As expected, the latest Windows tablet from Asus is a 2-in-1 model with a detachable keyboard, and an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 processor.
But the Asus VivoBook Slate 13 OLED, which will be available in December for $599 and up, has one feature you don’t often find on Windows PCs in that price range: an OLED display.
The tablet’s 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel OLED display supports up to 550 nits of peak brightness (or 400 nits of sustained brightness, and features 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and PANTONE validation. The tablet supports Dolby Vision and it also has quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos sound.
In addition to supporting multi-finger touch input, the VivoBook Slate 13 OLED also supports an Asus Pen 2.0 digital pen with support for 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and a 266 Hz touch sampling rate. The pen comes with 4 interchangeable tips and has a battery that can be recharged with a USB-C charging cable. The pen is compliant with Microsoft’s Pen Protocol 2.0, which means you should also be able to use a Surface Pen or any other MPP 2.0-compatible pen with the tablet.
The tablet’s detachable keyboard features 1.4mm key travel and full-sized keys, but it’s a soft keyboard rather than one with a rigid design, so don’t expect a laptop-like experience. Typing on a desk or table should be fine, but it might take a little more work to balance the tablet & keyboard on a lap.
There’s also a cover stand that can be adjusted at up to a 170 degree angle.
While the $599 entry-level configuration will likely have just 4GB of LPDDR4X memory and 128GB of eMMC storage, Asus will also offer models with up to 8GB of RAM and a 256GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVME SSD.
Standard features include two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD card reader, 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 support, and a 50 Wh battery and 65W USB-C power adapter which can provide a 60% charge in 39 minutes. There’s also a fingerprint sensor in the power button.
The Asus VivoBook Slate 13 OLED measures 12.2″ x 7.48″ x 0.32″ and weighs about 1.76 pounds.
They will probably sell a ton of these – there’s no other OLED Windows PC at this price range. For those that want affordable OLED screen paired with windows and don’t care too much about specs, this is the only thing out there.
I really like the design and features. 13″ is a nice size. I’ve been interested in something larger than the Surface Pro (15″ would be amazing).
Also really nice to see some love for portrait-orientation. The OLED screen is a cool addition too.
The fact that the stand is its own separate cover seems weird. I’d need to carry it around with a keyboard cover, AND a stand cover.
At the end of the day, it seems like you’re paying a huge premium for this 13″ OLED screen. I’d definitely need the 8gb/256gb version, and I’m sure it’s going to cost $699.
I’m not sure I’d pay $700 for a Pentium powered tablet, no matter how nice the screen is. I’d probably look for a refurb i7 Surface Pro at that price.