Having had the Transformer since July, I don’t really see the need for increased performance just yet.  Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, it seems like cherry on top of an already great product from ASUS.  Then again, having a TF and a 1201N… I’m an ASUS whore.

Man, @CyberGusa, you don’t know how ready I am to start using an ARM processor on a cloud-synced desktop. I think I just bought my last INTEL based product w/ the $99 Google TV (ATOM). I want to switch so badly that I may just get the ASUS Transformer/dock and plug it’s mini-HDMI into my Samsung 27″ TV/Monitor in the bedroom. Because I’m addicted to synced apps now, I pretty much only use Google Docs, Zoho, and DropBox anyway.

hahaha..I have the Tf and the 1201N as well..two Asus whores!

I think that it bears remembering that the benchmark product is NOT optimized (and in fact may even be incapable at present) of actually making use of the new GPU integrated in the updated Kal-El design.  And/or the hardware “driver” integration may not be completely ready to go yet.

What we may be observing is the results of a fraction of that computing power being brought to bear.  This would also explain the crashes in the “high” settings tests as the product is unable to fully make use of the graphics/compute model.

On the more general computing question, I think the advances have a great deal of bearing on the tablet market as a general segment.  The applications that we have seen on the tablet space have been – lets admit it – fairly light weight and often implementing a significantly reduced experience from thier more established “laptop” or “desktop” cousins.

With more local processing resources, developers can start to build more comprehensive applications which can make use of data more readily in simultaneous and/or asynchronous activities.  In the prior generation of tablets, as an enterprise or a developer targetting a wide audience, you had to build for the lowest common denominator and let dual core processors essentially be a platform to allow for limited multi-tasking.  
Only games would be constructed to make use of everything available and assume they are the only running application.  If you were – say – a spreadsheet application and made the choice to allow asynchronous processes for dealing with in-spreadsheet formulas and the like – or more complex features – you would always know that a segment of your user base is running single core.

That segment would have a sub-acceptable user experience as the application “appeared” to them to hang or have lag between update activities and resolving further input.  What was really happening, of course, was that the application was working as normal but at a slower pace because of the limited local hardware capabilities.Whether you get a tablet to play games, or you are looking to develop an enterprise application, I think the move to a quad-core design – particularly one that has hopes to also deal well with low-demand/low-power – is a great step forward in the maturity of the mobile sector and tablets in particular.I have been holding back on purchasing a tablet, first to see what Amazon brings to the table, and now because Kal-El is so close I would rather buy in early on Kal-El and know that I will be “current” for a good while.

Early reports on price can be wrong, but the Tegra 3 has 3x better graphics and 5x better CPU performance.  While maintaining similar power usage for about the same run time.  Not to mention you should be able to install Windows 8 on it when it finally comes out late next year for longer period of usefulness than you’d get out of the original.

Conversely, this means the original Transformer will get a price cut.  While increased competition likely means the Transformer 2 will likely not stay that high priced for long.

A lot of this has to do with timing and the 40nm Tegra 3 may or may not be able to be priced at a good enough price point.  However, 2012 will see the introduction of 28nm next gen ARM processors from other manufacturers and Asus could always switch to one of them once they become available for a better priced alternative.

Though OS and software optimization will have to be redone for whichever one they choose.

Though Asus will also reportedly be offering a Ivy Bridge based Ultrabook for as low as $600 some time next year as well and with the pricing that close you might as well stick with Intel and the much higher performance they offer for the price, but again it depends on timing and how well they can price the final product.