On the first order magnitude of failure - Screen
During Computex 2016 in Taipei, earlier this year ASUS presented the Transformer 3 & 3 Pro. It was mentioned that both devices will be using Asus’s new super bright 12.6" 3K panel. To add to insult this same panel is referenced on Transformer 3 official page with 450 nits brightness (ExpertBook｜Laptops For Work｜ASUS Global)
In the wishful land of rainbows and unicorns we were promised this
And now back to reality… The actual testing of the screen show a dim 280 (at best) nits screen with lots of glare
On the second order magnitude of failure - Battery
ASUS promised us ALL DAY battery and quick charging on T3 Pro. Well either ASUS’ definition of the day is ~3h or there is something wrong with their promise.
And now back into harsh reality… Please note that all these tests are done by author @ 120 nits of dimness (sorry I cannot call 120 nits - brightness)
So if you are like me and would like to actually see your screen, then you would run it @ ~250-300 nits during the day. At this brightness I would guesstimate taking off 1.5-2 hours of the claimed run time. For your reference my SP4 with i7 gets about 3.5-4 hours when watching 1080p YouTube video in Edge with screen set ~300 nits.
On the third order magnitude of failure - Sound
Blah, blah, blah… All the great promises and yet the tablet lacks any body and has poor mids in its sound. More over it has distortions past 70% volume. In a $1K+ device? I think Harman Kardon should be ashamed to put its branding on devices that sound awful.
Conclusion
So here we go, yet another copy of Microsoft Surface that fails to even copy it well, let along make some meaningful improvements. T3 Pro is set to start @ $999 for Core i5 with keyboard included. With the current promotions MS SP4 with Core i5 can be bought for $699 + $129 for keyboard. I will let you make your own judgement. Be sure to read the whole review.
I think the surface pro 4 is cheaper for the similar specs, also I personally think that the ms surface build quality is far better than anything I have seen. The asus screen might be a bit better, but usually you cant tell the difference. As for sound, I wont make any judgement till I hear the asus device.
We haven’t seen US pricing yet but it’s likely this will be cheaper than the Surface Pro. Entry level model supposedly has i5 with 8 gig ram at 999. It’ll come with keyboard and pen included in price. Screen is better than surface but not as bright.
I really wanted this device to be what we hyped to by ASUS but I am having a very hard time seeing at what exactly does the T3 Pro beats SP4 other than price and TB3. The facts speak for themselves, you pay less but you get a similar Gen 6 device (pretty much obsolete at this point) with worse CPU, weaker graphics, poor battery life, mediocre sound and a horrid 270 nits screen (SP4 has tested 436 nits Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Display Technology Shoot-Out). I guess this is the case where you get what you pay for.
I totally agree with you, unfortunately to this date the SP4 is the best 2in1 there is. I have SP4 as a daily driver for work and at home. I have tried every single 2in1 that came out in the US market and I am yet to find anything better than SP4. All other devices sucked in one way or another, or in many ways at once. The second best one in my book was the Samsung Tab Pro S but its lack of kickstand, low specs and a cheapo keyboard killed it for me
I had high hopes for this unit as well. Even with these quirks it still looks like it may be a viable option. Especially since the price is likely better than the Surface Pro. I’ll wait now until more reviews come out. The dim screen worries me more than the weak battery.
Well, you get i5 for $1000. With SP4, you can only get m3 for that price (if you buy it with the keyboard). Don’t get me started on discounts. Discounts are discounts, and we all know that all devices, including Transformer 3 Pro, sometimes are put on discount. There is no point comparing apples to oranges, so let’s compare apples to apples: the official pricing straight from manufacturers. And what we get is a machine with better CPU, a TB3 port, front-facing speakers and backlit keyboard. Sounds like a deal.
As far as the price goes, as a consumer buying electronics, I could not care less for comparing MSRPs. All I care for is the final out of pocket price and the value I am getting in return. The reason why SP4 managed to be and stay so expensive is because it is still the best 2in1 out there. It is the best value and people want it, unlike offers from other makers including Acer (as seen from sales). But with SP5 looming, the prices on the SP4 have been coming down making it a better deal for those who do not mind getting a gen 6 device when gen 7 devices are already out in the wild.
Honestly I’ve been lurking around these forums trying to figure out exactly what the Pyramid Flipper is. Haven’t understood it yet. There seems to be no one place to go to see specs that are already locked down. When will it come out? What are the specs? What’s the price? What are the ports and features? I have no idea…
There should have been quite a bunch of links in your welcoming PM, but let me summarize it to you really quick what we’ll have for the device:
7th Gen Core M/Core i Y CPU
8/16GB RAM
128-512GB SSD
N-Trig Pen
In regards to launch, more coming up soon
For the price, it has been said in the reddit AMA: “We can’t really give the exact price as it’s pretty stunning (I was stunned when /u/migelangelo told me), but the base-model will be below 1000€ with tax (or 900$ without) and the best model will be below 2000€ with tax (or 1800$ without).
And that doesn’t mean the base-model is 900$, it will be lower than that. :)”
For ports we’re rocking 1 Thunderbolt 3, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 (USB-C formfactor), 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 (USB-A formfactor) and 1x 3.5mm audio-jack.
And you’re totally right we don’t have a thread where we’re right now posting what is locked in for the device - it’d be really great to have one. So thanks for pointing that out, there will be one coming up in the next few days
Aaaand you’re comparing apples to oranges again. Let’s compare something that we know costs the same: SP4 M3 and T3Pro i5. Don’t tell me M3 is better than i5, I won’t believe you. Unless you somehow know the full pricing of this Transformer, then you can compare i7 to i7.
And if you don’t care about MSRP, how comes you’re comparing Transformer’s MSRP to a discounted price of SP4? You could wait and see for how much retailers really sell the transformer - then it would be a real comparison.
Speaking of Kaby Lake, unless you care only about release dates, I think you will agree that a previous gen i5 has always been just as good or better than next gen i3. Especially when we’re comparing 15W with 4.5 W - 15W chips usually have better graphics. So, if we go by the SP4 pricing, the Transformer should be a viable option even for those who are considering buying SP5.
We’re doing things that no other OEM has done before, and our device will have features that no other Windows device has, trust me
I’m pretty sure the price will be mind blowing too.
