[james99]

For Best Buy, poking fun at the iPad in favor of a competing product probably wasn't the brightest idea.

Without explanation, the retailer removed an image from its promotional page for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, which showed an iPad-like product and a keyboard duct taped together. "Like That," said the text above the iPad-keyboard concoction. "But Better."

I wasn't aware of this ASUS product, seems interesting.

http://promos.asus.com/US/PR_2011/Transformer/index.html

 

[Veee]

I wasn't aware of this ASUS product, seems interesting.

Yes it does. Especially at the (rumoured) $400 price point - without the keyboard.

 

[PokerChip]

Geez, I swear I've seen something like that somewhere before.

Oh yeah, it's called a laptop... Actually more like a netbook.

What they they think they invented?
http://www.macworld.com/article/150600/2010/04/ipadwhichkeyboard.html

 

[audacity]

I'm not sure that adding a keyboard to a tablet is really all that helpful.

If you want a laptop, there are great products out there. The problem with tablets is that the concessions they make to be great tablets make them horrible laptops. For example, the A5 chip. While it's a fast tablet chip, it's still substantially slower than the dual-core Atom chips that are maligned for being "too slow for anything but light internet use".

I don't think this will be a winning product strategy for Asus.

 

[Veee]

Geez, I swear I've seen something like that somewhere before.

Oh yeah, it's called a laptop... Actually more like a netbook.

What they they think they invented?
http://www.macworld.com/article/150600/2010/04/ipadwhichkeyboard.html

It's a tablet that can also be a laptop/netbook. Netbooks/laptops can't be turned into tablets.

Also the Asus is more than a tablet with a BT keyboad. Those don't attach to the tablet like a netbook/laptop, they don't have USB ports like the Asus keyboard does, they don't have a touch-pad like the Asus keyboard does, nor do they give you up to 16 hrs of battery life.

People seem to be missing the point that the keyboard on the Asus is optional. You can just buy the tablet if you want. It's specs are similar to the Xoom's but at a much lower price.

 

[PokerChip]

And you would need a 16-hour battery when... ?

The iPad doesn't want to be a laptop. It doesn't need to be laptop. That's what laptops are for. Mind you, Asus sells laptops as well, doesn't it?

I have nothing against it, I just think their comparison with the iPad and the tape is little far fetched.

 

[taxtwit]

Netbooks/laptops can't be turned into tablets.

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-duo/pd?~ck=mn

Had ours for a month or so and loving it

 

[Veee]

And you would need a 16-hour battery when... ?

The iPad doesn't want to be a laptop. It doesn't need to be laptop. That's what laptops are for. Mind you, Asus sells laptops as well, doesn't it?

I have nothing against it, I just think their comparison with the iPad and the tape is little far fetched.

When do you need 10 hours of battery life? I'm sure if the iPad had 16 hours, people would be freaking out.

The Asus Transformer doesn't need to be a laptop either. It should work fine as just a tablet. But for when you want to use a real keyboard for typing, it has numerous advantages over a regular BT keyboard.

 

[PokerChip]

I actually don't need 10-hour battery life. Nice to have it because I think we all get lazy about plugging in.

On a side note, it's nice to see that our gadgets are finally growing past our human capacity.

Batteries have broken the workday barrier
Retina display with higher resolution than what the naked eye perceives
Solid state drives which dramatically reduce load / wait times
Etc.

Numerous advantages, huh? I'm curious...

 

[TorontoColin]

And you would need a 16-hour battery when... ?

I know a lot of students who would kill for this kind of functionality and battery life at an affordable price.

 

[james99]

As stated, the keyboard also has extra ports and battery. Nice extras to have if you want to buy the accessory.

If not, i'm sure it will work just fine as a tablet.

Having options is always good.

Removing the ad is actually created more buzz about the Asus then keeping it.

So, was it smart marketing or a fluke?

 

[Veee]

Numerous advantages, huh? I'm curious...

I've already listed the advantages

 

[PokerChip]

The iPad has a keyboard dock which physically attaches to the iPad. You can also use it with a BT keyboard, thus giving you options.

So I guess it boils down to USB ports and touchpad. Those are two advantages. Hardly numerous.

I should say the USB port is kind of a must because I hardly ever see non Mac users use their trackpads. Everybody gets their laptops out and the first thing that usually follows is the mouse. Does the thing even work with a mouse? I guess if it has a trackpad... But then it's really starting to resemble a laptop...

I guess I'm not familiar enough with the Asus product matrix to really comment on how they want to position this particular product.

 

[Veee]

As far as I know, the iPad's keyboard & dock doesn't fold with the screen so you can carry it around like a laptop. It also doesn't extend the battery life of the iPad itself like the Asus keyboard does.

So that's four potentially very useful features it has over the iPad+keyboard.

 

[james99]

It also has a SD slot which is big if you take photos (amongst other uses).

 

[99semaj]

It also has a SD slot which is big if you take photos (amongst other uses).

iPad does SD nicely... http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531

 

[Hilman]

For how much? (linked site is down for maintenance).

 

[GrimJack]

If it's the camera connection kit it's like 30 and tax for a USB and SD connector.

 

[99semaj]

Yup, $30

 

[james99]

It's been 10 years since I've connected a camera to a computer. Don't want to go back in time. Besides, my photo storage will be larger than any free space I would have on a tablet.

Built in SD is the only way.