Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi

Detachable-tablet hybrid will be your best choice if you need most of the time on a laptop, but also a tablet on occasion. The Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi ($ 899 as tested) has a magnetic latch the keyboard dock, so you can quickly undock the tablet and leave half his weight behind when the need arises. And an Intel Core M processor helps make thinner and lighter tablet, and does away with a need for a fan. There are some ergonomic issues and battery life in our tests is shorter than optimal, but on the whole it is an attractive tablet that highlights what works and what does not on the up-and-coming category portable devices.

Design and Features
The tablet part of the T300 $ 599.00 on eBay Chi measures 12.5 by 7.5 by 0.299 inches (HWD). The keyboard dock bumps along the thickness of up to 0.65 inches. The external chassis with smooth edges, and there is a chrome-colored ring around the keyboard deck, adding a little embellishment to the minimalist styling of the system. The tablet and keyboard has an identical weight of 1.56 pounds (for a total of £ 3.12). That means that you have no issues with the tablet being top heavy when the system is in a clamshell configuration, an issue that we see when we reviewed the Acer Aspire Switch 11 (SW5-171-325N) $ 399.00 on eBay.

Older cut-hybrid tablet Asus Transformer Book as T100TA (64GB) $ 309.95 at Amazon, the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix $ 799.99 on Amazon, and the Toshiba Satellite Click 2 L35W-B3204 $ 336.88 on Amazon use a physical latch and lock to keep the system in the keyboard dock, a sufficient, though inelegant, solution. Magnetic latches, such as those in the T300 Chi and the Editors' Choice Acer Aspire Switch 11, let you easily attach and detach the tablet from the keyboard with one hand, without having to push a button or slide the latch. The locks are strong enough that you can still take the system through the screen and not worry about coming off the keyboard. The magnets also let you flip the screen around so you can use it on a tilted surface without having the keyboard on the way.

One feature that sets the T300 Chi among other hybrids cut-pill is the fact that its keyboard dock uses Bluetooth instead of passing the typing and touchpad information through an electrical connector, such as the Acer Switch 11 goals and 3 Microsoft Surface Pro $ 1,115.00 on Amazon. Which simplifies engineering latch (without electrical connector design and qualify), but it also means that you will be subject to the drawbacks of Bluetooth. Sure, you can use the keyboard when it is not attached to the tablet, but you'll have to charge it with the bundled micro-USB-to-micro-USB cable, which is different USB 2.0 other. If the battery runs down the dock, and you do not have cable, you will have to scrounge for a smartphone micro USB charger to recharge the dock. (On a side note, the presence of an electrical connection between the keyboard base and the tablet will give manufacturers the ability to add an extra battery to the base for more battery life, such as the Dell Venue 11 Pro (7139) $ 1,284.29 at Dell.) You also subject to interference from 2.4GHz RF network and other RF sources, such as microwave ovens. Last, but not least, if you put the tablet in Airplane mode, the keyboard and trackpad are working until you turn the radio back Bluteooth.

The connectivity options are limited, due to the slim form factor of tablet. There really is not any space for the full-size USB or HDMI ports. Instead, the tablet has a USB 3.0 micro-B connector (not to be confused with the micro USB charging port on the keyboard dock) and a micro HDMI port, both of which require dongles use. You have to purchase a separate micro HDMI dongle, because it is bundled in. There is a micro-b-to-USB dongle included, but it's only USB 2.0, not the faster USB 3.0.

The system comes with a traditional AC adapter with a barrel connector. In another flub, barrel socket connector is the same size as the headset jack, instead of the larger outlets such other systems. That makes it easy to mistakenly insert the AC adapter to the headset jack. Now, plug the AC adapter slides easily out of the headset jack and the connector should not break unless you force it in at the wrong angle, but it is annoying and unnecessarily confusing. It has simplified things to use the USB port to recharge the tablet instead.

The 12.5-inch, In-Plane Switching (IPS) screen has a 2560-by-1440 resolution, which helps justify the relatively high price tag of the system. The images are clear, and it has a wide range of viewing angles. The 10-point touch screen is rock solid when docked, with almost zero bounce when you tap the screen. Sound from the built-in speakers is average for a tablet, which means you and a friend can watch a video together in a small room and still have enough audio.

The 8GB memory is perfect for multitasking or keeping multiple browser tabs open at once. The 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) is a little over 100GB free out of the box, which is more than enough for most general users, especially now that online streaming is so popular. There is quite a bit of bloatware pre-installed, however, including programs such as flipbook, I Heart Radio, Line, Music Maker Jam, Netflix, Trip Advisor, Twitter, and Zinio. One outstanding issue is to do with the Foxit PDF reader, which is the default PDF app. It crashed when we tried to check the downloaded manual T300 Chi, which look fine in Microsoft Reader app built into Windows 8.1. Micro SDXC media card slot The system is hidden under the hinge connector of the tablet, so it is easy to understand. You can use it to add up to 200GB of storage. The Chi T300 comes with a one-year warranty, including accidental damage protection.