ASUS Transformer Book Trio: tested in humans

You probably know that ASUS, in addition to its other achievements, is famous for its line of hybrid devices. Recall their names?

- Eee Pad Transformer Tablet with Docking Keyboard

- PadFone - the first gadget that combines a tablet and a smartphone

- Ultrabook Taichi with two displays

- Transformer Book with a removable tablet-screen

- Monoblock Transformer All-in-one (AIO), the screen of which can be used as a tablet



Sometimes it may seem that the company's engineers create more and more new “transformers” haphazardly. But in fact, ASUS has never been afraid to experiment - for example, recall the legendary Eee PC line. Well, given the global economic crisis and the decline in sales of personal computers in particular, such experiments look logical and timely.



The company does not stop there - in June last year at Computex, a new device with a long name - ASUS Transformer Book Trio was introduced. The device, which the head of the company, Johnny Shea, presented in the Stevjobsovsky style “And something else ...” really turned out to be quite unexpected, although it was a logical development of the line of hybrid devices.

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What is Trio. In fact, these are two devices in one that can perform - attention! - three functions. First, it is a full-fledged Android-tablet with a 11.6-inch HD screen. Inside - dual-core Atom Z2560 1.6 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of user memory.







Secondly, it is quite a powerful laptop running under Windows 8.1, with a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor (1.6 GHz). Plus - 4 GB of RAM and 500 GB hard drive.







And finally, the most unexpected move: “Trio” can work as a kind of nettop with a built-in keyboard - the user only needs to connect an external display device.







Add that in laptop mode “Trio” can switch between Android and Windows on the fly - to do this, just press a special button (the top row of function keys).







And now all the performance characteristics for those who love the heat of cold numbers:



The tablet

screen: 11.6 ", 1920x1080

Atom Z2560 1.6 GHz processor

RAM: 2 GB

memory: 16 GB + microSD

Camera: 5 Mp / 1 Mp

battery: 5070 mAh

weight: 700 g



Nettop

processor: Core i5 1.6 GHz

video processor: Intel HD Graphics 4400

RAM: 4 GB

HDD: 500 GB

battery: 4430 mAh

weight: 1 kg



So, before us, a kind of "combine", which quite successfully can replace as many as three devices and at the same time remains ergonomic and relatively compact.



The tablet itself, which is also the screen, is rather cumbersome, but it is convenient in principle, and the size allows more than small-size tablets. The display is excellent in all respects - ASUS usually has no problems with this. Yes, the frame is too wide, but on the other hand, it allows you to comfortably hold the tablet. In our instance there was not the largest amount of user memory, but this is fixable - it is enough to use microSD.







If we talk about a laptop, then in the assembly it is too heavy, although it is quite elegant and made in the style familiar to us from other ASUS models. When joining the two parts, despite the magnetized guides, you still need some skill - on the weight, for example, it is not so easy to do. The fastening of the two parts is reliable and there are no questions to it.



Above, we have already spoken about the ease of switching between operating systems, and this is really a big plus. Another thing is that periodically, after getting out of sleep, the keyboard was turned off under Windows and the system responded only to touch input. A similar problem was treated only by restarting the entire system - there is a suspicion that these are features of the test instance.







The speed of the transformer is at its best, its filling is the most modern and quite suitable for a variety of tasks. But with the measurement of battery life there was an incident: if you believe ASUS, then the gadget should work at least 5 hours in tablet or Windows laptop mode, and up to 13 when using Android laptop mode. We, in mixed mode (tablet, laptop, nettop) Trio barely pulled 6 hours. And one more important point: the tablet can be recharged from the battery built into the keyboard, but not vice versa.



We add that the keyboard and touchpad are easy to use - no complaints. The set of ports includes 2 USB (one of them is version 3.0), microHDMI and mini DisplayPort. We'll have to spin, but for laptops it is, you can say, a good set (by the way, a pair of adapters are included). And don't look for a card reader for regular SD cards - it's not here.











Well, the price. The variation on various Trio modifications is from 36 to 40 thousand rubles. In our opinion - quite adequate. The device is unusual, but this eccentricity is quite functional. There are some problems, but they are completely solvable at the level of drivers and firmware. Naturally, if you take a separate tablet, laptop and nettop, then you will surely win on money, but such a solution can hardly be called elegant and modern.



Note in small print: if you want to see how ASUS Transformer Book Trio looks “in motion” - watch our video .