Asus Transformer Book T100

_Kaiser_

Afternoon all,

I think I may have found my next laptop/toy - the soon to be released Transformer Book T100 - More also here

Full Windows 8.1, 10.1" IPS display with one of the new Quad Core Atoms and 2GB RAM for $349/$399 (32GB/64GB) or €261/€298 in local terms.

OK it's not going to compete with the XPS 12 Duo I have sitting on my desk, but for that money I'd say it'll get a lot of fans and comfortably handle most people's tablet usage and could be a serious competitor to the Android/iPhone alternatives at that price.

AlanS181824

It will sell for the same price in Euro as it does in Dollar.
Interesting device though getting a new nexus 7 so I think I'll pass for now

Outkast_IRE

any sign of these T100s hitting European shelves before Christmas.

Telchak

These are starting to get into the hands of reviewers now. Hopefully they'll pop up in Ireland, or at least the UK.

Outkast_IRE

Telchak wrote: »

These are starting to get into the hands of reviewers now. Hopefully they'll pop up in Ireland, or at least the UK.

Hopefully, I have been looking at websites all over but seem unable to find a European launch date, and asus website in Europe doesn't even list it in their products yet.

Would love one of these for Christmas .

Dan_Solo

On my watchlist too. Lovely looking machine at any price.

ThunbergsAreGo

Same here, laptop is hitting 3 years old now, think this will be my next one

Overheal

the price is right but no USB and its a Micro USB charger. Eh. I am religiously against Micro USB.

Outkast_IRE

Overheal wrote: »

the price is right but no USB and its a Micro USB charger. Eh. I am religiously against Micro USB.

theres a usb 3.0 port im almost sure

_Kaiser_

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

theres a usb 3.0 port im almost sure

Yea you can see on the keyboard theres a blue USB port.. that's a 3.0

I know I started this thread but I've actually changed my mind and am leaning more towards the soon-to-be-released DELL Venue 11 Pro instead.

I'm particularly liking the dock and proper keyboard (which also contains a battery so extends the life of the tablet)

TBi

That dell looks interesting. Missus needs an upgrade soon, could be a possibility.

Dan_Solo

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I know I started this thread but I've actually changed my mind and am leaning more towards the soon-to-be-released DELL Venue 11 Pro instead.

Very nice. Can't see it going for under $400 though!

Outkast_IRE

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Yea you can see on the keyboard theres a blue USB port.. that's a 3.0

I know I started this thread but I've actually changed my mind and am leaning more towards the soon-to-be-released DELL Venue 11 Pro instead.

I'm particularly liking the dock and proper keyboard (which also contains a battery so extends the life of the tablet)

I like the look of that too but any sign of release date here in Europe ?

Telchak

These are showing up on Amazon.de now with more configuration options.

€379 - 32GB SSD
€429 - 32GB SSD + 500GB HDD
€429 - 64GB SSD
€479 - 64GB SSD + 500GB HDD

Haven't seen mention of the hard drive before now, I'm assuming it's in the keyboard dock

Padraig Mor

Telchak wrote: »

These are showing up on Amazon.de now with more configuration options.

€379 - 32GB SSD
€429 - 32GB SSD + 500GB HDD
€429 - 64GB SSD
€479 - 64GB SSD + 500GB HDD

Haven't seen mention of the hard drive before now, I'm assuming it's in the keyboard dock

Errr........how much?! I know we always get ripped off in Europe for electronics compared to the US, but $349 equating to €379 ($520) is just taking the piss!

Telchak

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Errr........how much?! I know we always get ripped off in Europe for electronics compared to the US, but $349 equating to €379 ($520) is just taking the piss!

The US prices don't include any taxes. Take German VAT rate off that price and it's about €318, which is about $435.

I imagine there might be other differences in import duties and the cost of sales for Amazon in Europe vs the US.

Padraig Mor

Telchak wrote: »

The US prices don't include any taxes. Take German VAT rate off that price and it's about €318, which is about $435.

I imagine there might be other differences in import duties and the cost of sales for Amazon in Europe vs the US.

I realise this, but it's still ridiculous. Electronics generally convert from dollars to euro at the same figure or slightly lower, i.e. say a tablet retailing at $300 in the US will cost €270 - €300 here. To have the euro figure higher (i.e. €379 vs $349) is just gouging. Besides, I think American sales tax is only within the relevant State (i.e. Yanks buying online from the US won't pay sales tax unless the trader is based in their state, and even then the taxes are generally considerably lower than EU VAT; I'd welcome correction if I'm wrong).

Mardy Bum

The main selling point for this was its price. I'm not sure if it is worth that euro price at all and no doubt the Irish price will be much dearer.

Outkast_IRE

Will have to hold tough and see what that dell machine comes in at.

Lets not forget, there are more than asus launching these type of tablets pre-Christmas. Hopefully their rivals will reveal their cards soon.

