Asus T100 - Windows 8.1 tablet/netbook

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jonb

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#136569 2-Dec-2013 10:58

The Asus T100 seems like the ideal device for anyone with children at high school, and those wanting a full Windows 8.1 experience in a tablet form factor, like the Surface Pro. It's getting generally great reviews at places like tech Report and Anandtech, but the NZ Tech Podcast team weren't that impressed with it.. I see it being taken out and about as a netbook/tablet, and with the potential to be used at home almost a desktop replacement with an external monitor. Also comes with Office Home and Student 2013.

It was officially released in NZ around the start of November, but it hasn't made it to the bigger retailers yet. I suspect there are supply issues - it's the Number 1 selling laptop at Amazon and places like Newegg are currently out of stock. Pricespy only have it in stock at a few places - I'm wondering whether to wait until after Christmas for buying it for a late present? It seems like only the 64GB version is being released over here. US price is $399 for the 64GB version, which gets translated with the usual NZ markup to $699. I'd be waiting for at least a 10% sale before buying it.

Do any geekzoners have one already, or planning to get one?

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#944061 2-Dec-2013 13:00

I have seriously considered this for my next device as it is going to be upgrade time soon. Personally I love this device category.

It seems obvious it has plenty going for it so I won't repeat that here.

My concerns are that:

It might not last well given it is made out of plastic and there have been some reviews saying the build quality isn't amazing. I'm a bit suspect of the hinge and screen locking mechanism.
I don't know how well a Bay Trail processor would keep up particularly after you have loaded a few apps. 2 GB of RAM also isn't a lot at all these days. Saying 'this device runs Windows 8' isn't the same as 'Windows 8 is usable on this device'.
The screen isn't exactly 'class leading' and I would want to watch video on it as a tablet.

These aren't actually criticisms of the device, given the price and that you get Office (Home and Student) for free and the test comparisons between Bay Trail and the previous Atoms I think it does represent good value.

This is also the first, or at least one of the first, Bay Trail convertibles we have seen. The other makers should have something to compete with soon, but on the other hand Asus have experience with the Transformer range so this might still be the best.

Let's say it cost $700 here (as far as I know it isn't on sale yet and NZ pricing hasn't been confirmed), if it was $900 and made of aluminium and had an HD screen then I couldn't resist. Having said that such a product might cut into Asus Ultrabook sales so they might keep this at 'cheap and cheerful'.

At present it is all speculation because it isn't actually on sale so until then I'll definitely consider it.

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qyiet

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#944071 2-Dec-2013 13:23

*wince* 64GB of storage on a full win8 device.. not sure how long that will last before it's full with just required patching :(. We have win7 machines that are over 100gb of OS+Apps+Patches at work. (no locally stored data, and not a huge volume of apps) So I wouldn't expect it to be too long before win8 hits the same space requirement.

Warning: reality may differ from above post

nathan

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#944097 2-Dec-2013 13:37

64GB is doable but obviously it depends on how much stuff you want to store

These have been on sale on Amazon.com last week for US299 which is where I picked mine up from

Hganavak

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#953327 16-Dec-2013 21:07

Hi guys,

I'm currently looking at picking one of these up for a self-Christmas present. Trying to find the best value Windows transformer/hybrid/buzzword for <$800NZ.
Currently torn between this and the Samsung Ativ Tab 3.

I'm a programmer so cant have RT!

Any advice' s much appreciated!

Cheers

nathan

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#953333 16-Dec-2013 21:17

what do you intend to use it for? You need to think about this to decide which machine you want

T100 is a great machine, but I don't find the keyboard awesome

you could pickup a second hand Surface Pro 1 for that price, or maybe even a brand new one in the upcoming boxing day sales

That would give you a i5 Intel machine

Faster than the Baytrail in a T100. But obviously flip side worse battery life

PB Tech recently had Clovertrail based ASUS tablets for $344, add on another 100-150 for a keyboard

Hganavak

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#953411 16-Dec-2013 23:51

nathan: what do you intend to use it for? You need to think about this to decide which machine you want

T100 is a great machine, but I don't find the keyboard awesome

you could pickup a second hand Surface Pro 1 for that price, or maybe even a brand new one in the upcoming boxing day sales

That would give you a i5 Intel machine

Faster than the Baytrail in a T100. But obviously flip side worse battery life

PB Tech recently had Clovertrail based ASUS tablets for $344, add on another 100-150 for a keyboard

I intend to use it mainly just for browsing the Interwebs, checking emails like a tablet, hacking away programming occasionally. I'm definitely keen for one, have mucked around with keyboards etc. and I don't mind them. Just a matter of what the best buy is, and running outta time!

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P1n3apqlExpr3ss

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#953412 16-Dec-2013 23:55

Hganavak:
nathan: what do you intend to use it for? You need to think about this to decide which machine you want

T100 is a great machine, but I don't find the keyboard awesome

you could pickup a second hand Surface Pro 1 for that price, or maybe even a brand new one in the upcoming boxing day sales

That would give you a i5 Intel machine

Faster than the Baytrail in a T100. But obviously flip side worse battery life

PB Tech recently had Clovertrail based ASUS tablets for $344, add on another 100-150 for a keyboard

I intend to use it mainly just for browsing the Interwebs, checking emails like a tablet, hacking away programming occasionally. I'm definitely keen for one, have mucked around with keyboards etc. and I don't mind them. Just a matter of what the best buy is, and running outta time!

