Gigabyte Booktop M1022: Merging Netbooks and Nettops

M1022: Jack of All Trades, Master of None

There's nothing new to say about performance in regards to netbooks. If you're wondering how the M1022 performs, you can read more in the conclusion of our ASUS 1005HA review. In day-to-day use, the Gigabyte Booktop M1022 and the ASUS 1005HA offer virtually identical performance… well, identical except for battery life where the ASUS is clearly superior. And that's the crux of this review. Based on most areas, the ASUS 1005HA is better than the Booktop M1022, except that it doesn't have a docking station and it costs less money.

The result is that the M1022 is a product that tries to blur the line between netbooks and nettops but ends up being inferior in both categories. However, just because the M1022 isn't the best netbook or the best nettop doesn't mean it's a bad product. You can get a good netbook and a good nettop in one package, whereas buying a separate netbook and nettop will end up costing quite a bit more money. For example, you can get the ASUS 1005HA for $350 and the ASUS Eee Box B202 for $270, for a total cost of $620. If you don't need to use both systems at the same time, the Booktop M1022 can fill the same roles for a total cost of $468. That saves you about $150, which is half-way to a second netbook. However, you could easily forego the docking station, use a USB hub with any netbook/laptop, and get practically the same result.

As long as the Gigabyte Booktop M1022 is available for under $500, it has some potential customers. Anyone looking for a netbook with an ExpressCard slot will have few other options. The key attraction of the M1022 is its ability to function as a single system that you can use at home or on the road with a minimum of fuss. You come home, drop it in the docking bay, and you have a nettop. When you need to go out, you lift it out of the docking station and you have a three pound netbook with six hours of battery life. As long as you don't require a high-performance setup, the Booktop M1022 will allow you to go mobile or work at home without the need of syncing data between multiple systems. That's the key draw, and there are definitely people who will like the platform.

So what's our take? At the MSRP of $600 it's simply too much. For $600 we would recommend getting an entry-level Intel Core 2 based laptop and sacrificing some of the battery life a netbook offers, or grab a $300 netbook and $300 nettop and store your data in the cloud when necessary. With such a laptop, you can still plug in a keyboard, mouse, and external LCD -- using a digital connection even -- and you will get substantially better performance. At $500, we would still generally recommend going with a laptop rather than a netbook/nettop hybrid, as all of the above still hold true.

The real customer for the M1022 is going to be someone that wants six hours of mobility with a lightweight netbook who also thinks the vertical docking station is a standout feature. Price can't be a major concern, as we're talking about plugging the M1022 dock into an LCD, keyboard, and mouse, so there's at least another $200 in expenses right there. By the time you factor in the cost of the M1022 and the accessories necessary to use it as a nettop, you're looking at a total price of $700 or more (unless you get a really cheap LCD). There are many notebooks and laptops that fall into that price range where you wouldn't even need a separate LCD or keyboard… mice on the other hand are still far easier to use than touchpads, but they're also very inexpensive.

In the end, the M1022 has some nice features but it faces a lot of competition. The overall package is good, with reasonable battery life and an attractive chassis. The touchpad is also good, though buying a product just because you like the touchpad seems a bit excessive. Returning to the Gigabyte press release, they've pretty much nailed this one: "The differentiator, the feature that sets the Booktop M1022 apart from all the other products, is the Booktop Docking Station." If that's what you want, you've found your next netbook. The docking station works as advertised, but it's not perfect as the dock's Ethernet doesn't transfer data at anywhere near 100Mbit and there's no digital video connection. We're not convinced it's enough for most users.

If you want a single system that you can use at home and easily take with you, the M1022 will fit the bill. We typically look at netbooks and nettops as second or third (or fourth…) computers, as they're not fast enough to satisfy all of our computing wants/needs. If you feel the same, there's not much need for a slow, alternate desktop that's missing some key features. We'd rather have a good nettop using the Ion platform and a dual-core Atom processor that can serve as a silent HTPC, along with a netbook that gets better battery life and has a better LCD. That will cost a bit more, so if money is tight and you don't have or want multiple systems, an entry-level notebook offers far more functionality and performance and you can still connect a few cables to use it as a desktop when necessary. The Booktop M1022 is ultimately about trading performance for flexibility and convenience, and for the cost and features we just don't think the vertical docking station is enough to put the M1022 ahead of other options.