The Gigabyte T1028M Touch Note convertible tablet style netbook may not be shipping from US distributors yet. But European retailer Mobilx has it in stock, and Chippy at UMPC Portal got a loaner to check out. To start things off, he’s posted a detailed unboxing video, which you can find after the break.
The netbook features a 10.1 inch touchscreen display that can be folded down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode. It looks a lot like the Gigabyte M912, but bigger. It has a larger keyboard, and Chippy reports it runs cooler than the M912 and the fan isn’t as noisy.
As you can see in the video, Gigabyte also ships the Touch Note with a nice looking slip case that has a side pocket, something you won’t find on the cheap slip covers some other computer makers include with their netbooks.
Looks fairly standard from the video, and i say that in a postive way. I really wonder if these ‘touch screen’ models running more background programs might need a bit more horsepower. Certainly I don’t mean much more then the newest Atom, but probably if there were a netbook subgroup that might need a bit more “processing power” it would be the touch screens.
Rather sad to see the unit didn’t ship with a bigger battery. It is always a trade off of weight vs. time, but three or four hours seems too slim.
SIDE NOTE: I also wonder how people are adjusting to the side mouse buttons. That set up has been used on several netbooks for the past 18 months. I’ love to know how people who have been using them long term find them.
You were wondering how the buttons on the side of the touch pad are, well from experience they are easy to use and it only takes a minute to adjust to them, i don’t know how or why but after first couple of clicks the buttons just seem naturally placed.
Seems to make sense that it is an easy adjustment, after all everything in life is an adjustment, yet some people do base some of their decisions about what netbook to get on such matters.