ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi Pro Reviews

In particular, we like the T300 Chi for its roomy keyboard and laptop-like experience, which we much prefer over typing on Microsoft's Surface 3 Type Cover. If you need to type on your lap, or in the cramped confines of, say, an airline tray table, the Chi is a much more accommodating machine. But we're still left feeling a little frustrated by 2-in-1 devices in general. An 11.6- or larger screen is about as small as we'd recommend for a comfortable laptop experience, and the 12.5-inch T300 Chi delivers that. But as a tablet, it feels a bit big and heavy for long-term reading or using touch apps, and the 16:9 aspect ratio isn't great for reading in portrait mode. The 3:2 screen of the Surface Pro 3 is better suited to those tasks, but it's also thicker, heavier, and more expensive when you add a keyboard cover.

You may like the idea of this computer, but I doubt you'll appreciate the reality—not when your money could be so much better spent. If you want portability and performance, you can get it in a thin Core i3 or i5 laptop like the $800 Dell XPS 13, or a backflipping touchscreen machine like the HP Spectre X360 (we'll have a review soon) for $900. Both are stylish and thin, and while neither has nearly as much battery life as they claim, both go twice as long as the Chi while offering full-size ports and stutter-free experiences. The only reason to go Core M is if you want ridiculously thin, and yet the T300 Chi isn't thin enough to overcome the disadvantages. But if you keep waiting, I bet that sooner or later, the detachable transforming laptop of your dreams will indeed appear. Today's Core M might not be right, but tomorrow's will surely be better. Apple just showed the entire industry how to cram a day's worth of Lithium-ion batteries into a razor-thin laptop. We're on the verge of ditching all those stupid miniature ports for sensible USB Type-C instead. And companies are working on wireless tech that could allow a keyboard dock—like this Chi's keyboard dock—house the ports and battery that it's missing.