Is anyone impressed with the announced Asus Transformer Book?

[azangru]

A notebook/tablet hybrid with Intel Ivy Bridge processor. A tablet which runs a desktop OS (cough-Windows8-cough). Essentially, a cross between an Asus Transformer and a ZenBook.

Now, isn't it nice? If I had a tablet (which I don't), I would want it to be able of opening - and editing - the same types of files that I can open on my desktop. I would even want its interface to be similar to the desktop interface. That's why I am usually not impressed by those iOS and Android devices.

Only it pains me to see the Transformer Book demoed with Windows 8 on it, not Ubuntu :-(

I wonder though why Asus didn't say anything about the battery life of the Transformer Book. Is it that bad?

[Copper Bezel]

It's an Intel-based slate that doesn't look like one of the Mosaic tablets, it's made by Asus, and it comes in 11", so even before you add Asus's keyboard dock, it's something I'll salivate over. I can't imagine what price it's going to launch at, though, beyond knowing that I won't be able to afford that, ever. = /

[Dr. C]

The choice of an Intel CPU here is very significant. It is the only way that ASUS can deliver the full Windows 8 experience in both the docked and un-docked modes. The tradeoff here of course is battery life. I seriously doubt the tablet will compete with an iPad on battery life. There is a tradeoff here between functionality and battery life. The choice of Intel by ASUS here speaks volumes about Windows 8 RT.

To run Ubuntu I would prefer that same configuration but with an ARM processor. Ubuntu unlike Windows 8 can deliver for the most part the full desktop experience on ARM. A good way to find out what may not work on Ubuntu ARM is to run Virtual Richard M Stallman (VRMS); however some propriety applications such as Flash will work on Ubuntu ARM. What will not work is running Windows in a virtual machine or x86 Windows applications in WINE.

The reality here is that the GNU/Linux and especially Ubuntu is ideally suited to provide the desktop experience combined with long battery life on ARM processors while Microsoft Windows 8 and Apple Mac OS X / IOS cannot.

[Copper Bezel]

If it was on ARM, it would have a locked bootloader. I'm thrilled that it's x86, because it means there's at least a chance of running Linux on it.

Further, Ubuntu can run on ARM (on devices not defective by design,) but while it's possible to have a purely free system, most of us do depend on some proprietary, binary applications and drivers, and they're only ever built against x86. It's great that you can get the CPU to boot and all, but when the GPU, wireless module, and, once you actually get into a desktop, the Flash support all depend on x86 packages, you're not exactly getting a full Ubuntu experience.

It's too bad, too, because ARM is an objectively better architecture and much better with battery life as you say. The ideal for a hybrid would be something more like the Transformer Prime with full Ubuntu driver support, not the Transformer Book, and this is just an unfortunate compromise.

I've also messed with the Zenbook in stores, and the build quality doesn't feel Apple-level the way the Transformer Prime's does. I imagine the Transformer Book will be much the same - a little more floppy than a $1400 USD machine ought to feel.

And yes, Windows RT and Windows RT devices are seriously limited, and Microsoft and the hardware vendors are well aware of that. It's not meant to be a full desktop experience. I think to some extent Microsoft might simply be transitioning toward that part of the platform in 8, and that it's simply not ready to be a full PC yet.

Edit: Wait, you mentioned Flash. You can force it to work on ARM? How?

[Dr. C]

I ran VRMS on my Laptop HP ProBokk 4530s, a laptop that was purchased last year from Staples with Windows 7 pre-installed, and this was all that was flagged as non free.
libfaac0 http://www.audiocoding.com/ Source is avalible for download

unrar (non free) There is a GPL version that does open rar3 files

flashplugin-installer Flash has been available for Linux ARM for a few years now. http://www.arm.com/about/newsroom/26062.php Ever wondered how Android runs flash.

ttf-mscorefonts-installer Fonts are not impacted by processor archticture.

That is it. The days of non working wirelss chips etc. are long gone. There is a very real opportunity here for a System76 or ZaReason to step into this market.

[wilee-nilee]

No link to the said asus device, come on.

