Asus Transformer Book T100 Chi

T100 Chi - Introduction Asus’ Transformer line of convertible tablets has been around for quite some time now and has a large variety of devices to suit everybody’s needs. With models available in various sizes, operating systems, and power, the T100 Chi falls into the lower end of Asus’ Transformer line. Rocking a 10.1” screen and a full Windows 8.1 operating system, can the T100 Chi prove capable enough to warrant a buy over similar iOS and Android devices? Read on to see what we find! T100 Chi - Specifications T100 Chi - Unboxing The T100 Chi is packaged in a very plain black box, adorned with only the product name on the front and the warranty and specifications stickers on the back. The box is quite thick and seems like it could easily take a few drops from the courier before it gets to you. Following in line with the T100 and TP300LA we previously reviewed, the T100 Chi is nestled in a cutout that holds it firmly in place – almost too well. Below that the MicroUSB 2.0 cable and AC adapter are found next to a small user guide and quick start guide. T100 Chi - Closer Look Asus has chosen Intel’s Bay Trail Z3775 processor; a quad core Atom running at a speed of 1.46GHz and a burst frequency of 2.39GHz. We also see that this particular model is equipped with 2GB of LPDDR3 and a 32GB SanDisk SDW32G SSD. Taking a look at the back of tablet itself, we see that the T100 Chi is finished in a dark metallic blue, clad in a single piece of aluminum.This particular finish feels very slippery but overall leads to a very strong device. This screen should look familiar if you've seen any of Asus' Transformer line before. The wide black border will put off a lot of people who are wanting to use this primarily as a tablet device, but this border lets Asus cram a lot more stuff inside and also matches the required space for the keyboard. The screen is a 10.1 inch, 1920x1200 IPS panel, sporting a great viewing angle and vivid colours. This screen is an absolute joy to stare at so long as you keep it away from bright light. The screen is very reflective, and even with maxed brightness struggles to be usable outdoors on a sunny day. Connectivity is plentiful but limited all at the same time. The left side of the tablet houses the Micro USB charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack, Windows button, and the volume control. The port below the tablets charging port is the Mobile Dock’s charging port. We’ll look further into that in a later section of the article. On the right you will find a Micro SD slot, Micro USB 3.0 port, and Mini-HDMI port. This is where the plentiful but limited connectivity comes in. As there are no full sized USB ports to be found you will be wanting to grab a male Micro USB 3.0 to female USB 3.0 adapter so you can plug your everyday USB devices in. The top of the tablet is quite bare, sporting just a power button and a power LED which differentiates a couple of battery levels by colour. Taking a closer look at the AC adapter we find the model is AD2022320, pumping out 5V at 2A or 9V at 2A. The adapter pairs quite well with the small 2 cell, 30Wh battery. T100 Chi - Mobile Dock This is the part of any convertible tablet that can really make or break everything. Asus ventured on a different route with this keyboard dock than with in the TP300LA and T100 previously reviewed by us. The Mobile Dock sports a dark blue metallic finish on the top of the keyboard that matches that of the tablet’s rear, in materials and feel. The keyboard definitely is compact and can make touch typing an ordeal if you’re not used to the size, especially when it comes to the half width right shift key. On the plus side, they keys have a surprisingly responsive feel to them and rebound quickly. The bottom of the dock goes a much different route, opting for a matte blue on plastic with four rubber feet. There isn’t really anything else going on down there. Looking at the top left of the dock we find a power switch, Bluetooth LED, and power LED. This is where the T100 Chi strays from its predecessors. Instead of a physical connection between the tablet and dock, the two are configured out of the box to automatically pair to each other over Bluetooth. We're glad to say that this pairing happens fairly quickly initially on boot. However, the keyboard does turn itself off after only a few minutes of inactivity, requiring a few seconds of wait for everything to connect. The trackpad is a very simple single part, once again matching to the colour of the tablet itself. The left and right click are crisp, but the trackpad leaves much to be desired otherwise. Sadly our review unit exhibits a small dead spot right in the middle that causes the cursor to slow down dramatically when passing it. This hinge should look familiar to anyone who has looked at a Transformer Book before. The main