Asus has finally officially unveiled the Asus Transformer Book Chi line-up of hybrid Windows laptop/tablet devices.
Teased last year at Computex, the trio of new laptops now has a full list of specs and prices, with the flagship T300 model set to directly take on the Macbook Air, at least according to Asus.
Starting with that model, it's a 12.5in design with a premium metal chassis, just as you'd expect of any machine set to take on the Air. However, where it hopes to outgun that laptop is with a slew of spec upgrades, not to mention its hybrid design.
It's touchscreen sports a a much greater 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and uses a higher quality LCD panel for improved viewing angles and colour reproduction, with 72% NTSC colour coverage compared to the Air's 44%.
Inside there's also the latest M5Y71 chip from Intel, which Asus claims provides nearly double the performance of the current model employed in the MacBook Air. The SSD is also over 3X faster.
Connectivity is an area where it clearly falls down though as it doesn't sport any fullsize USB ports or an SD card reader, instead housing a microUSB port in its keyboard stand and microUSB 3.0 and HDMI ports n the tablet itself. There's also no word on battery life.
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Next up is the T100 Chi, which is a smaller 10.1in device with a 1920 x 1200 resolution screen and generally lower specs across the board. Indeed it only sports 1/2GB of RAM, which is low by today's standards.
This is billed as more of large tablet device with a keyboard, though, rather than a laptop replacement like the T300. Asus claims the 7.2mm thick device will last up to 10 hours
Finally there's the Asus Transformer Book T90 Chi, which is an even smaller device a just 8.9in across. This reduction is also joined by a drop in resolution to just 1280 x 800 pixels and the keyboard no longer has a trackpad, instead relying on the touchscreen for all navigation duties.
Crucial to the potential appeal of these devices is their low prices, with the T300 Chi starting at $799 dollars, the T100 Chi at $399 and the T90 Chi at just $299. All will be available later this year.
