Asus Eee Pad Transformer to launch April 26th for $399 and up

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer has already gone on sale in the UK and Taiwan. Now the tablet with the optional detachable keyboard is headed to the US and Canada. Asus says it will go on sale April 26th for a starting price of $399.

That price will get you a 10.1 inch Android tablet with 16GB of storage. The optional keyboard will run an extra $150. A 32GB model will also be available for $499 and up.

The Eee Pad Transformer features a 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, 1280 x 800 pixel display, front and rear cameras, Google Android 3.0, and all the usual goodies we’ve come to expect from a modern Android tablet. At $399, it will also be one of the cheapest slates to feature Android 3.0 and a high resolution screen.

The real show-stopper is the detachable keyboard which docks firmly to the tablet to let you use the combo like a laptop. There’s also an extra battery in the keyboard. Asus says you should be able to get 9.5 hours of battery life out of the tablet alone, and up to 16 hours when using the keyboard.

The folks at Android Central have posted a detailed review of the tablet. They’re not thrilled with the plastic case, but they’re impressed with the performance and base price. They also say the keyboard provides a transformative experience — even if the computer isn’t quite ready to replace a full-blown Windows or Mac laptop just yet.

via Engadget and Android Central

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

Buy from$329

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key specs
reviews • 41
prices

Form factorTablet
Operating systemAndroid (Honeycomb [3.x])
Screen size10.1 inches
Storage typeInternal storage (16 GB, Flash), Memory card
Maximum battery lifeUp to 9.5 hours
Dimensions10.67 x 6.96 x 0.51 in
Weight1.5 lb
Released04/26/2011

see all specs →

Posted on Thursday, April 21st, 2011, 8:54 am by Brad Linder

MonkeyKing1969

I can tell you right now THIS is what people will own. Not a tablet, not a ridged laptop, but rather one on many configuration like this.

The tablets portions will get the lighter, the connecting mechanism will become more elegant, & stronger, and they who unit will be more refined. The tablet revolution will quickly subside back into devices that look a lot more like clamshells again.

Were tablets a mistake? No, not at all, they pushed by force touch sensitive interfaces/gui forward by miles during the last two years. In addition, the momentum to allow for touch interfaces for more programs will continue. It is just that those believing keyboards were going to be tossed over the side were wrong.

The clamshell laptop configuration is not just about the allowing a keyboard. The clamshell config is a built-in stand for when you just want to watch the screen. The clamshell provides more ports on the bottom half. It is a place to hide a battery. It is a place to put media drives or bulky equipment you might not want in the tablet itself. And, the list goes on all the way down to the clamshell is protective off the screen when closed — it is the simplest case integrated into the device itself.
Relence

Freaking awesome. Totally going to get one. Finally something that has the potential to retire the tired old Laptop design forever. Laptops are supposed to be portable but they are such a pain. Too heavy; too much heat; too expensive; too many damn cables and one drop and it’s dead. I’m hoping that this design will be a tread setter for the future.
Anonymous

Looking forward to the moment when I can throw my debit card down on the checkout counter for this thing. I’m thinking that’s going to be a pretty good day.
Andynelson78

I`ll wait for Compufon. http://www.compufon.com
Anonymous

I’ve been saying that ever since this thing was announced. This device is the form factor of the future… the thing that will replace almost all netbooks and tablets on the market in 3-5 years. Gamers and professionals will still have use for full-sized laptops, but devices like this are going to be all that typical consumers will purchase for home use.
vacoarrfb

Another reason I think this type of design is going to be really convenient, is the increased accessibility of storage space for smaller devices. SSDs are getting so small but with much larger space. Also, cloud storage requires no physical space.

If this could be docked to use as your desktop or in a home theater, you could use a NAS drive to hold large amounts of info. That would be even more intriguing.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer to launch April 26th for $399 and up

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

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