Asus's Transformer Book Trio Mixes Android with Windows 8

By Jane McEntegart
published

Asus has already added the T300 to its Transformer line, but the company is further fleshing the brand with the formal unveiling of the Transformer Book Trio. The Trio is actually more interesting than the T300. It runs both Android and Windows 8. Asus is calling the Trio a 'three-in-one' computer; there's definitely a lot going on with this computer.

 

The machine boasts a unique two-part dockable design that allows for the Trio to be used by one person as a laptop or by two individual people as a tablet and desktop PC. We first saw the Trio at Computex when Asus showed off a flood of new products. The Trio's keyboard dock is a bit more serious than similar products. It actually houses a 4th generation Core i7 CPU as well as up to 1 TB of storage and 4 GB of RAM. The tablet itself runs on a separate Intel Atom dual-core processor and up to 64 GB of solid-state storage and features an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS display. Users can apparently expect up to 13 hours battery life in Android mode and five hours in Windows 8 mode.

This isn't a dual-boot machine. Instead, the dock has a Windows install, while the tablet half of this device runs on Android. When docked, the user can switch easily between the two. Alternatively, one person can use the tablet while a second user uses the Haswell-powered dock with an external monitor.

Of course, a device like this won't be cheap, but Asus is keeping pricing to itself for now. Boo!

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Jane McEntegart
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • yannigr
    That's the future.
    Reply
  • BringMeAnother
    Well, I though this got killed of by patent trolls like the ATIV Q. Good to see it's still breathing.
    Reply
  • Jorge Silva
    I was actually thinking of geting the new transformer...now that I know it has W8 I'll pass.

    Don't want bloatware on my stuff.
    Reply
  • deftonian
    wow, I had just mentioned this functionality in another thread a few days ago. I def agree that this is the future.
    Reply
  • stevejnb
    So you're basically buying two computers in this package... Neat idea, and makes for a very complete machine. I'd expect the price to reflect this, but still, I like it.
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Windows 8 sucks. It's functional, but ugly. iOS is just eyecandy. Android is a happy middle-ground. I'll stick with my Android until Microsoft wises up a bit. Once that happens, I think the other two will eventually die off, but they've gained too much steam now for that to happen anytime soon.
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    This is a terrible idea. You're limited to what platform you can use depending on whether it's docked or not. All they did was sandwich two separate hardware and OS platforms together. It's not even all that innovative. Can't even take advantage of having two separate batteries...

    I was really hopeful about the Samsung Ativ Q. Too bad it's running into patent/licensing issues with virtualizing android within windows. Hope they work that out. That would really be the best of both worlds.
    Reply
  • catchercradle
    Would make a lot more sense to have Android and linux together.
    Reply
  • urbanman2004
    this is kind of overkill IMHO. Who is gonna go between 2 OS's on the go like that. laptops and tablets are mobile for a reason and I'm fine with one OS on me at a time.
    Reply
  • rwinches
    They already had this in the P1801 AiO transformer $1300. i5 !8.1 in screen so these might be cheaper with the smaller screen.
    You can be informed by checking out this link
    http://www.asus.com/AllinOne_PCs/ASUS_Transformer_AiO_P1801

    The tablet can show the screen of the windows base remotely.
    Some user reviews seem to think that remote viewing of the windows should be without any delays, which is the same as gamers using a wireless keyboard and complaining about the delay. In the future sure, right now no.
    Reply