Dual-Purpose Netbook

Netbooks are a dime a dozen these days and it's little wonder given their popularity. Cheap and immensely portable, they are perfect for users seeking a small device for simple web browsing, word processing and e-mail. And according to numbers from Gartner, sales for these small and relatively affordable netbooks are expected to top 20 million this year, and all signs point towards netbooks outselling their full-fledge notebook cousins in terms of quantity.

As one of the world's leading hardware manufacturers, Gigabyte too is on the netbook bandwagon since it began. But with so many netbooks already on the market in different sizes and shapes, how can they stand out? How about a single device which serves two purposes?

Enter the Gigabyte Booktop M1022. From the outside, it doesn't look all that special, but with the help of a docking station, it can actually 'transform' itself into a nettop. Here are some photos and technical specifications to whet your appetite.

Here's the Gigabyte 1022M in desktop mode. It can't really transform of course. Rather, it relies on a special dock to turn itself into a desktop machine.

Peeling the Gigabyte 1022M open, we see that it has a very sensible and simple layout.

To "transform" the Gigabyte 1022M Booktop into a desktop, you'll need the dock, which is included in the package.