Asus's new Transformer Book looks like a Surface 3 wannabe

The new Asus Transformer Book

Asus has unveiled a refresh to its best-selling hybrid device, the Transformer Book. The T100HA keeps the same form factor – a 10.1-inch one - and tweaks a few things.

Out goes BayTrail and in comes Intel's Cherry Trail chip, its successor with a choice of X5 models being proposed. The memory gets a boost to up to 4GB with onboard storage ranging from 32GB to 128GB.

Like the 12-inch MacBook, it will come with a USB Type-C reversible connector but also adds a microSD card slot, a micro HDMI and a micro USB port as well. The detachable keyboard comes with a USB 3.0 port.

At 8.45mm thick and 580g, the T100HA (at least the slate part) sits firmly between the iPad 3 and the iPad Air in terms of dimensions and weight.

Sticking to HD

There's also a 5-megapixel rear camera and a front facing 2-megapixel one just like on the previous model.

Its biggest flaw though has to be its resolution. At 1280 x 800 or 1366 x 768 (depending on the specification), it is unlikely to be viewed as a competitor to the Surface 3 despite bundling a keyboard docking station that can not only house a hard drive but also increase its battery life to 14 hours.

Available in the third quarter of 2015 with Windows 10, it will have a starting price of $289, with the docking station with the more expensive model costing $399.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.

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