Technology maker ASUS revealed their latest line-up of notebooks and tablets yesterday in Johannesburg for the South African market. While the majority of their new product range includes notebooks, a number of the products are world-firsts for tablets – all running on Windows 8.
Among the unveiled hardware was the Transformer Book, a notebook with a screen that can detach and then be used as a tablet. While the screen is much larger than a conventional tablet, it serves the same purpose – just on a larger scale. The Transformer Book is also the world’s first ultraportable to combine the best features of a notebook and tablet. The notebook will only be made available in South Africa early next year, and the one on show was one of only four in the world.
ASUS also showed off the Taichi, an Ultrabook with a back-to-back dual-screen designed for mobile flexibility. The screen can either be extended or duplicated, so it will be a lot easier to show something on the screen to a person who is sitting directly across from the user. The screen can also be used to show movies to children, while the user carries on with their work.
The Taichi makes use of a Intel Core processor, the back-to-back screens are in full HD, and the entire notebook only weighs in at 1.25kg.
In the budget range, ASUS revealed the VivoBook S200 and S400, which has a screen resolution from 11.6” to 14”. “Optimized for Windows 8, ASUS VivoBooks showcase an attractive, durable, and very portable design. They integrate ASUS SonicMaster audio and 2-second instant on, and all models include 32GB of WebStorage cloud space for three years. ASUS VivoBooks embody a new way of offering enjoyable and intuitive notebook experiences to customers, with additional models joining the series by the end of the year,” said Chris Wen, Country Product Manager for ASUS.
Invited media also had the opportunity to view and experience the Google Nexus 7 tablet, which has been designed in collaboration with ASUS. The tablet features a 7-inch display, 32GB of storage and the option to add mobile data. It’s built by ASUS and comes with a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor – making pages load quickly, while gameplay is smooth and responsive.
“We are approaching a critical transition from an age of personal computing to a new era of ubiquitous cloud computing, where every device must be intuitive, mobile and adaptable. With Windows 8 and our relentless pursuit of incredible innovation, ASUS is at the very forefront of this transition,” said ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