[azangru]

No link to the said asus device, come on.
From the Asus presentation at Computex (http://youtu.be/rmeNhBavAqs?t=22m33s)

(It's a bit too theatrical for my taste, but you still get the idea :))

[KiwiNZ]

An ok product, but the Transformer Prime is a better product.

[Paqman]

If it was on ARM, it would have a locked bootloader.

Not necessarily. It's a requirement to be certified for Windows, but getting that certification isn't compulsory. You can still sell a Windows machine without the little sticker ("Made for Windows Flippy Tiles Edition!"), especially if you're not bothered about enterprise customers.

Will be interesting to see.

[Copper Bezel]

That wouldn't happen without an incentive, but what hadn't occurred to me that there is an incentive - consumers might actually want the option between Android and Windows on ARM devices, and there are devices that have been sold with both. So, maybe.

KiwiNZ, I agree, the Prime looks like a more polished device on the whole. Of course, it's the second iteration, and this is only on about the level of the original Transformer. If it does well, we might see a better iteration later on, a Transformer Book Prime.

[Dr. C]

Not necessarily. It's a requirement to be certified for Windows, but getting that certification isn't compulsory. You can still sell a Windows machine without the little sticker ("Made for Windows Flippy Tiles Edition!"), especially if you're not bothered about enterprise customers.

Will be interesting to see.

I would be very surprised if Microsoft would allow a Windows 8 RT machine without a locked bootloader. For example HTC has been reportedly locked out by Microsoft form Windows 8 RT http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/htc-said-to-be-shut-out-of-next-version-of-windows.html. Unlike the x86/AMD64 version of Windows 8 Windows 8 RT is only available from "approved" OEMs.

[Paqman]

I would be very surprised if Microsoft would allow a Windows 8 RT machine without a locked bootloader. For example HTC has been reportedly locked out by Microsoft form Windows 8 RT http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/htc-said-to-be-shut-out-of-next-version-of-windows.html. Unlike the x86/AMD64 version of Windows 8 Windows 8 RT is only available from "approved" OEMs.

Well the objective is to stop OEMs from loading Android onto the ARM machines, so I suspect Microsoft will try and play it that way. Like I said though, it'll be interesting to see. If we don't see strong demand for Win 8 on ARM from consumers there could well be a rebellion from the manufacturers. And we've yet to see a counter from Google to this whole debacle. They won't be happy to be losing part of their ecosystem to Redmond.

[anasofiapaixao]

An ok product, but the Transformer Prime is a better product.

Nope, it's not, because the current Transformer series is defective by design. The bootloader is locked, you can't unlock it without voiding your warranty (trust me, I've looked all over for a reversible third party solution and there just isn't one), and even if you do unlock, from what I've researched switching OSes involves flashing the ROM. Even if you root Android (which is reversible) so you can run linux on a virtual machine of sorts, you have to connect via VNC, which is tremendously slow so forget anything that routinely requires a GUI. Getting X to run alone proved to be beyond my knowledge and googling ability so no X11 forwarding, and at this point instead of fighting I just said 'screw it'. I'm returning it tomorrow morning.

It is regardless an amazing product, and I'm sad to return it, but it won't ever be a development machine, which is critical for me. But the new transformer book is raising my hopes high enough to hold out on buying a new computer; let's hope there's real grown-up computer firmware this time around, both in the iX and tegra versions (those babies are the masters of energy efficiency, different architecture and lower computing power be damned).

[Copper Bezel]

The locked boot loader is frankly not the problem. It's locked with the very reasonable option of unlocking it to run an unsupported OS that Asus worries right break the poor thing, or at least render it unusable, on the condition that the customer not send it back afterward. If Linux on ARM devices was at all like Linux on x86, it wouldn't be an issue, but I doubt Asus wants a bunch of devices returned with flashed memory piling up and having to be packaged as refurbs because someone didn't read the release notes, as it were.

I'd love running Gnome Shell on that form factor, but it's not practical as yet, and it's hard to see how a Linux distro could make inroads on all that new architecture. It's not just the processor - all sorts of things on the Transformer are unsupported. It's a fine product as it is. It would be better if it came with unicorns, but I won't fault them that.