The year 2015 has witnessed supremacy battles in release of convertibles from various manufacturers flooding the affordable laptop market thereby leaving users spoilt for choice. The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA-C4-GR comes into the competition to correct the flaws of its predecessor the ASUS Transformer Book T100TA by improving its performance and a slight push on the design.
The device boasts of the quad-core Intel ‘Cherry Trail’ processor x5-Z8500 Intel Atom processor (2MB cache) at 1.44GHz speed up to 2.24GHz with turbo boost, and 4GB LPDDR3 RAM installed from the 2GB seen on its earlier version and 64 GB Solid State Drive for your storage.
There’s also some bonuses, such as a USB Type-C port, alongside yet again two additional USB ports, for a grand total of three. The device comes installed with windows 10 promising to offer its users a fully functional tablet that can be converted into a laptop simply by docking into the bundled keyboard. The Asus is a competent Tablet and Laptop but lacks the killer feature to distinguish itself from the other trending convertibles in the market such as the ASUS Chromebook Flip.
Design
The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA measures 6.90 x 10.40 x 0.70 inches and weighs 2.28 pounds thereby making it 20 per cent thinner than the T100HA hence making it even more portable and easier to carry around wherever you go. And with up to an incredible 12 hours of battery life, it’s always ready to get the job done.
Asus floated when it comes to the camera as they stacked a 5-megapixel back and 2-megapixel front cameras making Laptop tablet really awful since we expected a more vibrant camera. As such, the camera is not enticing when it comes to taking photographs or recording videos. However, the speakers offer an average performance.
There is a 10.1-inch IPS WXGA display that comes with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The screen offers high-quality display and vibrant visuals to watch your favorite movies, videos and HD entertainment. The latest integrated Intel HD Graphics up to 20% of efficient power delivers stunning graphics and good multimedia performance.
It has power enough for video playback, Internet use, simple photo editing and watch HD movies. The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA-C4-GR is not made for gaming. You can, however, play some light and mid-range games. If you want to play some high-end games, then you are looking at the wrong guy.
Performance
The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA features an Intel Atom X5 Z8500 Cherry Trail processor that is rated at 2.24 GHz with 2MB L2 cache. The processor is enough for casual users to carry out tasks such as checking your emails, browsing the web, working on Office docs, and other tasks can be done without any problem.
It has a 4GB RAM installed which is enough for this device considering the price as it can multitask and handle the Windows 10 it comes with conveniently. The device also comes with 64 GD of Solid State Drive to keep your files, movies and other documents. Unfortunately, the Asus software uses 37GB of the available 64GB but it compensates with a MicroSD slot that lets you add further space to the device’s either of 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of eMMC storage.
On the tablet’s left edge is its USB 3.1 Type C port, which is reversible, so you can plug in your cables any way up. Of course, not many USB C cables are available right now, but many adapters and accessories are already on the market. USB 3.1 also promises double the transfer speed of USB 3.0.
Unlike the new MacBook, which infamously only sports a single USB C port, the ASUS Transformer Book T100HA offers a USB 2.0 port when keyboard is connected, HDMI port, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Card Reader and powered by Windows 10 Home 64-bit.
Summary
ASUS has been quite successful at trying to carve out a niche in the tech world by packing more into their lineup than the competitors. We saw that clearly with the ASUS Zenbook UX305LA with its benchmark performance and sleek design. The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA tucks inside a sleek metallic body a nice screen, the latest Intel low-power platform and a 30 Wh battery.
Just be aware that when you do set it charging, you may want to consider going into hibernation yourself. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great device for what it costs, so if you’re in the market for such a compact slate/mini-laptop, perhaps you should have it on your list.
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