Making a tablet that will be durable and 13.3" likely requires more thickness/materials than the VAIO Pro 13. Sony has made some very interesting devices over the years, but personally I find that they're often very flexible and cheap feeling. I keep hoping we can get a VAIO Pro 13 or similar in for review, though, so I can actually get some hands on time with it.
I have a Vaio Pro 13 and I really love the absurdly low weight. That said, the materials are definitely in line with previous Vaios. The chassis has a ton of flex. I don't find it worrisome--it never feels like it's in danger of breaking--but it is bad enough that I can click the touchpad just by squeezing on either side of it (though Windows doesn't register the click if you don't have a finger on it, thankfully). They also didn't manage to make the laptop openable with one hand, which is annoying.
Seems to me the problem is that you need most of that weight in the tablet part, so you need to balance that weight in the dock if you want the combination to be a remotely useful laptop, unless you go the Surface route (i.e. built-in stand).
Of course, that raises the obvious question of "who actually thinks a 13" tablet is a good idea?" I certainly don't.
Of course, that raises the obvious question of "who actually thinks a 13" tablet is a good idea?" I certainly don't.
Me. I'd like to use a tablet/laptop convertible for note taking. So something roughly the size of a notebook is rather nice. A 14" would actually be closer, but the 13" should be close enough. On the laptop side of things, 13" is the minimum for a full size keyboard. Anything smaller than 13" is awkward for my hands and really takes away from the experience. A 7" is more portable and I can see a use for it as a dedicated tablet, but 10" is getting large enough that it really isn't much more portable than the 13". The major detractor for most people is weight, but that really doesn't effect me much. At this point, I'd rather add more weight for better battery life. This transformer is basically what I've been waiting for. However, if what Jarred said about no battery in the dock is true, I'll be sorely disappointed. It'll make the difference between buying one immediately upon availability and waiting to see if another manufacturer will give me what I want.
I would have loved a detachable 13" tablet in college. I had a 12.5" Lenovo X230T convertible which is the kind where the screen swivels around and folds back down outwards. I used it in two modes: 1) laptop with touch screen for tapping and scrolling, and 2) notebook tablet.
A 13" detachable would have served both purposes better than my X230T did, or at least just as good with added flexibility.
It comes down to preference I suppose. I'd rather have a 4.2lb device with a solid chassis than a 2.3lb device that feels fragile. I am undecided between this and the sony duo 13 which manages to stay at about 3lb
I'm most likely going to get one of these. The only thing that has me on the fence is that I was expecting additional storage and battery capacity in the docking keyboard, but I'm very glad they increased the RAM to 8GB.
yeah, I just bought a Fujitsu stylistic q702 because I wanted at least a battery in the keyboard dock. even if you don't care about the storage and battery, you need some weight in the dock to keep it from falling over backward when touched or leaned back. The other problem is a 16:9 13" screen is ridiculous in portrait.
Looks pretty good! The tablet part might be a bit too heavy, though. Still waiting for a Haswell Surface Pro 2, and might even hold out until Broadwell.
What's sad is that most tablets have worse cameras than smartphones, so the same people recording with tablets would be better off with their smaller smartphone (assuming of course that they have one).
Or go to a parade like after a World Series. It used to be you could step on something like a light pole to be able to see over the crowd. Now, even that doesn't help because so many people are holding up their large 10"+ tablets to record the parade.
A rear camera comes in handy, in a pinch, if you are creating badges. Or maybe if you are interviewing people and want to take a photo of each applicant.
And don't forget slower. Bay Trail will be a good step up from current Clover Trail chips, but Anand posted that note about a 1.5 multi-threaded score in Cinebench, which is half of what you get from Haswell ULT. More importantly, Haswell i7-4500U scores nearly as high on the single-threaded result (1.33), and I'm betting the top Bay Trail CPUs will be more like 0.5 or less for single-threaded workloads.
