Today the folks from ASUS had plenty to announce at Computex 2013, and their new Transformer Book Trio is the oddest of the bunch, but looks pretty interesting. In what they’re calling the “world’s first three-in-one notebook, tablet, and desktop PC.” The Transformer Book Trio does it all. Runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Windows 8, and even can be your desktop PC if you’d like.
Power-wise, the ability to switch between OSes is supplemented with multiple batteries, according to a report by Engadget. The Book Trio is seen sporting a 33Wh cell as well as a 19Wh one. Storage-wise, the Book Trio offers 750GB HDD, which is placed inside the dock as well as 64GB of flash storage, which is found inside the tablet itself.
It certainly won’t be cheap, but if this can eliminate one or more of our devices we carry around daily it could be somewhat successful. There’s a lot of technology packed into one (or two) devices here, so lets dig into the specifics. This 11.6-inch 1080p device runs Windows 8 and Android simultaneously and can switch between the two instantly. No waiting for each different OS to boot.
The dual OS feature is especially useful because users not only get different interfaces, but also have access to different apps and app stores. And with the Google Play Store providing more than 7, 00,000 apps, this is a definitely a plus point.
The PC station dock comes in with its own 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor and keypad, and allows users to use an external display when the tablet display is detached to function as a standalone desktop PC. The dock also serves as a charging base for the tablet, which has a 2GHz Intel Atom Z2580 chip inside to run Android Jelly Bean. This brings out one crucial point – you cannot switch between the two OS when on the move. Once detached, the tablet will only be able to run Anroid Jelly Bean.
According to the company, the Book Trio has been designed to allow users to sync data or continue to surf the webpage that they are on while switching from notebook to tablet mode. The price of the Book Trio has still not been announced, but it has been reported that the Book Trio will be launched in the third quarter of this year.
From the images that we have seen so far, it looks like the Book Trio will have the same metallic finish which is seen in the rest of the Transformer range. If users want to know more about this particular model though, they will have to wait a bit longer for the company to release more details on the same.
Then the “notebook” aspect of this device runs Windows 8 when connected to the keyboard dock. That keyboard dock is special though, it’s a full-fledged desktop PC that once connected to an external monitor becomes one powerful machine.The keyboard dock has quite the spec list inside too. Including the new fourth-generation Intel Core i7 U4500 Haswell processor, a 1TB hard drive for plenty of Windows 8 storage, and even a built-in battery that helps power the “notebook” side of the device when attached to the 11.6-inch tablet. This is truly a Transformer in every sense of the word.