Asus Transformer Book Trio TX201LA review

THRICE AS POWERFUL?

The Trio’s fancy dual-operating systems aren’t just for show; there is some seriously powerful hardware powering each device. In the Windows-based keyboard dock you’ll find a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U processor and 4GB of RAM. This is the same processor that’s found in many Core i5 Ultrabooks, and its score of 45 in our multimedia benchmark tests shows the processor is more than capable of handling everyday office tasks and running multiple applications at once.

The tablet, on the other hand, has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor and 2GB of RAM. This processor would be sluggish inside a laptop, but it’s a great choice for Android, as the operating system felt smooth and responsive when we were flicking between our home pages. The tablet completed the SunSpider JavaScript test in a respectable 1,280.3ms, quicker than the Google Nexus 10, so you shouldn’t have any trouble browsing the web or watching videos.

Each device did okay in their respective graphics tests. The Core i5-4200U’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 chip produced a steady 20.5fps in Dirt Showdown at a resolution of 1,280×720 with 4x anti-aliasing and High quality graphics. We saw much better frame rates when we reduced the quality settings, though, as the Trio managed a much smoother 35.3fps with Low quality graphics at a resolution of 1,280×720. These results show you might be able to play 3D games if you stick to low-quality graphics settings, but you’ll be better off sticking to casual games.

On Android, the Trio’s Atom chip produced a score of 5,874 in our 3D Mark Ice Storm test. This is okay for an Android tablet, but it isn’t not exceptional, as we’re starting to see more and more tablets complete the test with the highest result. Even so, the tablet should be able to handle most games and apps without trouble.

SHOW AND TELL

The Trio’s keyboard was a joy to use. Ideally, we’d have liked a little more room on the wrist rest, but the keys were well-spaced and gave plenty of tactile feedback while typing. We liked the responsive touchpad, too, and its smooth surface made it easy to perform multitouch and Windows 8 gestures.

Our calibrator reported that the Trio’s Full HD 11.6in screen covered 87.8 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, which is outstanding for a laptop, and our solid colour image tests looked fantastic. We measured a black level of 0.48cd/m2, which is a little mediocre, but we didn’t see any traces of grey or backlight bleeding in the solid blacks of our images.

We were pleased with the screen’s contrast levels too, as we measured a contrast ratio of 742:1. We measured a better contrast ratio on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, but the screen’s wide viewing angles meant we could see onscreen images clearly from almost any angle without any significant shift in colours or contrast. Our high contrast test images looked good, and we could see a high level of detail in nearly all of our test shots. A couple of night scenes had their finer shadow detail drowned by blacks, but otherwise images looked great.

The touchscreen automatically disables itself when it’s connected to the keyboard dock and you’re using Windows 8. This isn’t too much of a loss, though, as the screen’s 1,920×1,080 resolution would have been tricky to use accurately with touch support. It does, however, still work when you switch over to Android in the keyboard dock, so you can still swipe through your apps.

CAMERA

The Trio’s rear 5-megapixel camera was less impressive, as both our indoor and outdoor shots had a kind of milky haze across them. Images were relatively detailed when there was enough light, but even outdoor shots in bright sunshine were full of noise and muddy patches of pixels.

The camera didn’t cope well in low-light conditions either, and its strange position in the lower left corner of the tablet meant we often had to turn it upside down to line up our shots correctly and get a good angle. This was fine for photos, as it’s easy to change their orientation when you transfer them to a PC, but we weren’t impressed when it shot video upside down as well. Admittedly, the videos we shot looked much better than our photos, as the videos didn’t have the milky haze we’d seen in our still images, but the camera sensor still didn’t perform well in low light.

BATTERY

The Trio’s battery life was good but we’ve seen better from both kinds of devices. The keyboard dock lasted six hours and 31 minutes in our light use test with the screen set to half brightness. This is a little below average, as other laptops we’ve tested with the same processor have lasted around nine hours.

The tablet lasted a more disappointing 4 hours and 53 minutes in our continuous video playback test with the screen set to half brightness. You can, however, extend its battery life by connecting it to the keyboard dock. When we re-ran our continuous video playback test with the keyboard dock attached, the tablet lasted 8 hours and 15 minutes with Windows running in the background and 10 hours and 58 minutes when we were just running Android. This is better, but it still isn’t great by tablet standards, as most 10in tablets last around ten or eleven hours on their own without the need for an additional battery.

CONCLUSION

At £900, the Asus Transformer Book Trio TX201LA might seem overpriced, but you’re getting two products in one device for the price of one laptop. Neither device is particularly exceptional on its own, but the combination of the two makes this one of the best value hybrids available.