If the price is right, it would definitely be a nice option, but the rest of the hardware in this detachable tablet probably ends up with a $550 BoM, so $600 BoM with Bay Trail or $750 BoM with Haswell and you can sell the latter for $1200 vs. $700 if you're lucky with Bay Trail. Just speculation of course, but I think we're more likely to see something like the X102BA first. Still, ASUS has the Transformer line of tablets, so put Bay Trail in that form factor and charge $50 extra to cover the Windows 8 license?
"though I’d love to be surprised and see it below $800"
That would be a *massive* surprise. I'd be surprised to see it at £1000 for i5 and 128gb ssd. This is Asus and they're never cheap. They're quality sure but you don't get bargains with them from what I've seen.
The HP Split X2 (would love a review) starts at $750. That's core i3, 64gb ssd, 4gb ram and very very sadly a 1366 screen (Why HP? Why?!).
BUT it does have a battery in the base. And room for an extra ssd/hdd in the base. Such a shame Asus don't think to have these things in their keyboard bases.
Can configure HP Split X2 for core i5, 8gb ram, 128gb ssd + 500gb hdd, ac wifi, just not the screen...
FWIW, Vizio should be doing something decent with a $800 price point, so it can certainly be accomplished. I just don't think ASUS is interested in that market, which I suppose is fine, but I don't think many people are buying $1000+ Ultrabooks. What they end up doing is picking them up for $700-$800 when they go on clearance. Heh.
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p1esk - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
That's 4.2lbs total!Sony Vaio Pro 13 ultrabook weighs less (2.34lbs) than just the tablet part (2.42lbs) of this transformer.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Making a tablet that will be durable and 13.3" likely requires more thickness/materials than the VAIO Pro 13. Sony has made some very interesting devices over the years, but personally I find that they're often very flexible and cheap feeling. I keep hoping we can get a VAIO Pro 13 or similar in for review, though, so I can actually get some hands on time with it.teiglin - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
I have a Vaio Pro 13 and I really love the absurdly low weight. That said, the materials are definitely in line with previous Vaios. The chassis has a ton of flex. I don't find it worrisome--it never feels like it's in danger of breaking--but it is bad enough that I can click the touchpad just by squeezing on either side of it (though Windows doesn't register the click if you don't have a finger on it, thankfully). They also didn't manage to make the laptop openable with one hand, which is annoying.Seems to me the problem is that you need most of that weight in the tablet part, so you need to balance that weight in the dock if you want the combination to be a remotely useful laptop, unless you go the Surface route (i.e. built-in stand).
Of course, that raises the obvious question of "who actually thinks a 13" tablet is a good idea?" I certainly don't.
JPForums - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
Me. I'd like to use a tablet/laptop convertible for note taking. So something roughly the size of a notebook is rather nice. A 14" would actually be closer, but the 13" should be close enough. On the laptop side of things, 13" is the minimum for a full size keyboard. Anything smaller than 13" is awkward for my hands and really takes away from the experience. A 7" is more portable and I can see a use for it as a dedicated tablet, but 10" is getting large enough that it really isn't much more portable than the 13". The major detractor for most people is weight, but that really doesn't effect me much. At this point, I'd rather add more weight for better battery life. This transformer is basically what I've been waiting for. However, if what Jarred said about no battery in the dock is true, I'll be sorely disappointed. It'll make the difference between buying one immediately upon availability and waiting to see if another manufacturer will give me what I want.
peterfares - Saturday, September 7, 2013 - link
I would have loved a detachable 13" tablet in college. I had a 12.5" Lenovo X230T convertible which is the kind where the screen swivels around and folds back down outwards. I used it in two modes: 1) laptop with touch screen for tapping and scrolling, and 2) notebook tablet.A 13" detachable would have served both purposes better than my X230T did, or at least just as good with added flexibility.
