I'm not usually the bandwagon type, but I'm seriously considering getting a Netbook for my everyday note-taking, Internet-browsing and email writing tasks. You can find these UMPC's (Ultra-mobile PC's) in a variety of form factors, battery sizes, screen resolutions, storage capacity and features. I've narrowed my list down to about 3 contenders, the serious of which is the Gigabyte M912. While doing my research, I found this video on YouTube narrated by a complete idiot: Before I get into what I like about the M912, I'd like to pick on this video clip and it's reviewer. It's 23 seconds of intro and advertising before you actually see the netbook. That's worse than the folks over at CNet, and they're actually in the hardware review business. At 59 seconds in, he says "artsy-fartsy". Never use the words "artsy-fartsy" in a hardware review unless you're picking on the reviewer. At 1 minute, 7 seconds, the reviewer says "What is really worrying me is that it's running Microsoft Windows Vista". What's really worrying me is that I'm actually watching the video with the sound on. The reviewer continues to make assumptions about how the small form factor of the M912 makes Vista a poor choice. The irony is that the very few times when the reviewer actually does something with the M912 in Vista it appears to be extremely responsive. A real review would benchmark the performance of the unit instead of speculating. At 1 minute, 37 seconds the reviewer says "it's not looking that slow" when the unit isn't running sluggish at all. What's up with this guy's Vista-phobia? At 1 minute, 45 seconds the reviewer says he'll do a restart. Then, he can't find the power button. He actually stops the video so he can look for the thing. When he finally finds it, he realizes that pressing the power button functions like every laptop manufactured in the past 10 years does -- puts the unit in sleep mode. This one's the whopper. The reviewer bitches about Vista's slow boot time, citing that it takes well over a minute, when you can clearly see from the time index on this video that the actual boot from BIOS to start menu is 36 seconds. (Time index 3:14 to 3:51) OK, that's probably enough ranting for one day. Here's what's got me really jazzed about this netbook: It's intended use is simple. Browse the Internet. Buy stuff. Read email. Play Bejwelled 2. Take notes with OneNote. Basically, do all those things that people swear they'll do on their handheld but don't. I love the tablet capabilities of this unit -- really lets it stand out amongst the zillions of other Netbooks. The extras (such as the 1.3MP webcam, built in WiFi, and Bluetooth) make this a great choice for casual Internet browsing and chatting, even blogging. Integrated EVDO capabilities would have been nice. Like most Netbooks, it's extremely lightweight. This makes it ideal for short business trips. There were a few areas of concern, too: 4-cell battery only has 3 hours of rated battery life. A 6-cell battery would have added a bit more weight but would be an option I would want. The 1024x600 resolution screen is nice, but some newer 10" Netbooks are now featuring 1280x800 resolution screens. Such a resolution might make working in Visual Studio a reality as well. This netbook is priced a bit higher than some of it's competitors. I imagine the tablet and webcam capabilities are of some concern when mentioning price. So far, I haven't actually seen one available for purchase, so there's still some time to talk me out of it. Technorati Tags: Netbook,Windows Vista,Gigabyte