Being an optimistic type of guy, I had hoped to pen a Five of the best from Computex 2012 feature. Alas, there’s not a great deal to write about. Not in terms of new tablets and smartphones, anyways.
Indeed, one of the biggest stories out of this year’s Computex was HTC’s absence from the first wave of Windows 8 tablets. Supposedly Microsoft had reservations about HTC’s prior performance in the tablet field, not to mention a recent cut in sales forecasts. Oh dear.
But I digress. Let’s get back to these new devices. Windows 8 was the star of the show, and that’s exactly what these three chaps rock.
Asus Transformer AiO
We haven’t written anything about the Asus Transformer AiO just yet, and with good reason. See, it straddles the boundary between tablet and desktop, with a massive 18.4in display. Not exactly the kind of tablet you’d use to play Angry Birds on the train.
Asus is a big fan of convergence, and the Transformer AiO – as I mentioned – doubles as a desktop, with a big fat base station type thing.
At the moment, Asus Transformer AiO specs remain elusive. Not even a whisper on resolution. However, we do know that the Asus Transformer AiO will rock Windows 8 and Android Tablet.
A dual-booting tablet/desktop hybrid? It could only be Asus.
Acer Iconia W510
Taiwan-based Acer revealed two Windows 8 tablets at Computex 2012, namely the Iconia W510 and Iconia W700.
You know sometimes you see a tablet or a smartphone or whatever, and you just want it? That’s exactly how I felt when reading about the Acer Iconia W510. No offense, Iconia W700.
Not exactly a unique concept, but the Acer Iconia W510 has a keyboard dock, extending battery life to a juicy 18 hours. The tablet portion can dock either way, so you can use the keyboard as a, uhm, keyboard, or as a stand.
Other than a 10.1in IPS display and 8MP rear camera, exact Acer Iconia 510 specs are fairly guarded. It’s thought to host an Intel chip, so that’ll be Windows 8 as opposed to ARM’s Windows 8 RT.
On the poop side, Acer Iconia 510 price will be somewhere in the region of $599 to $799. Hmm.
Asus Taichi
Back to Asus for the final in our top three from Computex 2012, and yes – it’s another hybrid beast. The Asus Taichi is part laptop, part tablet. But wait; it gets better.
The Asus Taichi doesn’t have just one display. That’d be ridiculous. Nope, it has a standard laptoppy display above the keyboard, and a second – effectively a touchscreen tablet, of sorts – on the back.
Both Asus Taichi displays boast a resolution of 1920 x 1080, with IPS goodness for angled viewing. There’ll be two options when it comes to size, namely 11.6 and 13.3in.
Other Asus Taichi specs of note include an Intel Core i7 processor (again that means Windows 8 as opposed to RT), 4GB of RAM, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, micro HDMI and a mini DisplayPort.
According to sources of good old DigiTimes, the Asus Taichi is estimated to have a Build of Materials (BOM) value of $900, which means price could – in theory – start around $1,300. Good lord.