To buy or not to buy Asus Transformer Prime TF201? That’s the question… The main point that I plan to buy Asus Transformer Prime ~ NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. I want to try out Tegra 3 games. And plan to use it as notebook replacement since it has keyboard dock. It has micro HDMI output which I can use it to display PowerPoint slides with projector (need to buy micro HDMI to VGA adapter though). Has USB ports and SD carder just like notebook. It should be able to run all the notebook tasks, right? Let’s find out…
Asus Transformer Prime TF201 Weakness
Asus Transformer Prime is not perfect. No one is. Based on reviews, it has Wi-Fi issue (which should be fixed by now hopefully). But the GPS issue is not fixable due to metallic unibody design. So don’t expect GPS will be working properly like native GPS navigator device. Most of all, TF201 bootloader is locked and encrypted with AES-128 encryption. Yes, you can unlock it but its warranty will be voided. Err… How can I get my custom ROM then?
New updated Asus Transformer Prime TF700T
A updated version with 1920 x 1200 display panel. Yeah, most of the tablets come out this year will be Full HD / retina resolution. TF201 is considered old with 1280 x 800 resolution. Besides, TF700T has a new back panel to improve wireless performance ~ GPS should be working fine then. And should be arrived at Malaysia in early Q3.
A notebook replacement?
Okay… I found out that Android tablet and iPad still have the limitation to be notebook replacement during my last 4 days holidays trip. They still can’t perform certain tasks which runnable only on Windows PC / Mac. So Asus Transformer Prime can’t be your notebook replacement if you need to use those Windows applications that not available in Android / iOS. So there are other choices like cheaper netbook or better ultrabook for you and me.
Personally, I don’t think that I will get a tablet with keyboard anytime soon. Unless they are able to provide all notebook functionality. I prefer to get the tablet only.
