New tablet/laptop ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300 Reviews

New tablet/laptop ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300 Reviews - Hoping to give the iPad a one-two punch to the gut, the ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300 lets users instantly switch between Android and Windows 8.1 with the push of a button. That means you can get serious work done on this 13-inch laptop-tablet combo using Office and then fire up Google’s OS when you want to access more apps. Starting at $599 (with a Core i3 processor) but available with a faster Core i5 ($599) or Core i7 CPU (Price TBD), the Duet could be the hybrid you’ve been waiting for. 

It's the world's first quad-mode dual-operating laptop and tablet convertible. What exactly does that mean? The ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300 lets you instantly switch between Android and Windows 8.1 with a push of a button thanks to Bluestacks preloaded software. A 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel IPS touchscreen display can be detached easily and run off its own 128GB SSD. The keyboard dock, on the other hand, offers 1TB of storage space. Combined the two weigh a hefty 4.2 pounds, but thanks to a slick design this is one good-looking combo.  

Design

The Duet isn’t the first device of its kind, as Samsung announced — but never shipped — the ATIV Q in 2013. That convertible used a flipping display with a shaper 3200 x 1800-pixel resolution, while the Duet packs a 1920 x 1080 IPS screen on the Core i5 model. We actually prefer ASUS’ design, though, because you can detach the display. The cheaper Core i3 version gets a 1366 x 768 display.

Specs and Features

 

ASUS says the Transformer Book Duet will ship with your choice of a Core i3 ($599), Core i5 ($699) or Core i7 CPU (Price TBD), 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of SSD storage on the tablet. A microSD Card slot lets you add an additional 64GB of memory.The keyboard dock has its own hard drive with up to 1TB of storage. This dock also houses USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and an Ethernet port, though it doesn’t look like there’s a full-size SD Card slot on board.

Other highlights include dual speakers powered by ASUS’ SonicMaster technology.

 he keyboard dock has its own hard drive with up to 1TB of storage. This dock also houses USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and an Ethernet port, though it doesn’t look like there’s a full-size SD Card slot on board.Other highlights include dual speakers powered by ASUS’ SonicMaster technology.

When plugged into its included keyboard dock, the ASUS Transformer Book T100 changes from a light, 1.2-pound tablet into a laptop that will last up to 12.5 hours.  The 10.1-inch IPS display (1366 x 768 pixels) offers a bright picture and wide viewing angles, which are great for watching movies and playing games. And when it's time to get to work, you'll appreciate the bundled copy of Office Home & Student 2013. At $349, tablet hybrids don't get much better--or more affordable--than this.

 

souce:laptopmag

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Best Laptops 2014 ASUS N550JV Reviews

Best Laptops 2014 ASUS N550JV Reviews  - Looking for a capable multimedia and gaming machine, but don't want to shell out for a top-of-the-line notebook? The price $1,066 ASUS N550JV features a fourth-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia graphics, a quad-speaker system and a beautiful 15-inch IPS touch screen, all inside an attractive aluminum design. Is the N550JV the all-purpose notebook for you? Read on.

Who needs a home theater when you can have the ultimate media laptop? The ASUS N550JV's gorgeous 1080p IPS, 10-point touch display provides bright images and wide viewing angles. It can also bend backward a full 180 degrees. A quad speaker array with a subwoofer and Waves MaxxAudio provides thumping bass at loud volumes, while an Nvidia GeForce GT 750M graphics chip gives the system enough oomph to play taxing games such as "BioShock Infinite."

Design Laptops 2014 ASUS N550JV

 

The ASUS N550JV is a solid, handsome notebook that is cool and smooth to the touch. While the bottom is plastic, ASUS clad the rest of the design in aluminum. Its dark gray lid has a beautiful brushed finish, but is unfortunately smudge-prone, making it lose some of its sheen.

The silver aluminum deck features two speakers at the top with ripple-effect dots surrounding an Instant button on the left and the power button on the right. The Instant button can be customized to launch any app of your choice and by default launches the ASUS Console.

