Review Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR Convertible
For the original German review, see here.
Intel revealed its first tablet platform Clover Trail at the end of 2012. It was supposed to compete with ARM or Tegra-based solutions and was ready for Windows 8 at the same time. There were several devices in 2013, but all of them shared one problem: The performance was way too low for Intel Core spoiled laptop users. Does the successor Bay Trail solve this problem? This would really improve the acceptance and the general usability of the Windows tablet and especially the keyboard convertible.
AMD rushed ahead with Temash a few months back, the first x86 APU with four native cores. It was interesting to see that the first devices with Temash were not tablets or convertibles, but subnotebooks like the Acer Aspire V5-122P-61454G50NSS or the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite.
Asus is one of the first manufacturers to use Intel's new platform with its Transformer Book T100TA. The Keyboard Dock (DK002H) is provided. Competitors for the Transformer Book are classic low-cost subnotebooks with AMD's Temash APU; Acer's Aspire V5-122P (A6-1450) retails for 380 Euros (~$521). Temash was intended as a powerful tablet APU and rival to Intel's Atom. The second competitor is based on Intel's first tablet generation Z2760, the Lenovo IdeaTab Miix (64 GB) with a keyboard dock starts at 470 Euros (~$644). Which device offers the best performance for the money? Our in-depth review gives the answer.
Update 01/30/2014: Review update of the version with 500GB + 64GB flash storage
We had the chance to test the T100TA-DK007H (90NB0451-M01470) with a 500 GB HDD in the dock and 64 GB flash storage inside the tablet. We added our test results in the sections system performance, storage solution and battery runtimes.
Case
The tablet with its glossy paint is certainly no masterpiece in terms of quality. The back can be pushed in (small cavity) and you can easily twist the chassis with two hands. The back has a nice centric texture under the paint. This does not, however, improve the grip, quite the contrary. The high-glossy surface results in a slippery feel.
We really like the slide-in solution of the large hinge. Two large metal guides keep the tablet in position while you attach the keyboard dock. The mechanical locking mechanism is very robust and you can detach the tablet with a push button. This can happen anytime during operation.
The keyboard dock, even though made of plastic, leaves a solid and durable impression. The torsion resistance is decent and all surfaces are matte and grippy, especially the slightly rubberized bottom. The palm rest is brushed (haptic texture) and does not attract fingerprints.
Connectivity
The port equipment is meager and the highlight is certainly the standard USB 3.0 port (Type A). You could even use a universal docking station to attach storage drives, speakers and external displays. The micro USB 2.0 port is used to charge the tablet with the according PSU. This connector has small pins, so you will have to be careful when you plug it in. There is unfortunately no second power connector at the keyboard dock. One advantage of the USB cable is that you can use the majority of smartphone chargers for the T100TA.
Communication
Draft-N WLAN and Bluetooth 4.0 are standard nowadays and that applies for Windows 8 tablets as well. The Broadcom 802.11 bgn SDIO adaptor does not show a perfect performance in our test. The signal is lost with a distance of more than 15 meters outside the house and Windows indicates two out of five bars, while we had four bars with a distance of 10 meters (inside).
Accessories / Software
Besides the small power supply unit (20 Watts, USB connector) Asus also provides the keyboard dock (DK002H). You cannot even buy the T100 without the dock; otherwise it wouldn't be a Transformer Book. There are also some quick-start guides and warranty information.
We can find many Asus tools on the small 32 GB SSD: Live Update, Web Storage, Reading Mode, On Screen Display and some third party applications. The highlight is certainly the full version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013. The Windows installation alone occupies 10 GB, so you can only use around 17 GB. We had to delete the mentioned tools to copy and install our benchmarks and games. Applications can be stored on a micro SD card, but the performance would be significantly reduced.
Maintenance
You cannot open the tablet, and there are no visible screws so you will have to pry the back open. The only replaceable part is most likely the 32 GB eMMC flash drive. Versions with 32 and 64 GB suggest that the module is not soldered onto the motherboard.
Warranty
Asus grants an international warranty of 12 months (pick-up & return). The device is picked up after the registration with the support. An extension to 24 months is available for 30 Euros (~$41).
