This is the latest in ASUS’s tablet/laptop mashup, with the tablet having a detachable keyboard dock (with a second battery and extra ports). Naturally, as I do with the more serious tech reviews, after a quick peer and play I handed it straight over to the 15yr old gamer to put it through a far more rigorous test than my own Facebook/Hootsuite/Frozen Freefall would accomplish. Here’s what he had to say:
We’ve reviewed tablets before, but never one with a keyboard. This has become a trend in modern tablets, including a keyboard so it doubles as an almost-laptop. Which I have to say, I love. When I first saw it I admit to thinking it “gimmicky”, but now having had one in my hands, I can see the appeal!
But it’s not the only attractive thing about the set. The tablet on its own lasts for 13 hours without being connected to the keyboard – which is a fantastic battery life.
It also comes with a stunningly pretty 10.1 inch screen! It has an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, so the stunning screen doesn’t go to waste, no matter what you use your tablet for: Browsing, Shopping, Gaming, Work or entertainment, it hasn’t slowed down once. Games run smoothly with a slick powered feel you’d expect from a desktop, and basic tasks are a breeze – there’s just no lag or frustrating stuttering.
The tablet and keyboard are solidly built without feeling too heavy, and the keyboard doesn’t add that much weight to the feel of the tablet in my opinion. The cameras are amazing on this tablet; both front and back facing. They record high definition video and take great pictures, they stood up to long Skype calls and have been a big thumbs up on all fronts!
The tablet has performed on every level I have tested it in. I play a lot of video games and thought I would test it out with some of the higher end Nvidia required games like The Walking Dead. The game which runs slowly on most tablets and phones ran like a dream. Allowing split second motions to be performed with without any lag! Movies look absolutely stunning (I tested this with my much loved Seagate Media Drive); no flaws at all. I also fully tested the keyboard, which feels amazing – lots of these “clip-on” keyboards can feel “nothingy”… however there was a definite click to this keyboard, they got the weight of the keys perfect. The other test to how much I loved the feel of this keyboard is the fact that I am currently writing this review on it!
The keyboard provides a lot of specialist keys that you won’t find on most laptop and pc keyboards. This includes a screenshot button, settings button, Brightness button and many more including many media keys. They keyboard also comes with a trackpad – I’m not a huge fan of trackpads; it was ok but I don’t like them in general. The keyboard also provides a USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot which for a tablet is excellent! But of course you don’t need the keyboard to use the tablet, it can be used with or without.
Overall I cannot recommend this tablet enough, no matter what you use your devices for. It has done great on all fronts, and is definitely worth the money. A great big enormous thumbs up for the TF701T (except for the name. That’s dull and annoying to remember). It might accidentally get lost down the back of my desk before it has to go back to ASUS…
Believe it or not, the best price we found for the Asus TF701T 32GB 2GB 10.1″ Android 4.2 Transformer Pad was at Tesco Direct! Coming in at a smidge over £300, it’s not the massive price tag I was expecting for a such an impressive piece of kit.
13 October 2014
Confused to see this reviewed- this device was released (and reviewed) by the tech websites last year. It’s also shipping with an old version of Android (which was old back in December 2013). The Tegra 4 processor has been replaced by the K1 in newer devices, as seen in the Shield Tablet, and Asus have even released two different Transformerpad’s since this one.
Tesco Direct are currently showing it at £328 too.
I’m a fan of buying previous generation tech because the compromise in performance is often offset by the price but I think it is worth noting in the review this is old tech now.