ASUS Transformer Book T100 Pro Reviews

If you can put up with the budget-conscious tradeoffs of the T100, it will no doubt suit some well. But if you’re looking for a well-rounded 10-inch touch device in the $400-500 price bracket, it could be worth exploring your ARM-based options.

This is not an iPad killer, or even a rival to the Surface Pro 2. But at £349 it is a compelling deal. The Asus Transformer Book T100T is a compact device that offers true functionality and decent performance. And it is a truly portable office PC. Much more updated netbook than desirable gadget, students, school children, home PC users and office road warriors could easily spend more and get less.

Thanks to Intel’s new Atom CPU, the Transformer Book T100 delivers full Windows 8.1 in a tiny, affordable package – the netbook is back

Who is Windows 8 for, exactly? It's not ideal for desktops or laptops without touch screens, and standalone tablets without keyboards can be hard to get work done on. You want both, like the Surface Pro. You're either picking a hybrid that's a tablet first and a laptop second, or a laptop first and a tablet second. The T100 is more laptop than tablet, but has the option to be flexible. It's not a great laptop. But it's a capable one, and highly affordable, too. If you can find one of these around $350, you're getting a tablet and a Netbook in one, with plenty of battery life to spare and full Windows 8. The Netbook is back, and it doubles as a tablet. Budget-minded Windows 8 shoppers should be happy about that.

Hey, we still can’t wrap our heads around the fact that the Asus Transformer Book T100 is priced at $349 for the base 32GB model – with the 64GB at an equally pleasing $399. On top of that, the cost includes the keyboard dock attachment, which is something that normally requires an additional cost. Indeed, it’s not the most specs heavy, high performing, or features rich tablet on the scene, but there’s something so comforting about this one – more so knowing it’s running a desktop grade operating system. At its core, you get the best of both worlds with this particular tablet, mainly because it’s one part tablet, one part netbook. Best of all, you’re not going to be spending a fortune on picking it up!

There’s a lot to like about the Asus Transformer Book T100. It’s small and cheap, gets long battery life, and offers decent performance whether you use it as a notebook or a tablet.It won’t be the best computer for everyone: The keyboard and touchpad are small, the screen resolution might be a bit too sharp when running apps that aren’t optimized for high-resolution screens, but it’s not as sharp as the screens on the latest iPads. And if you’re primarily looking for a tablet, you’ll probably find more high quality apps if you go with an iPad or Android tablet.But the Asus Transformer Book T100 can do things an iPad can’t. It supports Adobe Flash, full desktop apps including iTunes, Diablo 3, GIMP or Photoshop, and Microsoft Office 2013. It even comes with a fully-licensed copy of Office 2013 preloaded. I like to think of this machine as a portable notebook that you can also use as a tablet from time to time or when touch input makes more sense than using the keyboard.Judged by that standard, the Transformer Book T100 may be a best-in-class device — largely because there are so few other devices in its class. That could change in the coming months as we start to see more companies bring 10 inch tablets with keyboard docks to market. But Asus has long been a pioneer in this space, and the company knows how to make decent tablets and mini-laptops for reasonable prices.

We’re really impressed with the Asus Transformer Book T100. Its 10.1-inch scale works well as either a tablet or a laptop, even if the keyboard does feel a little squeezed up on initial use. It’s something that we got over, though, and given how responsive and bright the touchscreen is you might find you only want to dabble in Windows with your fingers instead. The build is plasticky, but not offensive, and we’re also not huge fans of the trackpad, but otherwise the T100 gets a whole lot right: full Windows 8.1, a battery life that lasts out for ages, Microsoft Office on board and, as we’ve touched upon many times, a price point that opens up Windows 8.1 to a wider audience. Sounds like the beginning of the end of Windows RT devices to us. If you’re after a two-in-one for work and play then we think the Asus T100 ticks plenty of boxes without breaking the bank. It might not have huge power or storage capacity on board, and it’s not a luxury device with much wow factor - but that’s probably a given at this level of purchase. In context to the rest of the market it's a real winner. It might be a touch more cash than a Chromebook competitor, but the Asus has so much more to offer. We think it’s an excellent device and one not to be overlooked.

The Transformer Book T100 delivers a solid tablet experience and a good notebook experience in one machine. But it would be even better with a superior keyboard and trackpad.

The Transformer Book T100T is one of the most significant products of the year. We look forward to other vendors' response.

The T100 truly lives up to the Transformer brand. The combination of Intel's Bay Trail silicon and ASUS' mechanicals gives the device a dual personality. In tablet mode it's just as portable as any other 10-inch tablet, while in clamshell mode it can be a netbook-style ultraportable PC. I’d love to see ASUS continue down this path and truly try to perfect the device. I look at the work that ASUS and Google do together and can’t help but wonder what the T100 would look like if it had the same sort of pressure/influence. Perhaps that’s a bigger criticism of how Microsoft works with its partners, but I look at the comparison of ASUS tablets with and without Google’s influence and try to imagine a further polished Transformer Book. That’s something I’d really like to see.