Input Devices
Keyboard
We really like the keyboard of the Transformer. The completely flat keys have a comparatively large key travel, which is larger than most notebooks with similar chiclet keyboards. The clear pressure point does unfortunately result in a somewhat rickety stroke. The reason for this is a cavity beneath the keys. You cannot dent or push the keys in, but the typing noise is very hollow. All things considered we can live with that and enjoy the otherwise convenient typing experience. Small drawback: We sometimes missed the very small Shift-key on the right side but the rest of the layout is standard (Del on the top right corner, for instance)
Touchpad
You can use the touchpad as an alternative to the touchscreen, but the experience is not very good. It is a clickpad and does not have separate mouse buttons, only one large button underneath it and it is activated by pressure on the pad. Unfortunately there is hardly any key travel and the necessary force is rather high. We prefer the mouse button areas (at the bottom of the clickpad) that have more travel. The small pad has a smooth surface and good gliding capabilities.
Display
The 10.1-inch LCD TFT has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels, which is standard for this price range and the resulting pixel density is 155 ppi. Asus integrated an IPS panel with better viewing angles compared to a TN display.
|
Brightness Distribution: 91 %
Center on Battery: 248 cd/m²
Contrast: 1033:1 (Black: 0.24 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 7 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 6.54 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
38% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
41.78% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
60.2% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
40.34% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.58
The contrast ratio of 1,033:1 is very high and the black value is 0.24 cd/m². Black areas are really black as a result, even with the maximum display brightness of up to 248 cd/m² (center). The luminance is evenly distributed (91%).
The rival Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10 has a really good screen: Contrast of 1,480:1 and a brightness of 444 cd/m² are the benchmark. Acer's Aspire V5-122P, however, cannot keep up with our review unit. Despite its IPS panel with wide viewing angles, contrast (500:1) and brightness (206 cd/m²) are noticeably lower.
However, contrast and brightness alone are not enough for a professional display. We would need sRGB coverage as well, but neither the Transformer Book nor its competitors offer that. Our review unit only covers 56% of the sRGB color space, but users will hardly use the Atom platform for professional picture editing anyway.
We used the spectrophotometer X-Rite i1Pro 2 to analyze the display out of the box. CalMAN shows a good result for the grayscale presentation, only lighter shades have higher deviations. A blue cast, which is common with many notebook displays, is not visible, only the saturation shows a slight shift from magenta towards blue. All in all we are satisfied with the display of the T100, especially when we consider the low price. ColorChecker shows an average DeltaE of 7 (lower is better; ideal: <3). The competition is even better; the IdeaTab Miix 10 has a DeltaE of 4.
The average brightness of 237 cd/m² is not bad, but it is too low for outdoor use. You will have to look for a place in the shade to see the display content. The pictures below were taken on a cloudy day. The brightness is not reduced on battery power as long as the ambient light sensor is either deactivated or completely exposed. The strong reflections are the main problem.
It is not surprising that the viewing angle stability is a strong suit of the In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology and the IPS panel of our review unit is no exception. Even extreme viewing angles are no problem and you do not have to adjust the display when you change the viewing angle. The HYDIS panel (HV101HD1-1E2) is superior to standard TN panels that are often used for this price range. This is, however, not the case for the rivals Aspire V5-122P and IdeaTab Miix 10, both devices have an IPS display.
Performance
The Intel Atom Z3740 (Bay Trail platform) is now equipped with a CPU Turbo (500 MHz up to 1.8 GHz), four cores (instead of two) and is manufactured in 22 nm (instead of 32 nm). These are, besides some small improvements, the main advantages of the new Atom. The performance per MHz was, according to Intel, increased by 50% compared to the Z2760.
The HD Graphics (Bay Trail) is integrated into the CPU and is also equipped with a Turbo (up to 896 MHz). It is not suited for gaming, even though the performance is higher compared to the PowerVR SGX 545 (Z2760). We will further investigate the performance in the following sections. SanDisk provides the storage (SEM32G), which turns out to be the bottleneck of the system. It is not because of the transfer rates but because of the limited capacity of just 32 GB.
Processor
Intel specifies the TDP of the Atom Z3740 with up to 4 Watts (Turbo; predecessor 3 Watts). The actual consumption of the CPU depends on the thermal restrictions of the system. Intel conceded at the first Bay Trail briefings that the processor will reduce its clock after a period of constant load to stay within certain temperature limits. How does the Turbo of our T100TA behave?
