First Intel MID Spotted Down Under

Australian computer retailer Tegatech is listing a pre-order page for what could be the first commercially available mobile Internet device (MID) built on Intel's newly branded Atom processor platform, Taiwanese computer maker Gigabyte's M528.

Available at Tegatech for A$999 (US$934) or A$1,199 for the version with an HSDPA mini card module, the Gigabyte M528 is built on the 800MHz Centrino Atom processor and Poulsbo chipset from Intel. It features a Linux operating system with Merry-Go-Round i-CON interface, 512MB of system memory and an Intel 8GB solid state disk.

The M528's display is a 4.8", 800x480 LCD panel with touch screen, it features a slew of I/O ports, built-in GPS, Bluetooth and HSDPA/WiFi capability, and the device weighs just 340g.

LEFT: The M528 mobile Internet device from Gigabyte is built on an Intel Atom chip.

Intel showcased more than a dozen prototype MIDs at its Consumer Electronics Show booth in January, including a model from Gigabyte. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker has been touting the devices for months, with Intel CEO Paul Otellini promising in his CES keynote that MIDs will usher in a brave new world of universal connectivity, unprecedented computing mobility and a fresh batch of killer apps for the business traveler.

Intel's concentrated foray into the world of small, smaller and smallest mobile devices is anchored around its new Atom brand of ultra-low voltage microprocessors and chipsets. In addition to supplying the silicon for the handheld MIDs and ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), Intel is banking on growing markets for a new mobile category it calls the netbook. Netbooks and the desktop version, nettops, are defined by Intel as barebones, low-power computers whose main function is to connect to the Internet.