ASUS' Transformer Book T100: Atom Z3740 Inside, Available October 18th at $349
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 11, 2013 8:16 PM EST
Earlier today, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen teased their first Bay Trail tablet: the T100. Today at ASUS' IDF press conference we got some more details on the tablet. The official name is the Transformer Book T100 and it's a 10.1-inch Windows 8.1 tablet. The IPS display features a 1366x768 resolution. Normally I'd complain about that, but the T100 starts at $349 for a 32GB model.
Internally, ASUS settled on the Atom Z3740, a quad-core Bay Trail SKU clocked lower than the one we previewed earlier today. The max non-turbo frequency on the Z3740 is 1.33GHz, with a max turbo of 1.86GHz. Since this isn't a D-SKU, ASUS settled on a dual-channel (2x64-bit) LPDDR3 memory interface.
Much like the Bay Trail FFRD we tested, the T100 is equipped with 2GB of LPDDR3. NAND storage options include 32GB or 64GB eMMC. There's also a single microSD card reader.
Other IO includes a micro USB port for charging (and/or external USB devices), a micro HDMI output and a headphone/mic jack. There's keyboard dock included (!!) that adds a USB 3.0 port. ASUS claims they used the Thinkpad and MacBook keyboards as the benchmarks to evaluate the T100 against.
The T100 ships with an integrated 31Wh battery. ASUS promises up to 11 hours of battery life thanks to the Bay Trail silicon inside. The tablet measures 10.4" x 6.7" x 0.41" (0.93" thick with the dock) and weighs 550g/1.2 lbs (2.4 lbs with the dock).
On the software side, in addition to Windows 8.1 you get a pre-installed copy of Office 2013.
The T100 is extremely interesting as it's truly a reimagining of the netbooks of 5 years ago. It's thinner, lighter and much faster.
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haukionkannel - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link
Not bad for a tabled and reasonable good keyboard!As many have sayed, 1080p resolution screen would be nice, but I think that we can expect to see a big brother to this device soon enough!
Strausd - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link
Does the keyboard dock have an extended battery?And does this come with a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 or 64-bit?
Hrel - Friday, September 13, 2013 - link
That's awesome! I might FINALLY be able to buy a "laptop" that actually qualifies as portable and is cheap enough I'm willing to take with me in 3rd world countries where people are often robbed. With that said, I'd be willing to spend more for at least a 900p screen, preferably 1080p. Kick that thing up to $450, give me 1080p and 64GB of storage and you've probably got a deal. Looking forward to reading a full review. Having only one USB port could prove to be a deal breaker though... I'm one who can't use touchpads, gotta have a mouse. So if I can't plug in an external hdd all of a sudden I can't use the device for anything I want to.Impulses - Saturday, September 14, 2013 - link
Could probably hook up a drive via the micro port and a mouse receiver on the full size port, or just use a Bluetooth mouse and have all ports free.Hrel - Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - link
Maybe you don't live in the US but here product's using bluetooth are very limited. There simply aren't any bluetooth mice I like.ssiu - Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - link
From here http://ark.intel.com/products/series/76761 the Z3740 would cost ASUS $32 and Z3770 would be $37. Why didn't ASUS pay $5 more for the Z3770 -- I'd gladly pay ASUS $10 more for it.speedwheels - Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - link
$349 and a keyboard doc included. Have netbooks finally come of age ? Very nice pricing by Asus..X-Nemesis - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Is ssd/flash storage really that expensive nowadays that they couldn't make the minimum 64GB and then 128 and 256, without ending up charging the end user through the wazoo?rburnham - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
I was all set to get a low end Surface Pro, but then I saw this model. These specs, with the keyboard dock, at that price sounds great! It's a thin 10 inch model, so it'll be nicer to hold versus the Surface Pro or some of the larger 11 inch tablets. It's similar in price to some of the Surface RT units, but it's x86. There's a lot to like about this tablet.I worry about build quality, but it is Asus, and they rarely disappoint in that regard. Even if the keyboard isn't that great, it'll still make for a great stand/charging station for the tablet. The 18th can't arrive fast enough.
azazel1024 - Sunday, October 20, 2013 - link
Can anyone confirm if the micro USB port on the tablet is for charging only? Or does it support full USB host when not used for charging? A couple of early preview/product announcements indicated it could be used for both, but Anand and Lilliputings both mention the port is to charge the tablet and me ting no USB host functionality one way or another.It would be kind of sad if it can't be used for both.