Due to the lack of 64-bit support of the CPU (it supports it in theory) we use the old Cinebench R10 (32-bit). The clock is raised to 1,865 MHz and can be maintained, even with constant load by Prime95. The fear of throttling of the already limited performance is therefore unfounded and the situation does not change on battery power.
The first tablet Atom (Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10, Z2760) falls behind by 49% (Multi-Core) and 35% (Single-Core). AMD's Temash quad-core as the main rival is -15 and +10% behind or ahead of the Atom Z3740 respectively. The differences are negligibly small and we would say both chips offer the same level of performance. The chart also shows the position of the AMD A4-1250 Low-Power-APU (dual-core, HP Pavilion TouchSmart 11), which can be found in the 13-inch convertible Satellite W30Dt-A-100, for instance (similar: A4-1200).
System Performance
PCMark 8 does not work, so we used PCMark 7 and Vantage instead. The overall score of PCMark 7 is comparatively good, even Temash can be beaten by 8% (Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite, SSD!). Interesting: The Celeron 847 system Acer Aspire One 756 is 47% behind our T100TA, where the integrated HDD clearly affects the score. An HDD has the same effect on a Temash-based system: Acer Aspire V5-122P -47%. The Atom predecessor Z2760 (Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10) falls behind by 40% and the same applies for the Productivity score.
We noticed that the benchmark repeatedly resulted in a Windows message that reported insufficient system memory. However, this only happened during the system benchmarks.
Update 01/30/2014: Review update of the version with 500GB + 64GB flash storage
PCMark 8 (2.0) worked with the high-end version of our review unit and determined the following results: Home 1,222, Creative 1,013, Work Error, Storage Flash Error, Storage HDD 1,814. This is, with limited data, slightly below the Medion Akoya P2211T (Celeron N2910, Baytrail M). The PCMark 7 result does hardly change. The HDD is not included in this test, only the system partition on the 64 GB SSD.
PCMark Vantage Result | 4758 points | |
PCMark 7 Score | 2339 points | |
Help |
Storage Solution
The pretty good system score suggests a fast SSD, but the HDD benchmarks do not completely support this. Transfer rates for sequential reading are just slightly above conventional hard drives (+ 30%) and they are even lower during reading, the Acer Aspire V5-122P with an HDD, for example, is 99% faster. It is the opposite situation when we write small 4K blocks; the HDDs fall behind by up to 91% in this case.
SanDisk's SSD is really good during reading of small 4K blocks with a transfer rate of 10 MB/s. It is still 113% behind a "real" SSD (Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite), but we also have to include the bad result of the IdeaTab Miix 10 64GB. In short: The performance of the 32 GB eMMC flash storage is a bit better than the usual low-cost parts, nothing more and nothing less.
Update 01/30/2014: Review update of the version with 500GB + 64GB flash storage
The 64 GB eMMC (SanDisk) is much slower than the 32 GB version. Instead of 109 MB/s you only get 70 MB/s for sequential reading; instead of 10 MB/s only around 8 MB/s for 4K reads. The HGST Travelstar Z5K500 (HTS545050A7E680, 2.5", 8 MB cache, 5400 rpm, SATA III 6.0Gb/s) provides pretty good sequential transfer rates (reading), but the access time is very high (HD Tune 19.4 ms). The screenshots show: The HDD manages higher transfer rates than the internal flash storage (sequential reading). The flash storage is however much better in the more important disciplines 4K read and access time (0.4 ms).
Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10 64GB SGX545, Z2760, 64 GB SSD | Acer Aspire V5-122P-61454G50NSS Radeon HD 8250, A6-1450, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX | HP Pavilion TouchSmart 11-e000sb Radeon HD 8210, A4-1250, Toshiba MQ01ABF050 | Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite 905S3G-K01DE Radeon HD 8250, A6-1450, Samsung SSD PM841 MZMTD128HAFV mSATA | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 | -26% | -24% | -18% | 396% | |
Write Seq | 43.2 | 38.14 -12% | 85.9 99% | 96.1 122% | 135.5 214% |
Read Seq | 109 | 77.5 -29% | 87.7 -20% | 103.6 -5% | 475.1 336% |
Write 4k | 4.034 | 2.226 -45% | 0.899 -78% | 0.428 -89% | 41.1 919% |
Read 4k | 10.33 | 8.57 -17% | 0.298 -97% | 0.226 -98% | 22 113% |
Graphics
The performance of the Bay Trail is pretty good so far considering the low price below 400 Euros (~$548). But what about the new HD Graphics? 311 up to 896 MHz do not really sound overwhelming, so what are the 4 Execution Units capable of? (HD 4400 = 16 EUs, up to 1,100 MHz)
We attach an external display via micro HDMI and run the classic 3DMark06 in 1280x1024 pixels. We actually used this resolution for the first Atom netbooks back in 2007 (N450 etc.). The last netbook CPU N2800 (Asus Eee PC R052C) falls behind by -77% and the same applies for the GPU of the Z2760 (IdeaTab Miix 10). Intel cannot keep up with Temash (Radeon HD 8250), both Acer Aspire V5-122P and Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite are 27 up to 49% faster. 3DMark 11 (almost no CPU load) shows an even bigger advantage for Temash (+138%), 3DMark 13, however, only indicates +9%.
3DMark 2001SE Standard | 7727 points | |
3DMark 03 Standard | 5252 points | |
3DMark 05 Standard | 3398 points | |
3DMark 06 Score Unknown Setting | 2108 points | |
3DMark Vantage P Result | 646 points | |
3DMark 11 Performance | 209 points | |
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 15966 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 1206 points | |
Help |
Gaming Performance
What does this mean for real games? The Radeon HD 8250 (Temash) is always faster, even though it is still not really playable with 15 fps (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Low) or 26 fps (Diablo 3, Low). Some older games, however, are more playable on the Radeon than on the Bay Trail Atom.
Asus Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3740, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Acer Aspire One 725-C7Xkk Radeon HD 7290, C-70, Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E380 | HP Pavilion Sleekbook TouchSmart 11-e010sg Radeon HD 8210, A4-1250, Toshiba MQ01ABF050 | Acer Aspire One 756-B847X HD Graphics 2000, 847, Seagate Momentus Thin ST320LT020-9YG142 | Acer Aspire V5-122P-61454G50NSS Radeon HD 8250, A6-1450, Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000LPVX | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Diablo III | |||||
1024x768 Low / off | 18.4 | 22.1 20% | 24.1 31% | 26.1 42% | |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | |||||
1280x720 Low Preset | 11.8 | 8.7 -26% | 10.1 -14% | 14.4 22% | |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -26% /
-26% | 3% /
3% | 31% /
31% | 32% /
32% |
low | med. | high | ultra | |
Risen (2009) | 23.1 | 8.7 | ||
Deus Ex Human Revolution (2011) | 19.7 | |||
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) | 11.8 | |||
Diablo III (2012) | 18.4 | 12 | ||
Tomb Raider (2013) | 15.9 | 6.9 | ||
Dota 2 (2013) | 20.8 | 13.7 |
Emissions
System Noise
The Transformer Book does not have a fan and is therefore completely silent.
Temperature
The temperatures of the fan-less tablet under constant load (stress test) are slightly higher compared to clamshell subnotebooks based on Temash (e. g. Acer Aspire V5-122P). Keep in mind that these devices have an active cooling (fan) and a thicker chassis, so the result of the T100 is very good. This is especially evident during idle with maximum surface temperatures of 30 °C while Acer's Aspire V5-122P warms up to 38 °C (+25%). The Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10 with the predecessor Atom is slightly warmer (13%) but it is on the same level during the stress test.
This low temperature is a result of a processor that only runs with 533 MHz during idle. We can see the same throttling issue during our stress test that we already know from many Intel Core notebooks with a CPU Turbo. The CPU clock levels off at 1.3 GHz after 10 minutes combined load for the CPU and the GPU. We cannot see this behavior when we only stress the CPU: Prime95 (Multi) results in a steady CPU clock of 1.8 GHz.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42.5 °C / 109 F, compared to the average of 35.3 °C / 96 F, ranging from 19.6 to 55.7 °C for the class Convertible.
