Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi: performance and battery life The presence of a 1.2GHz Intel Core M-5Y71 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD means that the Asus should feel pretty spritely. Indeed, while the Core M-5Y71 sips a mere handful of watts, it’s capable of boosting up to 2.9GHz for short periods, quick enough to help applications spring into life before the processor drops back down to its nominal clock speed.The other benefit is that the Core M is capable of delivering those speed bursts without the need for a fan. The metal rear of the T300 becomes warm under normal usage, but not to a worrying degree. It was only once we started hammering the Asus flat out with our benchmarks that it became uncomfortably hot to the touch.We found performance to be rather sluggish on occasion, however, and particularly during heavier multitasking. We’d point the finger at the low-power 128GB SanDisk i100 SSD, which sacrifices small-file read and write performance in order to minimise power draw. In the AS SSD benchmark, the i100 SSD achieved read and write transfer speeds of only 11MB/sec, a dramatically lower result than the best SSDs.
Another likely culprit is the limited cooling afforded by the Asus’ slender chassis – a limitation that prevents the Core M from reaching its highest Turbo Boost frequencies under heavy, continuous loads. To prove the point, a result of 75 in our new image-editing benchmark shows just how well the Asus dispatches short, intense workloads – our Core i5-4670K reference PC scores 100 in the same test – but pushing the Asus harder with our video-editing and multitasking benchmarks saw the scores nosedive to 31 and 4 respectively. An overall score of 25 is roughly twice that of a quad-core Bay Trail Atom, though.
Battery life isn’t as good as we hoped, however – and especially not given the presence of a power-efficient Core M CPU. With the screen calibrated to a brightness of 120cd/m2, the Asus lasted for 5hrs 37mins in our looping 720p video test; some way short of Asus’ claim of eight hours. In our light usage battery test, with Wi-Fi off and the screen brightness dimmed right down to 75cd/m2, the Asus achieved a more creditable 8hrs 4mins. That's still a long way short of the Surface Pro 3's result of 10hrs 33mins in the same test, though. The T300’s display is astonishingly good. A 2,560 x, 1,440 resolution stretches across the 12.5in panel, and it delivers a sterling performance. Brightness tops out at a creditable 372cd/m2, contrast hits an exemplary 1,243:1 and the panel dredges up an impressive 98% of the sRGB colour gamut.
Colour accuracy is one area where the Asus drops behind the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, with an average Delta E of 2.66 to the Surface Pro 3’s 1.77. However, this is due to the Asus’ ability to produce a wider range of colours – while accuracy is nigh-on perfect across most of the spectrum, the wider gamut of the Asus’ display causes reds and purples to look too intense and oversaturated; not a huge flaw by any means.Backlighting could be improved a touch, though. Like the Surface Pro 3, the Asus' edge-lit LED backlight tends to create a noticeable rim of brightness around the display's edges. It's something we could put up with, but perfectionists should take note. We found the touchscreen to be superbly responsive in our time with the T300, reacting deftly to every prod and gesture, and the pressure-sensitive inking with the bundled stylus works beautifully, too. Perhaps our only issue with the screen is the 16:9 display ratio: in portrait orientation, this makes for a rather narrow, cramped page; a problem that Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 avoids by dint of its 3:2 display ratio.
The Transformer Book T300 Chi is a competent hybrid. The display is great, the design attractive and, crucially, this is a hybrid that manages to perform well in both tablet and laptop roles.There’s room for improvement – the battery life, miniaturised ports and slow SSD all take their toll – but, for the money, those are flaws we could live with. If you’ve been looking for a more affordable, more flexible alternative to the Surface Pro 3, the Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi is well worth considering.Intel's presentations at CES never fail to impress, and this year is no exception with the company showing off connected technology that ranged from the amusing to the slightly unnerving.A large portion of Intel's keynote presentation was taken up by demos of its RealSense technology, which allows cameras to process depth in a way similar to the human eye.
RealSense is a semi-established product, having been incorporated into the Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet. However, the applications shown off by CEO Brian Krzanich during his keynote speech at CES aim to move the technology beyond just the mobile sphere."We're going from a two-dimensional world to a three-dimensional world. This additional dimension will change how we experience computing," he said.One of the ways in which Intel hopes to make its mark on this brave new "3D world" is replacing everything from touchscreens to door keys to recipe books, courtesy of RealSense.In cookery corner, Chef "Chuck" showed how, normally, if you bring your laptop or tablet into the kitchen it gets covered in flour or other cooking materials because you touch it with "yucky fingers" (here at PC Pro, we take the time to wash our hands, but moving on...).Chuck demonstrated how RealSense can be used to enable 3D gestures, allowing the cook to move between recipe pages or videos on screen without touching it. Cooks around the world will surely rejoice.
Next up was Jonathan (no, he has no surname either), who helped demonstrate how RealSense's technology can be used to create 3D projections from a specially adapted screen.Apparently, Intel's new three-dimensional world will help rid us of actual 3D objects, such as piano keyboards, so we can play in empty space, as Jonathan helpfully showed by playing chopsticks in mid air.While entertaining, we hope there will be more practical uses for this technology when it moves beyond the concept stage.Perhaps a more useful application of the technology is smart home integration. Beautiful assistant Megan was joined on stage by a stunt door to demonstrate how RealSense, combined with Intel's facial recognition software, True Key, can be used to replace door keys.The system uses dual authentication to establish the person trying to enter the house is indeed someone who lives there. The person's smartphone, which is synced to the house's smart security system, is used for primary authentication. The resident then turns to face a smart panel on the wall containing a RealSense camera, which captures an image of the person's face. This image is then processed by True Key and, if the face is recognised, the door will automatically unlock.
This is a clearer, more practical example of RealSense and Intel's ambitions in the Internet of Things space. It's also something we could perhaps see in wider use more rapidly than some of the other technology demonstrated.Another interesting application of RealSense is in the realms of accessibility for visually impaired people.
The wearable technology is not dissimilar, conceptually, to the Microsoft headset shown off earlier in the year, which helps visually impaired people navigate urban environments.However, unlike the Microsoft solution, Intel's concept places RealSense-enabled sensors on clothing. These sensors vibrate if the wearer is coming close to an obstruction or is too close to the curb, for example.Technology to aid accessibility, particularly for blind and visually impaired people, is a major step forward in the industry, and something PC Pro welcomes wholeheartedly - its good to see Intel getting onboard.
Intel made bold claims for its Core M processors, not least that they would herald the arrival of gorgeous Windows hybrids and tablets for sensible money. While the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro cruelly taunted our bank balance, Asus’ Transformer Book T300 Chi delivers on Intel’s promises: this Core M-powered hybrid packs a Quad HD display and stylus support into a 12.5in hybrid for £800 inc VAT.In fact, the T300 exudes the kind of luxurious, high-end charm that we’d expect from a device a good deal more expensive than its £800 price tag. The 12.5in tablet and keyboard dock make for a handsome couple: they’re both hewn from solid chunks of aerospace-grade aluminium, finished in a deep metallic blue, and the brushed metal is framed by bevelled edges skirting neatly around the edges. The matching metal-clad stylus looks the part, too.Meanwhile, the presence of Intel’s low-power Core M processor has allowed Asus to pare the size and weight right down. The tablet is 1.2mm thinner than the Surface Pro 3, at 7.9mm, and it comes in 80g lighter at 720g.