I’ll let you into a secret. I’ve got official access to the Mobilegeeks team collaboration system and I can see what’s coming next – and it’s the first English Transformer Book T100HA hands-on video with a secret price reveal!
The Transformer Book T100HA was the only significant product launched (for us) at the Asus press event and it takes what is probably the most popular Windows 2-in-1 so far and updates it with an Intel Atom X5 Z5800, a USB-C port, USB 3.0 on the keyboard dock and a full 64-bit Windows 10 OS. 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage are options that will delight many of you. There’s a new metal casing on the rear and a few other design changes.
Asus are saying that it has up to 14 hours battery life which is possible…if you’re viewing video in aircraft mode with medium-low screen brightness. The new audio subsystem in Atom X5 saves some power and the 14nm process obviously helps. Battery capacity hasn’t been confirmed yet though.
In terms of processing power we shouldn’t expect too much from Atom X5 over Baytrail-T. Maybe 10%. The important part is the eMMC disk and 4GB RAM option. If the eMMC is an improved module there could be serious usability advantages over the previous model. We’re waiting for full pricing details price but as you’ll hear in the video the entry-level price is $279. Our first guess on a 4GB / 64GB model is $379-$399 which is an interesting deal given the flexibility involved here.
The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA elevates Atom-based 2-in-1’s up to a completely new category.
Update: We just got a corrected screen resolution figure. It’s 1280 x 800 which is not very impressive for a modern tablet.
Full specifications (and more information as we find it) in the database here.
Nice work gimping it with the sub-1080p screen, I know they don’t want to sabotage the sales of their Chi model, but in reality, that just makes me not want to buy either model!
I completely agree with Lawrence. There is no reason this should be anything less than 1080.
I dont see why tablets and phones have such insane resolutions. I can do fine with 480p on a 5″ display. I find 1080p on a 24″ monitor to be enough. 720p is fine on a 10″ and it saves battery life so its a worth the trade off. Sure higher resolutions look good but i dont see why its nessecary.
The thing is that the lower resolution screens look just fine, but they don’t give you very much usable work space. You can view more on a 10″ screen that is at 1080 than the same 10″ screen at 720. Try looking at the same webpage on both types of screens and you’ll find that you can view more on the higher resolution screen. Of course it does ultimately come down to your personal preference! So, if lower resolution is what you like than this 2 in 1 might be perfect for you! It’s always good to have choices.
I think the fact that Cherry Trail only supports eMMC 4.51 when 5.x has been out since 2013 is very disappointing. Sure, the speed of the cheap NAND used in many tablets might mean that the higher bandwidth interface is unnecessary, but surely on these new models (Atom X5 and X7) they could have used better memory and done a bit more to bridge the gap to SSDs if they had the higher 3Gbps limit (like Samsung has on the GS6 for example).
Well, Samsung makes eMMC chips and can fast track them into their own products but most OEMs take a lot longer before they start adopting a newer specification eMMC drive…
It didn’t help that like Broadwell the Cherry Trail/Braswell release was delayed and thus they’re a fair bit behind their original time table plan… and this should actually have come out last year… even further back if you count the previous delays Intel suffered through…
But both LP-DDR4 RAM and eMMC 5.0 support are coming out next year with the Broxton/Apollo Lake updates…
Thanks for the extra info. The waiting for a decent tablet w/digitiser which I can also use docked at work is killing me. The Surface 3 4GB/128GB is so close, but the slow emmc kills it for me (SP3 too heavy, don’t want fan).
Having lived with the T100 Bay Trail (2/64) tablet for nearly two years now, I’ll tell you that eMMC is a deal-breaker for me with whatever my next portable is. The original T100 seemed like it would hit a sweet spot for me, but I haven’t used it nearly as much as I’d thought I would. I’m anxious to see what SP4 has to offer when it’s official. If this had M.2, it might entice me at 4/128, but not with eMMC.
Oh, and Lawrence and Steve are right about screen res. Well said.
Update for you: New Acer Switch 11V has confirmed SATA SSD.
You are one of the few smart ones. 1080p on a 10 inch screen is stupid. They make higher rez for ignorant people that think more us always better some would mindlessly order 4k screen on a 10″ screen if they could.