(-) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 45.2 °C / 113 F, compared to the average of 36.7 °C / 98 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.1 °C / 79 F, compared to the device average of 30.2 °C / 86 F.
(-) The palmrests and touchpad can get very hot to the touch with a maximum of 42.5 °C / 108.5 F.
(-) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.1 °C / 82.6 F (-14.4 °C / -25.9 F).
Speakers
The speakers are located underneath tiny grilles on the back of the tablet. Asus uses the phrase SonicMaster, but that does not really mean much for audiophiles. Due to the lack of size, the speakers emphasize medium tones; high tones and bass are not very powerful. This is a common problem for small devices, but you can attach external speakers via 3.5 mm stereo jack.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The impressive runtimes suggest an excellent energy management. We measure 1.7 Watts during idle; the old Clover Trail platform was on the same level (IdeaTab Miix 10, Samsung ATIV Tab 3, both 10-inches). Temash on the other hand consumes at least 3.9 Watts (Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite, 13-inches).
We measure a consumption of 11 - 12 Watts under load, which indicates the good scalability. The Temash-based Acer consumes 71% more in this scenario. Clover Trail was more frugal; Miix 10 and ATIV Tab 3 need 31% and 38% less energy respectively under normal load. The stress test shows an advantage of 21% for the old Z2760. In short: The old Atom generation uses 20 to 40% less energy under load, but only offers 50% of the performance.
Off / Standby | 0.01 / 0.4 Watt |
Idle | 1.7 / 3.9 / 3.9 Watt |
Load |
10.7 / 11.8 Watt |
Battery Runtime
The 2-cell battery (31 Wh polymer) provides excellent runtimes. Our realistic WLAN test (a script refreshes a website every 40 seconds, brightness at 150 cd/m²) results in 10:47 hours for the Transformer. It even manages 16:39 hours during idle and with minimum display brightness. Temash cannot keep up with that: Acer Aspire V5-122P (-17%) or Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite (-63%). Both devices are also equipped with a 30 Wh battery. Even the Lenovo IdeaTab Miix 10 (Z2760) only manages half the runtime (WLAN test), but the idle runtimes of the Atom predecessor are on the same level (Miix 10: -12%).
Update 01/30/2014: Review update of the version with 500GB + 64GB flash storage
The premium Transformer with a hard drive manages 9:16 hours in our WLAN test, which is 1:31 hours less than our review unit without an HDD and with 32 GB flash storage.
Verdict
Intel's Bay Trail Atom leaves a good impression. You should not expect any miracles from the quad-core, but the performance has clearly been improved, both subjectively and objectively. It pays off to use a Bay Trail system (Z3740) instead of an old Clover Trail (Z2760).
But that's not all. The Transformer Book T100TA also offers better runtimes compared to the old platform, at least within our competition. AMDs ultra mobile quad-core Temash is not as frugal, especially during idle.
The build quality is not overwhelming by any means but it is reasonable for this price point. Two aspects that we really like are the durable keyboard dock and the large key travel. Frequent writers will not take much time to get used to it and the USB 3.0 port is a nice addition. However, the small touchpad is not very good with its very limited travel (clickpad).
The display is very good with its wide viewing angles (IPS) and the high contrast. All in all this is a small convertible that works well for simple tasks (like office, text editing) as well as multimedia fans (web browsing, movies). If you are looking for Windows 8.1, you will have a hard time to find a tablet with a better price/performance ratio at the moment.
Acer's Aspire V5-122P is the best choice (below 400 Euros, ~$548) if a subnotebook works for you and if battery runtimes are not the most important aspect. It is also equipped with a good IPS panel and offers more 3D performance for gaming. Lenovo's IdeaTab Miix 10 offers the best display (IPS, brightness, contrast), but the Clover Trail performance is not future-proof and we therefore do not recommend this device (470 Euros, ~$644).
Update 01/30/2014: Review update of the version with 500GB + 64GB flash storage
The HDD version does lose some battery runtime (-1:31), but you do get a lot of capacity on a quiet hard drive in return. The 64 GB SSD is worse than the 32 GB version in the benchmarks. The overall weight is slightly increased to 1,166 grams (from 1,113 grams) because of the HDD. The dock alone weighs 592 grams.