Go for the T100 over the last-gen-specced Ativ Tab 3. I got one in the states for $300 and it's well worth it. Keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to and I was surprised at how large my 13" Lenovo was when I got that out the other day. Windows performance seems to be about the same as the Lenovo running W7 and a i5 2xxx

Hganavak

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#953418 17-Dec-2013 00:53

P1n3apqlExpr3ss:
Hganavak:
nathan: what do you intend to use it for? You need to think about this to decide which machine you want

T100 is a great machine, but I don't find the keyboard awesome

you could pickup a second hand Surface Pro 1 for that price, or maybe even a brand new one in the upcoming boxing day sales

That would give you a i5 Intel machine

Faster than the Baytrail in a T100. But obviously flip side worse battery life

PB Tech recently had Clovertrail based ASUS tablets for $344, add on another 100-150 for a keyboard

I intend to use it mainly just for browsing the Interwebs, checking emails like a tablet, hacking away programming occasionally. I'm definitely keen for one, have mucked around with keyboards etc. and I don't mind them. Just a matter of what the best buy is, and running outta time!

Go for the T100 over the last-gen-specced Ativ Tab 3. I got one in the states for $300 and it's well worth it. Keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to and I was surprised at how large my 13" Lenovo was when I got that out the other day. Windows performance seems to be about the same as the Lenovo running W7 and a i5 2xxx

Hmm interesting, it's just so damn ugly though! That's my main reason for the Ativ Tab 3. I wouldn't mind spending an extra $100 or so for something that actually looks nice too.

But are you saying that the Ativ's got worse specs than the T100? Hardware's by no means my specialty/interest.

P1n3apqlExpr3ss

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#953603 17-Dec-2013 11:22

Hganavak:
P1n3apqlExpr3ss:
Hganavak:
nathan: what do you intend to use it for? You need to think about this to decide which machine you want

T100 is a great machine, but I don't find the keyboard awesome

you could pickup a second hand Surface Pro 1 for that price, or maybe even a brand new one in the upcoming boxing day sales

That would give you a i5 Intel machine

Faster than the Baytrail in a T100. But obviously flip side worse battery life

PB Tech recently had Clovertrail based ASUS tablets for $344, add on another 100-150 for a keyboard

I intend to use it mainly just for browsing the Interwebs, checking emails like a tablet, hacking away programming occasionally. I'm definitely keen for one, have mucked around with keyboards etc. and I don't mind them. Just a matter of what the best buy is, and running outta time!

Go for the T100 over the last-gen-specced Ativ Tab 3. I got one in the states for $300 and it's well worth it. Keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to and I was surprised at how large my 13" Lenovo was when I got that out the other day. Windows performance seems to be about the same as the Lenovo running W7 and a i5 2xxx

Hmm interesting, it's just so damn ugly though! That's my main reason for the Ativ Tab 3. I wouldn't mind spending an extra $100 or so for something that actually looks nice too.

But are you saying that the Ativ's got worse specs than the T100? Hardware's by no means my specialty/interest.

Yeah the ATIV would definitely be slower, the Z3xxx of the T100 woops the Z2760 found in the ATIV in Anand's test http://www.anandtech.com/show/7314/intel-baytrail-preview-intel-atom-z3770-tested/2. Looking at the differences I would say it would affect day to day usage as well. Plus the Asus has the keyboard dock and a full version of Microsoft Office where the Samsung has the S Pen and a rear camera

It's not the best looking thing but I wouldn't say its horrible. Each to their own as many people don't like Samsung's white plastic either

crackrdbycracku

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#953610 17-Dec-2013 11:23

Is the T100 on sale in New Zealand officially?

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jonb

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#953638 17-Dec-2013 12:01

Yes, it's been available at the smaller retailers Playtech, Mighty Ape and Computer Lounge. Harvey Norman also have it now.

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jonb

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#956049 22-Dec-2013 09:04

I went and bought it from Playtech in their 10% sale on Friday, as an all-in-one device for our 12 yr old starting high school. It's in Harvey Norman aswell so their should be some boxing day deals somewhere. I was messing about trying to buy it from the US, but would only be worth it if could get the total Inc shipping in under $400 NZ.

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#956050 22-Dec-2013 09:09

qyiet: *wince* 64GB of storage on a full win8 device.. not sure how long that will last before it's full with just required patching :(. We have win7 machines that are over 100gb of OS+Apps+Patches at work. (no locally stored data, and not a huge volume of apps) So I wouldn't expect it to be too long before win8 hits the same space requirement.

I have the ASUS M400 here. It's 64GB of storage and still have 10GB free even with my Skydrive Documents and Pictures folders made available offline. I have just plugged in a 64GB Sandisk microSD card and will later today move the Skydrive storage to that card. This will leave my system drive with about 35GB free, which is plenty enough.

I had a couple of ASUS Transformer devices here with a keyboard similar to the T100 and I didn't like it too much because of the connector. I rather use a wireless keyboard - at the moment using the ASUS wireless with the M400 and it is very comfortable and responsive - I really like the trackpad. Usually trackpads are terrible on Windows laptops (HP and Dell) but the one one this little keyboard is quite good.

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thelimoman

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#956186 22-Dec-2013 15:20

Looking at it on the HN website and they've been rather sneaky. Even though Office is included, they still have the dropdown option to add Office for another $240. Hopefully no-one gets caught out.

These portable W8 devices are really compelling. For my needs I'd rather have a more powerful 13-15" laptop and an 8" tablet, but I can see the appeal of these. Definitely great for BYOD at high schools, perhaps we'll even start seeing the schools themselves purchase these instead of horrid netbooks.

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#956209 22-Dec-2013 16:02

Office is included? What I have seen so far is Office pre-installed but you need to buy an activation key...

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