Telchak

Lots of reviews coming out now; Lisa from MobileTechReview is usually my most trusted source

Still want one Also seen that they're selling for about AUD$600, similar to the €420 Amazon.de price. Couldn't find details of which model that was though

spr1nt3r

The price is high. Though mind you, iPad with its own proprietary OS sells for more. Also surface pro is twice the price. So in a sense it is not a bad deal. Just yes.. America is getting way better pricing as always

ThunbergsAreGo

Is there a change this could be obselete quickly given there seems to be a number of windows 8 hybrids coming out?

Heard mention on another forum Intel will look at quad core early 2014, is it worth waiting?

Looks a lovely piece of kit, have a tf300 and would be looking to trade up to this

Overheal

naughtb4 wrote: »

Is there a change this could be obselete quickly given there seems to be a number of windows 8 hybrids coming out?

Heard mention on another forum Intel will look at quad core early 2014, is it worth waiting?

Looks a lovely piece of kit, have a tf300 and would be looking to trade up to this

theres always another processor around every corner.

Frankly your decision to buy should be based on your needs. Ask yourself when do you need this device?

Alanstrainor

I have an ME400c which is a dual core, 2GB of RAM device running windows 8.1 and it is simply superb. Honestly couldnt ask any more from it. It's lightning fast for most every day tasks such as browsing and light work. Mostly due to it's 64GB SSD. I honestly can't fault it. Superb battery life, very fast, and light with a great screen. I'm all about Atom based Win8 tabs. Great machines.

spr1nt3r

naughtb4 wrote: »

Is there a change this could be obselete quickly given there seems to be a number of windows 8 hybrids coming out?

Heard mention on another forum Intel will look at quad core early 2014, is it worth waiting?

Looks a lovely piece of kit, have a tf300 and would be looking to trade up to this

Not really. Unless ASUS or ACER puts something out unexpectedly. Other manufacturers not so hot on good design, quality and innovation. Only big players like ASUS can pull out a device like this - not only stylish and with latest OS but also solid build and performing well.
If I had spare 400 and an urgent need for tablet - this would be it. Full Windows OS for this price is no brainer. Heck, Android ones sell for as much and more.

ThunbergsAreGo

spr1nt3r wrote: »

Not really. Unless ASUS or ACER puts something out unexpectedly. Other manufacturers not so hot on good design, quality and innovation. Only big players like ASUS can pull out a device like this - not only stylish and with latest OS but also solid build and performing well.
If I had spare 400 and an urgent need for tablet - this would be it. Full Windows OS for this price is no brainer. Heck, Android ones sell for as much and more.

This is it for me, i could sell the TF300 while it still has value and get full windows for approx 150 euros or so, seems a no brainer.

Still no European release date from what iv seen. Was reading on the Transformer Forum that it could be December as there was some manufacturing problems. (which may indicate while review copies had issues)

Telchak

UK prices revealed, and ouch! :c

32GB version for £349, or about €412/$556. 60% above the US price.

Outkast_IRE

Telchak wrote: »

UK prices revealed, and ouch! :c

32GB version for £349, or about €412/$556. 60% above the US price.

Ya those prices are nuts, I cant see the justification at all. Well they have lost me as a potential buyer if those prices go ahead.

Monotype

Could be just launch price to gouge what they can out of early buyers.

Overheal

Monotype wrote: »

Could be just launch price to gouge what they can out of early buyers.

historically that method proves fatal with most tablets. The only tablet that could have got away with it but was smart enough not to try was the iPad. You could say the same of the Wii or those Skylander pieces of **** though too.

Dan_Solo

Overheal wrote: »

historically that method proves fatal with most tablets. The only tablet that could have got away with it but was smart enough not to try was the iPad.

LOL, compared to things like the T100 the iPad is always a gouge!

symbolic

I see Komplett have them in stock

EUR349 for 32GB

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb-02tab/80013348/asus-transformer-book-t100/details.aspx

Telchak

symbolic wrote: »

I see Komplett have them in stock

EUR349 for 32GB

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb-02tab/80013348/asus-transformer-book-t100/details.aspx

That's pretty good considering they're retailing for £349 in the UK. This is much closer to the kind of European price you'd expect.

Royale with Cheese

Do these tabs all run proper windows 8.1? I've an Asus Transformer TF300 with Android on it, nice hardware but it's extremely laggy. I love Android on my phone but it's woeful for tablets. At least for that tablet anyway. Have always been interested in switching to Windows but the price point of tablets running proper Windows 8 put me off, and Windows RT looked pointless.

PaulieC

Yes, this tab in particular runs W8.1 full version. It has the Atom Bay Trail processor which is apparently a huge improvement on its predecessor.
There are a few 8-inch tabs starting to make their debuts at the moment too - Dell Venue Pro 8, Lenovo Miix2 and Toshiba Encore, all with full W8.1 and Bay trail processor.

Royale with Cheese

Think I'll check it out for that price. Pretty much never use my Android tab anymore. When's it's just a larger version of your phone that's 10 times slower there's not much point. I'd love to just get a version of Windows up and running on it but I can't even do that.

