Asus Announcement 3: ASUS Transformer Book Trio - Android & Windows 8 Hybrid Device

[dgstorm]

Our next big announcement from Asus is an unusual and innovative device. It's called the Asus Transformer Book Trio and it is basically a notebook/tablet hybrid device that runs both Android and Windows 8. This baby doesn't skimp on power either. Here's a spec breakdown,

• Intel’s Core i7 chipset inside the notebook for the Windows side of things
• A 2GHz Intel ATOM-based Z2580 chipset for the Android tablet part
• 11.6 inch 1080p display
• 64GB of flash storage in the tablet portion
• 1TB hard drive inside the dock/notebook
• The dock/notebook includes its own bigger battery separate from the one in the tablet

As is the case with some of the previous devices Asus announced, pricing and timeframes were not shared just yet. Here's the press release,

Chairman Jonney Shih introduces the Transformer Book Trio and other revolutionary products that transform consumers’ expectations of technology

Computex, Taipei, Taiwan (3 June, 2013) — ASUS today announced incredible new products at it’s “We Transform” Computex 2013 press event that transform consumers’ expectations about technology. Chairman Jonney Shih revealed the ASUS way of Design Thinking and introduced an entire line of innovative devices designed to simplify today’s digital lifestyle.

“We seek to perfect the balance between engineering and humanity, where every intricate detail echoes our needs for both emotion and function,” said ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih. “This is the ASUS way of Design Thinking, where every idea starts with people and we turn our imagination into myriad revolutionary innovations.”

The ASUS Transformer Book Trio is an innovative combination of notebook, tablet and desktop PC for unparalleled flexibility in work, play, and social activity, while the new Transformer Pad Infinity is the world’s first NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 tablet with a stunning 2560 x 1600 resolution display. ASUS also announced two new handheld devices, the 6-inch Fonepad™Note FHD 6 tablet with 3G voice-calling and the 7-inch MeMO Pad HD 7 value tablet with an MSRP of US$129. The ultra-compact VivoPC desktop, the VivoMouse wireless mouse with built-in multi-touch touchpad and the world’s first AC1900 router, the RT-AC68U, were also unveiled.

ASUS Transformer Book Trio — transforming expectations for notebooks
The ASUS Transformer Book Trio is the world’s first three-in-one mobile device. With an 11.6-inch detachable display and dual operating systems, Transformer Book Trio transforms mobile flexibility by switching effortlessly between a Windows 8 notebook, Android tablet and Windows 8 desktop PC. Transformer Book Trio switches easily between operating systems to give users access to over 700,000 apps in the Google Play Store and over 50,000 apps in the Windows Store.

Despite the different operating systems, the Transformer Book Trio has been designed to smoothly transition between modes, allowing users to sync data or continue to surf the webpage they’re on even when moving from notebook to tablet mode.

The PC Station dock has its own 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor, keyboard and 750GB hard drive, and with the tablet display detached, can be hooked up to an external display for use as a desktop PC. The PC Station also serves as a charger for the tablet for extended battery life. The tablet features a 2.0 GHz Intel® Atom™ processor and a 16:9 aspect ratio IPS display with Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution and up to 64GB storage.

New ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity — transforming expectations for tablets
The New Transformer Pad Infinity is the first in ASUS range of innovative dual-purpose mobile devices to feature a 1.9GHz NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 mobile processor with quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU and 72-core GeForce® GPU. The 10.1-inch LED backlit display has an ultra-sharp 2560 x 1600 resolution with IPS technology for 178-degree wide viewing angles, plus 10-point multi-touch for smooth and responsive fingertip control. ASUS SonicMaster-enhanced audio completes the mobile tablet entertainment experience. The redesigned keyboard dock now features a multi-touch touchpad, USB 3.0 and an SDXC card reader, and gives longer battery life when the tablet is docked.

ASUS MeMO Pad™ HD 7
ASUS MeMO Pad™ HD 7 is an incredible value 7-inch tablet with an MSRP of US$129 for 8GB capacity and US$149 for 16GB. MeMO Pad™ HD 7 weighs just 302g and has a quad-core processor, plus a 10-point multi-touch 1280 x 800 IPS display with 170-degree wide viewing angles. MeMO Pad™ HD 7 also features ASUS SonicMaster audio technology, and a front 1.2-megapixel camera and optional 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. It’s available in dark blue, white, pink and green colors.

ASUS Fonepad Note™ FHD 6
Part 3G smartphone, part tablet, ASUS Fonepad™ Note FHD 6 comes with a 1.6GHz Intel® Atom™ Z2560 dual-core processor and 1920 x 1080 Full HD Super IPS+ display. With a display brightness of 450 nits, ASUS Fonepad™ Note FHD 6 can be used outdoors in bright sunshine, while front-facing stereo speakers with ASUS SonicMaster technology ensure high-quality high-definition audio. ASUS Fonepad™ Note FHD 6 also includes a stylus for quick and accurate handwritten input.

ASUS VivoPC — transform Expectations- for home computing
ASUS VivoPC is a wireless media center designed to provide HD Wi-Fi audio and video streaming through a high-speed 802.11ac connection. Its compact design sports a spun-metal finish, ASUS SonicMaster audio technology and two USB 3.0 ports. ASUS VivoPC also features SATA 6GB/s and easy internal access for upgrades.

ASUS VivoMouse
ASUS VivoMouse is a combined touchpad, mouse and PC remote designed to bring the Windows 8 touch experience to PCs without a touch display. VivoMouse has its own touchpad that even recognizes Windows 8 touch gestures and can be used as a wireless remote for home entertainment PCs.