ImSpartacus - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
I know what you mean.It's funny how something can be proficiently durable, but can FEEL cheap.
blandge - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
It comes down to preference I suppose. I'd rather have a 4.2lb device with a solid chassis than a 2.3lb device that feels fragile. I am undecided between this and the sony duo 13 which manages to stay at about 3lbblandge - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
I'm most likely going to get one of these. The only thing that has me on the fence is that I was expecting additional storage and battery capacity in the docking keyboard, but I'm very glad they increased the RAM to 8GB.miahshodan - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
yeah, I just bought a Fujitsu stylistic q702 because I wanted at least a battery in the keyboard dock. even if you don't care about the storage and battery, you need some weight in the dock to keep it from falling over backward when touched or leaned back.The other problem is a 16:9 13" screen is ridiculous in portrait.
ellroy80 - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Looks pretty good! The tablet part might be a bit too heavy, though. Still waiting for a Haswell Surface Pro 2, and might even hold out until Broadwell.fic2 - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
"Seriously, other than children, does anyone use the rear-facing camera on their 10” and larger tablets? I know I don’t."Yes, come to one of my gf's daughter's swim meets. Parents holding up these huge tablets to record their kids "achievements".
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
What's sad is that most tablets have worse cameras than smartphones, so the same people recording with tablets would be better off with their smaller smartphone (assuming of course that they have one).Ktracho - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Or go to a parade like after a World Series. It used to be you could step on something like a light pole to be able to see over the crowd. Now, even that doesn't help because so many people are holding up their large 10"+ tablets to record the parade.pixelstuff - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
A rear camera comes in handy, in a pinch, if you are creating badges. Or maybe if you are interviewing people and want to take a photo of each applicant.snoozemode - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
This but with Bay Trail. Lighter and longer battery life.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
And don't forget slower. Bay Trail will be a good step up from current Clover Trail chips, but Anand posted that note about a 1.5 multi-threaded score in Cinebench, which is half of what you get from Haswell ULT. More importantly, Haswell i7-4500U scores nearly as high on the single-threaded result (1.33), and I'm betting the top Bay Trail CPUs will be more like 0.5 or less for single-threaded workloads.If the price is right, it would definitely be a nice option, but the rest of the hardware in this detachable tablet probably ends up with a $550 BoM, so $600 BoM with Bay Trail or $750 BoM with Haswell and you can sell the latter for $1200 vs. $700 if you're lucky with Bay Trail. Just speculation of course, but I think we're more likely to see something like the X102BA first. Still, ASUS has the Transformer line of tablets, so put Bay Trail in that form factor and charge $50 extra to cover the Windows 8 license?
Impulses - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link
I'd be all over a Transformer with Bay Trail and Windows 8 for ~$600... Anything larger/pricier and I'drather just have a more powerful/normal laptop.nerd1 - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
Any active digitizer support?JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
No, it doesn't appear so.JNo - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
"though I’d love to be surprised and see it below $800"That would be a *massive* surprise. I'd be surprised to see it at £1000 for i5 and 128gb ssd. This is Asus and they're never cheap. They're quality sure but you don't get bargains with them from what I've seen.
The HP Split X2 (would love a review) starts at $750. That's core i3, 64gb ssd, 4gb ram and very very sadly a 1366 screen (Why HP? Why?!).
BUT it does have a battery in the base. And room for an extra ssd/hdd in the base. Such a shame Asus don't think to have these things in their keyboard bases.
Can configure HP Split X2 for core i5, 8gb ram, 128gb ssd + 500gb hdd, ac wifi, just not the screen...
JarredWalton - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
FWIW, Vizio should be doing something decent with a $800 price point, so it can certainly be accomplished. I just don't think ASUS is interested in that market, which I suppose is fine, but I don't think many people are buying $1000+ Ultrabooks. What they end up doing is picking them up for $700-$800 when they go on clearance. Heh.JNo - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
Love the Vizio, look, ethos and reviews. Just wish they had presense in the UK!If Vizio really are doing a convertible then that'd be awesome. Luckily good ol' ebay has sellers willing to post laptops abroad...
pjcamp - Sunday, August 3, 2014 - link
"Seriously, other than children, does anyone use the rear-facing camera on their 10” and larger tablets? "Yes. Students in physics labs for video analysis of moving objects. The laptop provides a steady base when you don't have a tripod and web cam handy.
mclosi - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Hi Guys,Is the memory (RAM) upgradable on t300?
Thanks.