Welcome to a Laptop Battery specialist of the Asus Laptop Battery
The world's love affair with tablets may have been bubbling along under the surface for a while, but it really got started in earnest during CES 2010. Back in those wild days, you could see 15-inch jumbo screens, TV tuners, and even hybrid pseudo-laptops stalking the tablet area of your favorite trade show. ASUS was there too, of course, though it still believed in the upstart smartbook category -- a modernized take on the netbook that relied on an ARM CPU and a mobile OS to extract more battery life out of a lighter, thinner device -- and was busy showing off a seductively slim prototype of just such a machine. Alas, nothing came of that Neo concept, most likely because it was relying on Android 1.6 and a Tegra 2 system-on-chip that was then still months away from hitting the market.
Today, however, is a different day. The 1GHz with battery sucha as Asus SQU-503 Battery, Asus 5000A Battery, Asus A3 Battery, Asus A3000 Battery, Asus A3000N Battery, Asus A3E Battery, Asus A3G Battery, Asus A3H Battery, Asus A3L Battery, Asus A3N Battery, Asus A4000 Battery, Asus A4G Battery dual-core Tegra 2 is finally being produced in volume, Google has evolved Android to version 3.0, specifically targeting higher-resolution displays, and ASUS has abandoned the idea that a keyboard is crucial to mobile computing. No, wait, that last bit's still there. The Eee Pad Transformer is a 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet very much in keeping with the current trend, but it also has an optional keyboard dock that turns it into a, you guessed it, instant smartbook. So, does that mean you'll get two devices in one or has ASUS been overly ambitious and compromised too much? We got to grips with the £380 16GB WiFi-only model and its keyboard buddy (£430 when bought as a pair) in an effort to find out. Answers await just past the break.
The Transformer is an outwardly unremarkable slab of technology. A single sheet of glass covers its IPS LCD, front-facing camera, ambient light sensor, and 18mm of black bezel that extend from each side of the display. That arrangement is then ensconced within the overall metal frame of the tablet, which is a dark, desaturated brown with a textured back. Stereo speakers pump out sound laterally from the lower left and right edges, with a microSD card slot, a Mini HDMI 1.3a port, a combined mic / headphone jack, and the power / lock and volume keys filling out the rest of the space on the Transformer's sides. Its bottom is populated by a couple of holes for coupling with the keyboard dock and a -- cringe -- proprietary connector that relays data and power between the two Transformer parts or between the slate and your nearest desktop PC.
The power / lock and volume keys are well positioned on the Eee Pad's right shoulder. It's a location naturally within reach of your left hand, which will tend to be the one supporting the pad while you use it with your right. Of course, if you happen to be a leftie, the ergonomics aren't so awesome, but thanks to Honeycomb's ability to work irrespective of the tablet's orientation, you can still flip the slate 180 degrees and have these controls under hand.