difference is that the only thing “locking” the tablet to it is a magnet. Previously, Asus had the two posts physically lock into the tablet when docked which lead to a solid unit that felt almost as if it was one piece. On the other hand, the magnetic lock is much less so. The tablet has about half an inch of play when pushing and pulling on the top, leading to a potentially wobbly screen while not resting on a hard flat surface. We have also managed to pop the tablet off of the dock whilst trying to open it. While feeling much more polished and refined in terms of materials, this iteration of the keyboard dock feels like an overall step back, especially without the full-sized USB port found on other models. T100 Chi - Included Software [gallery size="large" ids="4174,4175,4176" [gallery size="large" ids="4193,4192,4202" The T100 Chi is loaded with 32-bit Windows 8.1 and a suite of Asus' in-house applications. These programs, such as LifeCam and PhotoDirector, are usually not a problem as they aren't terribly large. However with only a measly 32GB SSD and a whopping 18GB free out of the box, this software not being included would be much preferred. Removing McAfee and installing a lighter antivirus would also be a great idea to free up just that little bit more space. The one app that you actually will want to have on the T100 Chi is the "Chi Keyboard Power" app. This will keep track and warn you if the Mobile Dock's power is running low. While on the topic of batteries, the default power plan is Balanced and this is where you're going to want to leave it. T100 Chi - Performance Full warning - this is where the review takes a giant nose dive. We so badly wanted the T100 Chi to succeed here as it is a great tablet, but the performance just isn't there. At all. [gallery size="large" ids="4171,4172,4173" We changed the power plan to High Performance just for PCMark 8 testing, scoring 1210 on Home Conventional and 1006 on Creative Conventional. As you may have noticed, there is only a single screenshot for the Creative Conventional results. This is due to the fact that the software would crash if we tried to progress past that screen, which we believe is due to a lack of storage space seeing as I had to uninstall software to be able to get the test enough space to start. After running tests we had just over a megabyte of space left on the miniscule 32GB SSD. Real world performance was headache inducing as well. Taking upwards of 15 seconds to launch Internet Explorer and even something as simple as My Computer is completely unacceptable. A few Blue Screen of Deaths reared their heads during this time as well. We thought we might have a bummed install of Windows 8.1, but even after a full format reinstall of it we witnessed the same performance struggles. The only good news is that Netflix streams managed a full 720p and had no stuttering or drop in quality. A tiny 2 cell, 30Wh battery doesn't sound like much but when running an Atom processor, SSD, and LPDDR3 RAM your power draw will pretty much be all from the screen. As always, the screen brightness was set to 50% and we streamed away. After draining the battery to the 5% limit three times with Netflix streaming constantly, we averaged a run time of 8 hours and 39 minutes. Pushing the T100 Chi with PCMark's battery test, we averaged a result of 3 hours and 46 minutes after three runs. You definitely wouldn't want to be pushing this tablet hard while only on battery. (Not that you'd be doing much intense work with an Atom processor) T100 Chi - Conclusion At an average cost of just $350 for this configuration you can't expect the T100 Chi to pull punches with the like of more expensive tablet alternatives such as the Surface and small laptops like the Macbook Air. This is hard to remember as these lower cost devices are running full versions of Windows as opposed to Android and iOS which are optimised for a lower power device. The T100 Chi is stunning to look at, whether it be the tablet's wonderful build quality or the 1200p IPS panel. The Mobile Dock, while small, is one of the better feeling convertible keyboards we've seen. Sadly the abysmal performance is too much of a hindrance and drags the T100 Chi down to a level we just cannot recommend. If you're looking for something for some media consumption and basic productivity, an Android or iOS tablet with a bluetooth keyboard would suit your needs better. If you're dead set on Windows 8.1 and need the support for Windows only applications, you will want to search out a higher powered model in the Transformer line such as the T300 Chi or the newly released Microsoft Surface 3.

Asus Transformer Book T100 Chi

Kyle Soper

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Asus Transformer Book T100 Chi

1. T100 Chi – Introduction

1. T100 Chi – Introduction

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