ASUS RT-AC68U Wireless Router
The ASUS RT-AC68U is the world’s first dual-band 802.11ac router with blisteringly fast combined AC1900 data rates of 1900Mbit/s. The RT-AC68U also features ASUS AiRadar technology that uses beamforming to focus the Wi-Fi for a stronger wireless connection and 150% greater coverage than other routers. The RT-AC68U features a Router-to-Router Sync mode that makes light work of sharing files. A simple invitation allows photos, videos and other files on USB-attached storage to be synchronized automatically to USB-attached storage on other compatible ASUS routers, without the need for a switched-on PC at either end.

Other ASUS products announced at Computex include the Zenbook Infinity Ultrabook™, MeMO Pad FHD 10 tablet, G10 desktop PC with built-in UPS and the PA279Q ProArt WQHD pre-calibrated professional monitor.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING
Please refer to each individual product’s press release for full product details. Images are available for download here.

ASUS AT COMPUTEX 2013
Visit the ASUS Computex 2013 stand in Taipei from 4th to 8th June. The ASUS stand is at Booth M0810, Nangang Exhibition Hall 4F at the Taipei World Trade Center.

NOTES TO EDITORS

30-word summary
ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih today introduced the ASUS Transformer Book Trio, the New Transformer Pad Infinity, the Fonepad Note 6, the MeMO Pad HD 7, the VivoPC, and VivoMouse at Computex 2013.

60-word summary
ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih today introduced the ASUS Transformer Book Trio, a dual OS device that is part notebook, tablet, and desktop PC; and the New ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, the world’s first NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 tablet with a 2560 x 1600 WQXGA IPS display. He also introduced the ASUS Fonepad Note 6, the ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7, the ASUS VivoPC, and VivoMouse.

100-word summary
ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih took to the stage at the ASUS “We Transform” Computex 2013 press event and introduced innovative new products that are not only simple to use, but have been designed to make life simpler. Mr Shih introduced the ASUS Transformer Book Trio, a dual OS device that is part notebook, part tablet, and part desktop PC; and the New ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, the world’s first NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 tablet with a 2560 x 1600 WQXGA IPS display. Other notables include the ASUS Fonepad Note 6, the ASUS MeMO Pad HD 7, the ASUS VivoPC, and VivoMouse.

###

ABOUT ASUS
ASUS is a worldwide top-three consumer notebook vendor and maker of the world’s best-selling, most award-winning, motherboards. A leading enterprise in the new digital era, ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today’s digital home and office, with a broad portfolio that includes motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, desktop and all-in-one PCs, notebooks, netbooks, servers, multimedia devices, wireless solutions, networking devices, tablets and smartphones. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, ASUS won 4,168 awards in 2012 and is widely credited with revolutionizing the PC industry with its Eee PC™. ASUS has more than 12,500 employees around the globe with a world-class R&D team of 3,800 engineers. Company revenue for 2012 was approximately US$14 billion.

 

[akhenax]

I'm confused as to why it runs Windows on the i7, but runs Android on the Atom. Since they are both intel CPU's, why couldn't Android just be compiled to run on the i7 ?

 

[kodiak799]

Compare this to what Acer is trying to do...like I said, Acer is a fail. Even this better have 4gigs of ram if you're going to have a decent Windows experience.

 

[dgstorm]

I'm confused as to why it runs Windows on the i7, but runs Android on the Atom. Since they are both intel CPU's, why couldn't Android just be compiled to run on the i7 ?

The reason is likely performance. The Atom makes sense for the tablet which needs more battery life, but when you switch to notebook mode, some users want more power than the Atom provides. More than likely the intent of this product is to pull people away from Ultrabooks and the Macbook Air and offer them a tablet to go with it. Clever idea.

 

[kodiak799]

The reason is likely performance. The Atom makes sense for the tablet which needs more battery life, but when you switch to notebook mode, some users want more power than the Atom provides. More than likely the intent of this product is to pull people away from Ultrabooks and the Macbook Air and offer them a tablet to go with it. Clever idea.

Seems pretty costly, though, to have 2 processors. But agree with what you said - business users need an i7.

Plus, with Win8 it can take advantage of the touchscreen. I like Asus, they seem to be about the only mfr truly on the cutting edge.

Although personally I'd rather some other way to run Android without dual-booting. Something like an i7 would make-up for the lag from some sort of virtual Android. Would love to have some of my Android widgets on my PC desktop. The windows widgets never really seemed to take off.

 

[zinethar]

I'm not sure I get it. Win RT is Microsoft's version of a tablet OS. They run full win8 but not RT in a duel setup - seems to be a huge slap in Microsoft's face to me (your OS is fine for a computer but we need a real tablet OS for the tablet side...).

 

[kodiak799]

I'm not sure I get it. Win RT is Microsoft's version of a tablet OS. They run full win8 but not RT in a duel setup - seems to be a huge slap in Microsoft's face to me (your OS is fine for a computer but we need a real tablet OS for the tablet side...).

Not sure it's a slap in the face. Android has far more apps, and probably more a marketing decision to have their tablet run Android. It's a point of differentiation - not a device like this out there right now.

 

[Narsil]

I don't think it's dual-booting. As I understand what they're saying, it's a three-piece device with the traditional Transformer tablet and keyboard and a separate laptop docking station. The i7 processor is in the docking station with the 1TB HDD. When you take the tablet/keyboard combo and place it in the docking station, the tablet simply functions as a touch-screen monitor for W8. I assume we'll be able to transfer data from the tablet to the HDD but it looks like the tablet is strictly Android.

And I can live with that. It's still amazingly impressive to run both off an ostensibly single device.