The Asus Transformer Book T100 is a 2-in-1 Windows tablet that launched in 2013, and of all the devices I’ve reviewed in the past year or two, it’s one of my favorites thanks to its combination of long battery life, acceptable performance, and a low price tag (you can pick one up for under $300).
Now Asus is updating its Transformer Book family and the new 10 inch model seems like an improvement in just about every possible way. The Transformer Book Chi T100 is more compact, has a better screen and improved build quality and doesn’t cost much more money.
The tablet has a 10.1 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS display and weighs about 1.4 pounds. Add the keyboard dock and you’ve got a 2.4 pound laptop. The Transformer Book Chi T100 tablet measures 0.3 inches thick, or 0.5 inches thick when used in laptop mode.
Asus has improved the touchpad. While the original T100 had a rather cramped touch surface, the new model keyboard dock has a reasonably large touchpad which feels pretty responsive.
The tablet is powered by an Intel Atom Z3775 Bay Trail processor, supports up to 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of solid state storage, and features 5MP rear and 2MP front cameras, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth. Asus says the tablet should get up to 10 hours of battery life.
Like many other small Windows tablets, the Transformer Book Chi T100 will come with a 1-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365.
A model with 32GB of storage will sell for $399. Asus expects to ship the new 2-in-1 tablet in the first quarter of 2015, probably sometime in February.
I stop reading when I see 2Gb of RAM mentioned these days, not interested in 300$ tablet with less than 4Gb of RAM. More so, 4Gb should be available on 199$ tablets as well IMHO!
Unfortunately, not going to happen for the next year at least… Not at that pricing anyway… Have to wait till the transition from LP-DDR3 to LP-DDR4 takes place and LP-DDR4 becomes common enough to lower pricing…
Have to keep in mind that tablets are not laptops… mobility orientated devices have to prioritize battery life and they’re already cutting corners to get these devices into these low price ranges… Present LP-DDR3 RAM options aren’t power efficient enough to not cause a significant battery life decrease by going to 4GB, at least for the smaller tablets with small batteries already…
The LP-DDR3 RAM market is also tied to the rest of the mobile market and since pretty much no one is using 4GB it means they are still not mass produced enough to not warrant a high premium pricing for adding them… and space is a premium on mobile devices as well, making staking not really a option either… besides stacking usually cause even worse battery life…
Again, thanks!
One of the few times I’ve laughed out loud at a CES keynote – watching Jonney Shih giggle his way through all the Chi vs Air bits when presenting this. hahahaha.
Thankyou!
hahahaha… he’s a riot. Seems like a nice guy actually.
Glad to see them improving this wonderful computer. Nice to see it’s thinner, especially the keyboard dock – I thought it odd that the original was rather thick despite most the technology being in the tablet portion.
Bay Trail in 2015? Fail.
I don’t care that it uses Baytrail rather than Cherrytrail, what I take issue with is that it’s only available with a maximum of 2GB of RAM.
I wish someone would release an Atom tablet with 4GB already that doesn’t cost an Arm and a Leg because it’s considered a “premium corporate model” with pricing to match but still using Atom + eMMC.
I could pick up dirt cheap 11.6″ Laptops over 5 years ago like the Acer 1410/1810, plop in 4GB and have a capable machine on-the-go, but nowadays it’s impossible to step up from 2 to 4 GB without a 100-200 % jump in cost.
The Asus T200 meets that criteria, but it costs $449ish.
The problem is that DDR3-LP ram is expensive.
Speaking of that LPDDR3, I hear Snapdragon 810 supports LPDDR4 already, while the brand new state-of-the-art 14nm Core M/5th Gen Core U are still on LPDDR3.
Come on, Intel.
LP-DDR4 is still expensive, and supply isn’t adequate yet for most to get early dibs on it, the market is going to make the switch but it’ll be towards the later part of this year onward through next year for most… But Intel already has LP-DDR4 slotted for the Goldmont based ATOM updates (Broxton, etc) that will either be coming out towards the end of this year or early next year…
For a 11.6 laptop you might want to have a look at the Acer B113 or B115, Asus S202 or X201…
I am not looking for a Laptop, i am specifically looking for a 2-in-1 with detatchable keyboard that CAN act as a normal clamshell laptop, but also a tablet if needbe.
There are enough Baytrail Atoms that do support 4GB, but you can’t buy any products with them AND 4GB that aren’t marketed as “professional / corporate” with high price tags.
The Asus Transformer Book T200 isn’t marketed as “professional / corporate”… It’s a budget range offering…
Besides, larger devices with Celeron/Pentium branded ATOMs support regular DDR3L RAM up to 8GB… You’d just have to compromise a bit on mobility and battery life…
While we’re still a few months away before the mobile market for LP-DDR3 RAM can really push 4GB… both supply is presently low and price a premium right now but they have started the process to finally mass produce them and then by mid year and later we should start seeing those options appear… maybe a bit late for the first round of Cherry Trail/Braswell offerings but not long after…
Then the move to LP-DDR4 RAM should help make it more permanent towards the end of this year and through next year…