Asus TF810C and other Windows 8 hybrids. Need some opinions.

[RealityClash]

So basically I'm starting a Bachelor of Software Engineering next year and want to get a Windows 8 tablet/ hybrid.

Originally I was planning on buying an Asus Taichi or Transformer Book but the fact that they have kept getting delayed has made me start looking at alternatives (Mainly from Asus as I love the design and build quality of their ultra-portable products).

At the moment I'm considering going for the Asus TF810C with the keyboard dock but the main thing I'm worried about is whether an Atom CPU is going to be fast enough for what I need. I have to admit I've been pretty impressed with the general performance of a Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T that we have at work which has almost the exact same specs, but I haven't had a chance to test applications such as Photoshop or Sketchup which I've used a fair bit in the past for school work.

I think part of the problem I have is I'm not really too sure what sort of software I'm likely going to be using next year other than the obvious stuff such as the web browser and MS Office etc. I'm going to have my gaming desktop down there with me so I'll be using that for when I really need the extra power without the portability but I'm still pondering over whether having more power in my portable PC is going to be necessary.

Would love to hear what people think about the TF810C or similar products, and would also be interesting to hear from people who've done similar courses to what I'm doing and the sort of computers they had/ would recommend while studying.

Cheers

 

[aaron_wil]

I should be getting my TF810C tomorrow. There are surprisingly few reviews of it. I would expect a lot more simply due to the combined batter life (~19 hours). I decided on the TF810C for it's battery life, digitizer pen, and its tablet/notebook capabilities. I write a lot of hand written notes and I use MS OneNote as my primary documentation software.

Once I get it in and running, I'll let you know how it runs. I don't expect a powerhouse (Atom Clover Trail processor), but from what I have experienced with Win8 already, it runs very well with limited resources.

 

[RealityClash]

Would love to hear what you think of it, particularly how you find the performance of the device as that is the biggest concern for me. Would be amazing if you could test some programs like Photoshop or Sketchup
Anyway I'll be interested to hear about your findings as I'll likely order one in the next few days unless you find something particularly disappointing about the device.

 

[Clickz26]

Exactly the position I am in . I am attracted to the TF810 C based on is battery life and digitiser support. I take a lot of notes on evernote and one note
based on reviews on amazon, it looks like the trackpad is not reliabl, but with the digitiser, it shud be manageable


Am annoyed at the lack of reviews online, so looking forward to yours.

thanks

 

[aaron_wil]

I've worked with the tablet for the better part of 24 hours. Already using it for my primary note taking and it's pretty much attached to my hip at work.

The battery life is (from what I have experienced thus far) pretty much accurate. The Wacom digitizer works extremely well with OneNote. The only downfall is even with the input disabled while writing, if you brush against the start button, it will take you to the metro UI (or whatever they're calling it now). That is my only annoyance with the pen input.

The only issue with the keyboard I have been facing is once the tablet goes to standby (while docked with the keyboard), the multitouch pad often is unresponsive when it comes back up. I've also noticed that it loses connection with the second battery (shows that it is unavailable). A simple fix is to undock it and re-dock it, but that's something that I shouldn't have to do.

I installed Sketchup on it as well to see how it performed. It worked pretty well with the dozens of overlaying rectangles I threw together. I also view it in all sorts of angles and performance was not affected.

I briefly tested Evernote and did not find any issues that stood out to me. Pen input using Evernote was as every bit as smooth as OneNote.

Overall, I am pretty surprised by the atom processor. It's predecessors were nothing to write home about, but they seem to finally discovered the common ground with battery life and performance with this chip.

 

[Clickz26]

I've worked with the tablet for the better part of 24 hours. Already using it for my primary note taking and it's pretty much attached to my hip at work.

The battery life is (from what I have experienced thus far) pretty much accurate. The Wacom digitizer works extremely well with OneNote. The only downfall is even with the input disabled while writing, if you brush against the start button, it will take you to the metro UI (or whatever they're calling it now). That is my only annoyance with the pen input.

The only issue with the keyboard I have been facing is once the tablet goes to standby (while docked with the keyboard), the multitouch pad often is unresponsive when it comes back up. I've also noticed that it loses connection with the second battery (shows that it is unavailable). A simple fix is to undock it and re-dock it, but that's something that I shouldn't have to do.

I installed Sketchup on it as well to see how it performed. It worked pretty well with the dozens of overlaying rectangles I threw together. I also view it in all sorts of angles and performance was not affected.

I briefly tested Evernote and did not find any issues that stood out to me. Pen input using Evernote was as every bit as smooth as OneNote.

Overall, I am pretty surprised by the atom processor. It's predecessors were nothing to write home about, but they seem to finally discovered the common ground with battery life and performance with this chip.

Thanks for taking time to post this ! Will place my order over the weekend

 

[RealityClash]

Appreciate the update Aaron. Just ordered mine so hopefully it'll reach me within a week or so