes preinstalled with a browser that is based on the Firefox 3 engine, Open Office, Skype and the Instant Messenger Pidgin.
The suggest retail price for Europe will be around 700 Euros and $750 in the United States but it is likely that Gigabyte will try to cut some deals to reduce the price tag.
| OS | Linux |
| CPU | Intel® Atom™ Z500 800MHz |
| Display | 4.8†LCD panel 800x480 with touch panel |
| System Memory | 512MB on board |
| Chipset | Intel® SCH UL11L |
| Storage | 4GB Solid State Disk |
| I/O Port | 1 x Std. USB Host, 1 x mini-USB Client, 1 x micro SD, 1 x 3.5mm Earphone-mic,1 x GPS RF switching connector, DC-in, SIM card slot |
| Audio | Earphone out/Mic built-in/Speaker x 1 |
| Communications | Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g via SDIO I/F, HSDPA mini card module Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 via USB I/F |
| Webcam | 300k Pixels webcam,3M Pixels Auto Focus Camera |
| Battery | 3.7V 2700 mAh |
| Dimensions | 152 x 80 x 22.5mm |
| Weight | 340g |
Update: The device has reached its end of life cycle and is no longer produced by Gigabyte. You may still be able to pick a model on a shopping site like eBay.
Note that Gigabyte does not appear to produce ultra portable Internet devices anymore. When you go to the official website, you only get screen sizes of 10.1" or higher.
Well yes it is small, a pocket PC rather than a netbook that has to be stashed in a bag. I was also a bit astonished at the big price differences between netbooks, like the Asus Eee PC & MSI Wind and those ultra portable mobile Internet devices.
I could imagine paying that much for a device that has at least 64 GB storage and runs a full KDE environment. It looks like the device could handle the KDE, so it’s mostly an issue of storage space. And 64 GB of solid-state storage is _expensive_ today.
$750 is way to much I think. Here in Ukraine you can have ASUS EEE Win 4Gb for about $450.
What’s the point to pay $300 more? Only to get smaller device? Hmm.