Remember the GIGABYTE Booktop M1022 on show at CeBIT back in March? Using a docking station, the system fused netbook with nettop and left us thinking that a second-gen product with discrete graphics housed within the dock itself could be interesting.
As it turns out, GIGABYTE agrees, as the Taiwanese manufacturer has done exactly that with the Booktop M1305.
The system, pictured above, is listed as "coming soon" and comes bundled with a docking station equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 graphics card - allowing users to take advantage of a little extra graphical power when not on the road.
What's useful is that unlike the Atom-powered Booktops of old, the new M1305 is a well-spec'd system in itself. Sporting a 13.3in, 1,366x768 display, the notebook houses a choice of Intel's ultra-low-voltage Core 2 Duo, Pentium or Celeron processors, coupled with up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and integrated Intel 4500MHD graphics.
There's up to 500GB of storage, a built-in fingerprint reader, a number of connectivity options - including Wireless N, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth - and a six-cell battery promising over six hours of battery life.
Making good use out of the docking station, GIGABYTE has seen fit to equip it with six USB ports, HDMI and DVI out, and a DC-in jack.
It isn't the best-looking solution we've ever seen, but if the price is right, it might strike a useful balance between on-the-go convenience and docked functionality.
