A few months ago, one of my friends told me of a very serious problem that her family was facing. The problem was that her brother needed a new computer. But he wanted a tab. The computer was essential to help him in his studies. The tab was wanted, well because the small screen of his smartphone wasn't sufficient to satisfy the boy's gaming needs. The family could spend money on only one of the devices. And so, a battle was going on between the parents and the boy to choose between the laptop and a tab.
Finally, as usually happens in modern households, the boy won. He got both.
But why am I telling you this? Well, just because I couldn't help but look back at this incident as I tried the Transformer Book T200T by ASUS. It is a laptop cum tablet. That is a laptop which can turn into a tab. In short, a device that could have solved the problem of my friend and her family.
Of course, there are some other such devices available in the market. But most of them are expensive enough to equal the cost of two devices. T200, however, is very reasonably prized.
I recently bought a laptop from Dell that too turns into a tab. However, it can only fold backwards to function like a tab and costs much more. But in T200, one can easily remove the tab from the keyboard and use it as a standalone which definitely is far more convenient.
Specifications: T200 Transformer Book by ASUS has 11.6 inch HD display with 768×1366 pixels resolution. And yes, it is a touchscreen. The Transformer Book is equipped with Intel Atom Z3775 1.46 GHz CPU. The review device that I got was the variant which had 500 G 5400R SATA Hard disk + 32G EMMC storage. It has 2 GB RAM (1.89 GB usable). As for operating system, it comes pre-installed with Windows 8.1 32 bit. Being a Windows 8.1 device, it is eligible for the Windows 10 free upgrade offer ( as indicated by ASUS). The laptop promises about 10 hours of battery life. The tab is equipped with 5 MP rear and 2 MP front camera. And the price? Well, this laptop cum tablet is priced at 35,999 INR.
Appearance: T200 is a slim notebook. The tablet measures 305 x 194 x 11.95 mm (Width x Depth x Height). The dock or the keyboard measures 305 x 200 x 26 mm (Width x Depth x Height). The weight of the tablet is 0.78 kg (battery included) and the dock weighs 0.76 kg.
The ports include two USB ports, a micro-HDMI port and a microSD card port for expanding the storage. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack.
The physical Start key is near the upper left edge on the outside of the lid or the tablet. The Volume Rocker is on the left edge.
The review device that I got was dark blue and had a matt finish on the body and the cover. The dock or the keyboard has contrasting grey colour, also in matt finish. The good thing is that it prevented the fingerprints from showing up on the body of the device. A little while ago, I had also reviewed Asus EeeBook which is a very slim and lightweight notebook. Compared to EeeBook, The Transformer T200 is heavier and a little thicker. But it is a nice looking device. I won't say it has a premium look to it, but it does not look cheap plastic either.
User Experience: I can't give you results of hi-fi performance test results to show how it works. But I can tell you how I felt while using ASUS Transformer Book T200. As the physical Start key is the same colour as the lid, it took me a few minutes to find it and start the laptop. Once I found the key and pressed it, the device booted up quickly enough. The display looks nice and the touch sensitivity was good too.
Detaching the tab from the dock is easy. All I needed to do was press the big key on top of the Keyboard and pull the tab up. As the tab cannot be detached without pressing that key, it is securely held in the dock and would not get separated accidentally. To put it back in the dock, all I needed to do was align it properly and the tab slid into the dock with a nice satisfying click.
Typing was convenient too and overall the performance and speed seemed satisfactory for normal usage. The device might stutter a little with heavy apps and games though.
The battery backup seemed good. However, I did feel that a bit too much battery was getting consumed if I left the device on Sleep Mode.
Using the tab: As I said, the tab is very easy to remove from or attach to the dock. And yes, it can be used on its own to play or work. The on-screen keyboard can be used to type as well. However, although it is cool to have a device that can transform from a laptop to a tab, 11.6 inch display is really too big for a convenient tab use. It looks great, but feels too heavy to hold for long in hand. If you would like to use this tab to read a novel, for example, you might soon feel your hand getting tired of holding it. The placement of the Power Key and the Volume Rocker felt a little inconvenient too. Although it does work well to prevent accidental pressing of these keys.
Overall, ASUS T200 is a nice and portable Transformer Book that can give young users the joy of possessing two gadgets in one. It has all the power that's needed for meeting everyday computing needs and the tab can be used for playing games, watching videos etc. It may not be suitable for users with advanced computing needs who use very heavy software and games. But for young users like college students, T200 is definitely and interesting, capable and affordable option costing Rs. 35,999. You can check out ASUS Transformer Book T200 on Flipkart.
Here are the important Specifications of ASUS Transformer Book T200TA.
