CeBIT 2008: Hands-On with Gigabyte’s M528 Ultra-Mobile PC

The market success of Austek's Eee PC combined with the arrival of Intel's Atom chip keeps attracting companies' interest towards ultra-mobile computing. Gigabyte joined the mobile army with a pair of mobile devices: the VIA-based M700 ultra-mobile PC and the Centrino Atom-powered M528 Mobile Internet Device.

The M528 was premiered at the CeBIT expo and show this year and seems to use the same reference design previously used by Aigo for its own mobile Internet device. Extremely similar to a PDA, the M528 has a 4.8-inch screen and weighs in at just 340 grams. Despite the fact that it fits into the mobile Internet devices family, the M528 punches way above its waist. It comes with a 3MP camera on the back and a 300k pixel camera on the front panel for video conferencing. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard allows the user to comfortably compose text messages.

The device is powered by a Linux-based operating system with the Merry-Go-Round i-CON interface running on a hardware configuration including an 800MHz Menlow chip, 512MB of RAM, 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, and Bluetooth 3.0. The UMPC includes Intel's new "Poulsbo" core logic, part of the Menlow platform.

It comes with on-board 4 GB / 8 GB (optional), Intel SSD storage to keep its weight at a minimum. The M528 comes with GPS and wireless connectivity that complies to the 802.11 b/g via SDIO I/F . You can easily add HSDPA connectivity via a mini card option that plugs into an USB port. The battery's capacity is 3060 mAh, and offers an autonomy time of about 3.5 hours of continuous working.

The other released device is the Gigabyte M700 UMPC, that is a little more ambitious in respects of hardware capabilities. It comes with a VIA C7-M 1.2GHz processor, Windows Vista Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, a 1.8-inch 40GB / 60GB HDD and a 1024 x 600 7-inch touchscreen. It lacks a hardware input device, but users can use the UMPC-style software keyboard for typing.

Live report by Bogdan Popa and Alex Vochin from CeBIT 2008 Hanover, Germany.

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