Thanks to its generous width, the N550JV accommodates a dedicated number pad along on its island-style, LED-backlit keyboard. A 4.5 x 2.9-inch touchpad is centered with respect to the QWERTY keyboard, and just below this is a row of indicator lights. The silver keys lend a futuristic vibe to the laptop.

Performance 2014 ASUS N550JV

Powered by a fourth-generation 2.4-GHz Intel Core i7-4700HQ processor with 8GB of RAM, the N550JV delivered mostly smooth performance. We smoothly streamed an episode of "Archer" from the Netflix app while running a full-system scan, as well as Paint, File Manager and two different Chrome windows with 11 open tabs in the background.On PCMark 7, which measures overall performance, the N550JV scored 3,546, above the mainstream notebook average of 2,967. 

This mark is lower than the Samsung ATIV Book 6 (4,357), which uses a 2.4-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-3635QM chip and 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and the Toshiba Satellite S55t (4,842), which has the same processor as the ASUS, but 12GB of RAM.

The N550JV did much better on Geekbench, scoring 9,503 against the category average of 6,808 and besting the Satellite S55t's 8,238 and the ATIV Book 6's 8,511.

The N550JV's 1TB 5,400rpm SATA hard drive booted in 16 seconds, 20 seconds faster than the category average (36 seconds) and beating the ATIV Book 6 (23 seconds). The Satellite S5T was three seconds faster, booting in a mere 13 seconds.

On LAPTOP's File Transfer Test, the N550JV copied 4.97GB of mixed-media files in 3 minutes and 4 seconds, translating to a rate of 27.7 MBps. 

That's almost half the category average of 41 MBps, and slower than the Satellite S55t's 30 MBps, but slightly faster than the ATIV Book 6's 25 MBps.

The N550JV did well on our OpenOffice Test, matching 20,000 names and addresses in 3 minutes and 58 seconds. That's almost two minutes faster than the average (5:47) and half a minute faster than the ATIV Book 6 and S55t, which both took 4:23.

Graphics and Gaming 2014 ASUS N550JV

Nvidia's Optimus technology automatically switches between the N550JV's integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 and Nvidia GeForce GT 750M processors, depending on the task. The N550JV delivered impressive results on graphics benchmark tests, scoring 2,684 on 3DMark 11. That's well above the mainstream notebook average of 1,326 and the AMD Radeon 8770M-powered ATIV Book 6 (2,199). The Toshiba S55t, which also an Nvidia GeForce 740M processor with 2GB of RAM, scored 1,987.

When we played "World of Warcraft" with all three notebooks set to 1366 x 768 and effects at max, the N550JV averaged 73 fps, just below the category average of 75 fps. This showing also beats both the S55t (54 fps) and the ATIV Book 6 (40 fps).

Even at its native 1920 x 1080 resolution, the N550JV's performance remained solid at 52 fps. The ATIV Book 6 managed just 33 fps at these same settings. The S55t's native resolution is 1366 x 768.

In the more taxing "Bioshock Infinite" test on low settings at a 1366 x 768 resolution, the N550JV's notched 68 fps. This score trumps both the ATIV Book 6's 54 fps and the S55t's 45 fps. At max settings on the same resolution, the N550JV's 24 fps fell below the 29 fps category average; it's not quite playable.

Battery Life 2014 ASUS N550JV

Nvidia's Optimus technology on the Laptop 2014 Asus N550JV promises power savings and longer battery life. On the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi, the N550JV's 4-cell, 4,000 mAh battery clocked just 4 hours and 52 minutes against the category average of 5 hours and 30 minutes. The ASUS lasted longer than the Satellite S55t (4:20), but lost to the ATIV Book 6 (5:26).

Still, for a laptop that will hardly be carried around much, the N550JV's battery life of almost 5 hours is good enough.

source: laptopmag

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