Asus Transformer T100 Review

NEW DELHI: For the past couple of years, Asus has enjoyed great sales in the tablet market due to the popularity of Google's Nexus 7 tablets. However, Windows tablets is a wholly different ball game, where no manufacturer has tasted success till now.



The Taiwanese manufacturer's attempt to infuse new blood into the Windows tablet market is called the Transformer T100. It is a Windows 8 tablet with a keyboard dock, complete with a touch screen, powerful processor, compact form-factor and economical price tag of Rs 34,000.

Will the Transformer T100 in the Windows segment do what Nexus 7 has done in the Android market? Is it the perfect replacement to your ageing laptop? Can it be a more work-focussed substitute to an Apple iPad? Read our review and decide...



Asus Transformer T100 comes with a 10.1-inch IPS screen with a rather low resolution of 1366x768p. However, the screen size, brightness (300nits) and pixel density (155ppi) combine to give us a very good display. The viewing angle at 178-degree is more than sufficient and the touch response can rival that of the best in the market. We are impressed with the display quality of this laptop-cum-tablet.

About the build quality of Asus Transformer T100, we are pleased to see how sturdy this device is. The glossy plastic used to make the hybrid tablet has a thin rubber coating, which makes it easy to grip and also feel solid in the hand. There are design frills in the device and though you will miss the elegant design of iPad or new Dell touchscreen laptops here, you will not at all be disappointed by its looks.

The keyboard dock is also made of brushed metal and is solidly built too. The chiclet layout and evenly spaced keys give an impression of being good for typing. However, the keys seemed a little hard to touch and a bit too small for comfort. Moreover, the trackpad in the keyboard dock is small and the corresponding keys are also a little hard to press and make a noticeable clicking sound. Another problem we saw was that the keys are not backlit, so using it in the dark is a problem.


But the biggest issue for us was that when we used Transformer T100 (with keyboard), the screen could be tilted to only a certain angle. Though there was no problem when we kept it on a table or any flat surface, this limitation made it really frustrating while using it on the lap.

If you don't mind the limited tilt angle, then the keyboard dock can be an acceptable option. Plus, it comes with a built-in USB 3.0 port, a boon because of the limited storage. And remember, no tablet in this price range comes with a free keyboard dock!

Asus has used the 1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom BayTrail processor, coupled with Windows 8.1 and 2GB RAM, in the Transformer T100. Though Intel's Atom range of processors is usually used for mobile operating systems, this chipset is adept at handling Windows 8.1 OS. We experienced no lag, glitches or jarring throughout our usage.

The great thing about this processor is that it offers a combination of speed and battery. It scored below the category average in PCMark 7 benchmark test, but beat rivals by a decent margin in Geekbench 3. We are more than pleased with the battery life of over 11 hours it delivered consistently during our review, making it a potent option for those who travel a lot.


In fact, those who frequently travel for work will find that Asus Transformer T100 can be the perfect companion. It is small, light (550gram without dock, 1.2kg with dock) and offers battery life that will last more than the standard work-day. Plus, it is fast (though not blazing fast) and comes with a touchscreen, something that may not matter for everyday tasks but certainly adds value. You also get free Microsoft Office suite with the device, making it more than worth the money.

All of us look for a device that is suitable for media consumption just as much as work and Transformer T100 does well in this department too. It is capable of playing 1080p videos just as smoothly as it handles 720p content and the speakers are surprisingly loud. You also get a 1.2MP camera for video chats, but no rear camera.

One major problem with Transformer T100 is the limited storage. You only get 32 and 64GB storage options, and our 64GB review unit had about 33GB of space. To lure buyers, the company is offering unlimited free cloud storage via its own Asus WebStorage. Though the deal sounds good, the poor internet connectivity in India will be a hindrance. Moreover, cloud storage services are known to be vulnerable to hacking and safeguarding official data there may be a risk. We would suggest you go for an external hard disk.



Internet access on-the-go is missing here, as is the case with most entry-level convertible tablets.

Overall, we like the Asus Transformer T100, especially considering its price point. It is suitable for light-to-medium work, media consumption and web browsing. You get Windows apps, the Start button and free cloud storage on the software side and a sturdy build, decent display and light weight on hardware side. With a price tag of Rs 34,000, it is worth more than what you spend.

However, if you want a device to only use a word processor and spreadsheets for work, then you should stick to an iPad or Android tablet (because of internet on-the-go).