PaulieC

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Think I'll check it out for that price. Pretty much never use my Android tab anymore. When's it's just a larger version of your phone that's 10 times slower there's not much point. I'd love to just get a version of Windows up and running on it but I can't even do that.

the Dell is cheaper at 299, review here - http://winsupersite.com/mobile-devices/dell-venue-8-pro-review

symbolic

PaulieC wrote: »

the Dell is cheaper at 299, review here - http://winsupersite.com/mobile-devices/dell-venue-8-pro-review

Just to note that the Dell venue 8 doesn't have hdmi out, just in case ya need it.

Royale with Cheese

Part (actually quite a lot) of the attraction here is that it will be running a full OS. I don't think an 8" screen would be suitable for that. Would definitely prefer the 10.1".

symbolic

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Part (actually quite a lot) of the attraction here is that it will be running a full OS. I don't think an 8" screen would be suitable for that. Would definitely prefer the 10.1".

True. So many options are great. I love the 8 inch form factor though, but went for the T100 anyway to try it out. Don't have a tablet at the moment and was thinking of grabbing an Android one. Will be nice with this to able to fire up eclipse or visual studio and mess about with some code etc and process some photos through lightroom. Interesting time ahead! Ha

PaulieC

symbolic wrote: »

True. So many options are great. I love the 8 inch form factor though, but went for the T100 anyway to try it out. Don't have a tablet at the moment and was thinking of grabbing an Android one. Will be nice with this to able to fire up eclipse or visual studio and mess about with some code etc and process some photos through lightroom. Interesting time ahead! Ha

VS and Lightroom at the same time on a 2GB Atom machine would surely be stretching things a bit, no ? I'd be very interested to see how you get on with it

Dan_Solo

symbolic wrote: »

I see Komplett have them in stock

EUR349 for 32GB

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb-02tab/80013348/asus-transformer-book-t100/details.aspx

That's a great conversion rate alright compared to the usual rip off markup. The 64Gb would be nice to see too though.

Overheal

Got these is stock starting at $350. Not thrilling by any means, aside from the fact that its a really rather good value for what's essentially a touchscreen netbook with a free copy of Office 2013 Home in the box.

I will have to unbox one at some point this week if its not done by the weekend and have a go of it. Again though, charging via MicroUSB is a dealbreaker for me. But for most people this will be a great holidays option

symbolic

PaulieC wrote: »

VS and Lightroom at the same time on a 2GB Atom machine would surely be stretching things a bit, no ? I'd be very interested to see how you get on with it

Maybe not at the same time :-)

But I reckon Visual Studio would run on its own. So I could write a Web app and deploy it. If that's the case, it sounds great compared to the ipad I used to travel with.

And if lightroom can run ok, I could connect my camera and upload processed pictures to a blog/Flickr.

And the fact that I can connect external drives is a big plus for me. Hated having to pick the movies I wanted to watch on ipad before I left. Now I can just grab them off my external drive whilst on the move.

And I can also sit back in tablet mode and browse the Web and watch movies/use netflix with great battery life.

I'm interested to see how I get on with too. I hope it's the solution to my situation, I'll post here anyway with updates.

Dan_Solo

Overheal wrote: »

Again though, charging via MicroUSB is a dealbreaker for me.

Why's that? Is it much slower than a dedicated charging port? They're fairly standard now for phones.

Overheal

the obscene wear and tear. The entire $350 unit is at the mercy of a 50 cent component.

symbolic

Overheal wrote: »

the obscene wear and tear. The entire $350 unit is at the mercy of a 50 cent component.

The micro USB port?

AntiVirus

Overheal wrote: »

the obscene wear and tear. The entire $350 unit is at the mercy of a 50 cent component.

Thats just nonsense

Uncle_moe

the dell XPS 10 is currently reduced to €329, would that make it a better buy than the Transformer Book?

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/XPS-10-tablet/pd

Telchak

Telchak wrote: »

These are starting to get into the hands of reviewers now. Hopefully they'll pop up in Ireland, or at least the UK.

I've been watching these machines and it's really good for the price. However it's a bit too small as a main laptop. 10" inch screen is too small imo. If you are doing any sustained typing it will do your head in. Or something like Excel is pretty much unusable on such a small screen for example.

This is a great travelling / holiday device as it's light, has good battery life and the tablet part is great for just browsing, movies/video and you can type emails when you need. Some basic gaming is possible too.

If you already have a decent tablet of some sort and a laptop it's a bit of a luxury. For that reason it's a nice-to-have type thing for me but one that I wouldn't use much.

if you're getting one the 64gb version would be the one to go for as the 32gb version with windows on it would leave very little space to install anything and programs running off an sd card through the expansion port would be very slow. I don't see the komplett version offering ms office package as being included, unlike on Amazon. A 13 inch version of this would be more usable in real-world.

here's an extensive review of the T100

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7428/asus-transformer-book-t100-review

Uncle_moe

Uncle_moe wrote: »

the dell XPS 10 is currently reduced to €329, would that make it a better buy than the Transformer Book?

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/XPS-10-tablet/pd

no. the t100 is a lot more powerful in terms of processing power. the xps 10 only runs windows rt also, which is not full windows 8.