Gigabyte says it is now shipping a netbook that offers a swiveling touchscreen and an Intel Atom N280 processor. The T1028X/G has a 10-inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, an ExpressCard slot, a HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) cellular modem, and optional WiMAX, the company says.

Netbooks whose screens flip around into a tablet configuration are still fairly uncommon. However, Asus recently entered the market with its Windows-only T91, offered with single- or multi-touch displays, and Skytone recently introduced the convertible Alpha 680, which is billed as the world's first ARM/Android netbook. Gigabyte offered one of the early "convertibles" with its M912, released just over a year ago, equipped with an 8.9-inch screen, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, and a 160GB hard disk drive.

Gigabyte's new successor, the T1028X/G, once again offers a touchscreen that rotates 180 degrees and folds down over its keyboard. This time, however, the display has gone up to 10.1 inches in size, and the LED-backlit screen now packs 1366 x 768 pixels. Apart from the touchscreen display, the T1028X/G has a "92 percent full-sized" keyboard and a "multi-touch" mouse pad, according to Gigabyte.

Gigabyte's T1028X/G

In addition, the T1028X/G now offers Intel's slightly more powerful, 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor, still with the 945GSE northbridge and ICH7M southbridge. (An available T1028M configuration gets the larger display, but sticks with an N270 CPU and a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.)

The T1028X/G's 2.5-inch, 160GB hard disk drive and 1GB or 2GB RAM are par for the course, but, unlike the majority of netbooks, the device is also said to include an ExpressCard/34 slot. Gigabyte says the T1028X/G is available with an HSDPA-compatible cellular modem and with 802.16 WiMAX on board, though there's no word on whether either of these options fills the ExpressCard slot.

Other more typical netbook capabilities include Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, a 10/100 Ethernet port, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam, according to Gigabyte. The device is also said to include stereo speakers, three USB 2.0 ports, an MMC/SD/MS/MS Pro card reader, and a VGA port.

A six-cell, 7650mAh battery is standard on the T1028X/G and is said to deliver up to six hours of battery life. The T1028M gets a four-cell, 4500mAh battery that is good for four hours of operation, according to Gigabyte.

Gigabyte says the T1028 runs Linux, in addition to Windows XP Home, but adds that customers may need to "download Linux drivers from chipset vendors' websites or third party websites."

Features and specifications listed by Gigabyte for the T1028 include the following:

• Processor:
  • 1.66GHz Atom N280 (T1028X/G)
  • 1.6GHz Atom N270 (T1028M)
• Memory — 1GB of DDR2 RAM, expandable to 2GB
• Storage — 160GB SATA hard disk drive (2.5-inch, 5400rpm)
• Display:
  • 10.1-inch touchscreen with 1366 x 768 pixels (T1028X/G)
  • 10.1-inch touchscreen with 1024 x 600 pixels (T1028M)
• Camera — 1.3 megapixel
• Keyboard — "92 percent" QWERTY keyboard and multi-touch mouse pad
• Networking:
  • LAN — 10/100 Ethernet
  • WAN — HSDPA cellular modem or WiMAX (both optional)
  • WLAN — 802.11b/g/n
  • PAN — Bluetooth 2.1
• Other I/O:
  • 3 x USB 2.0
  • Microphone in, earphone out
  • 1 x VGA
• Expansion:
  • ExpressCard/34 slot
  • MMC/SD/MS/MS Pro card reader
• Battery:
  • 6-cell 7650mAh battery (T1028X/G)
  • 4-cell 4500mAh battery (T1028M)
• Dimensions:
  • 10.4 x 8.4 x 1.62 inches (265 x 214 x 41.4mm) with six-cell battery
  • 10.4 x 7.67 x 1.51 inches (265 x 195 x 38.5mm) with four-cell battery
• Weight:
  • 3.26 pounds (1.48kg) with six-cell battery
  • 2.86 (1.3kg with four-cell battery)