COMPUTEX 2012, Taipei — Asus Technologies unveiled several new tablets and ultrabooks during this afternoon’s event here in Taipei. The Taiwanese computer manufacturer impressed the crowd of media people from around the world when they showed several new products in their ultrabook and tablet category.
With the final release of Windows 8 happening sometime this October, Asus has already prepared several tablets to coincide the launch. First off, the bat is the Asus Tablet 810, a Windows 8 tablet that comes with a keyboard dock to transform itself into an ultrabook. The Asus Tablet 810 has an 11.6-inch Super IPS+ panel that’s only 8.7mm thin and is powered by Intel’s next-generation Atom processor with 2GB RAM and 64GB eMMC. It also comes with a Wacom digitizer for more accurate input and an 8-megapixel rear camera.
The other hybrid tablet-netbook is the Asus Tablet 600 which is a 10.1-inch display (1366×768 pixels) running an NVidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor. The tablet also transform into a netbook once the keyboard dock is attached.
Since the Tablet 600 uses an Tegra3 CPU, it can also run Windows RT (an OS dedicated only to RTM devices).
A fully-functional but hybrid Zenbook was even made to transform itself into a tablet and Asus calls it the Transformer Book. The ultrabook comes with the latest 3rd-generation Core i7 processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, and either an SSD or HDD for storage.
Like the Asus Tablet 810 and 600, the Transformer Book comes with a keyboard dock so you can actually just take the tablet with you and leave the keyboard as it is. The Transformer Book will be available in 11.6-inch, 13-inch and 14-inch models.
One other surprise unveiled this afternoon was the Asus Taichi. Asus was not satisfied with the single full HD IPS panel in its ultrabook, so it decided to add another IPS LCD panel at the back of the lid.
The result – the Asus Taichi, an 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch ultrabook that has a twin panel – both back and front. When you open the lid of the notebook, you get the usual thin and light ultrabook form factor. When you close the lid, you get a full HD multi-touch, Windows 8 tablet.
The Asus Taichi will represent the best ultrabook hybrid can do. It will sport the latest 3rd-generation Core i7 processor, an SSD storage, 4GB DDR3 RAM, dual-band WiFi 802.11n and two full HD display.
There’s also stylus support so you can make very accurate input commands.
Asus is planning to release these new ultrabooks and tablets once Microsoft has finally released Windows 8 and Windows RT sometime in October this year. And considering these are top-of-the-line devices, Asus may be selling them more than the normal $999 price tag they would put on a regular ultrabook.
