Asus a viable replacement for a laptop

[Regulator]

Hello.

I was looking to purchase a new laptop in the near future. I don't need much because I am not into gaming. It would mostly be for documents, web browsing, netflix, etc. Is the transformer a viable replacement to purchasing a laptop. I am not incredibly technical, so I have a hard time comparing the stats between the tablet and a laptop (such as which ones matter) for performance.

Also, could someone speak to the build quality of the Asus? I am drawn to it mostly because it has a keyboard and other tablets do not. Is it quality frame that you could handle the same as a laptop or would it need to be handled with a little more care?

Any assistance that you could provide would be great. Thank you.

 

[Hbomber110]

You should wait for the ICS update to try it, the browser will bee much better.

I hope it will handle the browser version of google docs because the native one is weak. And Polaris office needs polishing but its ok (it comes with the tablet)

 

[cbill]

Regulator: I have had my Transformer for about a month now. I purchased it after considerable comparison and review. In answer to yur concerns; it is well made, and is very responsive. To me the dock is a "Must Have". I am 100% satisfied with the "Transformer", and find it to be one of the most functional "tablets" on the market. The fact that the tablet easily converts to a quality "Lap top" is amazing to me. As a lap top it has twice the battery life of the tablet. Truthfully, the only thing that would give me hesitation is the upcoming "Transformer 2". But I cannot imagine why I would need a 4 core processor in a tablet.

Also, remember ASUS has one of the best reputations for timely updates.

Hope this helps!

Cbill

 

[Regulator]

Thank you for the responses. I have been looking at the Transformer 2. I was actually interested in waiting for that. I wanted to see what the general thought was on Asus.

So, is it possible to get microsoft office for it or something comparable to Excel. That could be a determining factor if I just buy a pc laptop to replace my wife's that is dying (the computer is dying not my wife).

 

[mhans311]

If you are going to be doing a lot of word processing or especially excel, I would just get a laptop. It is ok for basic things, but don't expect anything near the experience you get on a laptop with real microsoft office. You cannot load the real microsoft office on an android tablet. you can only use substitute apps (it comes preloaded with Polaris Office).

 

[suzi]

I agree with Mhans. For anything but very light document editing, document editing, it's not ready yet. I have still not found a way to copy and paste between spreadsheets, for example.

 

[leeshor]

Docs 2 Go is as close as you're going to get to full Office compatibility. The Amazon Market frequently runs specials on it. For as little as $7.99 and worth it.

 

[suzi]

Docs 2 go is what I use. Yes, I agree itis the best so far, and well worth the price!

 

[VydorScope]

Well two things...

First Dont buy a transformer today... the new version is less then weeks away. I would wait on that one.

Second I have had a transformer since they were first released with dock and its been a great little netbook. It can not replace a full desktop but for Netflix, Web, Email, Reading, and other basic tasks its great. I bought it to hold me over till I could afford a full power laptop. Just get the dock, its what makes all the difference.

New model should add a ton of power, so who knows what that will bring as options to the table. I wont buy it only because I have one already. Personally I like to skip 2-3 generations of hardware at a time. Does not always work out to do that (for example only skipped 1 generation of cell phone this time) but normally it works very well and saves a ton of money.

 

[bonanzabucks]

Yeah, not sure if it's a full laptop replacement, but on that note, I hardly ever use my notebook anymore. I have the keyboard dock as well. My biggest gripe is the lack of gaming options. A lot of the android phone games don't work (maybe that will change with ICS) on my transformer and I don't really want to root it to get it to work.

At this point, I wouldn't get the original one with the TF Prime coming pretty soon. And I'm not so sure I will get another android tablet again if MS 8 is as good as they say it is and you will be able to use PC programs on the tablet.

 

[zedorda]

Notebooks at nearly the same price can do everything ur looking for and better since they will have more RAM.

 

[jon_stewart]

... And laptops have operating systems that suck up all of that extra resource.

 

[lsutigers23]

I know this is an old forum but this is basically my question with the new Transformer Prime. If I get the Prime will I be able to... research with 2-5 tabs at a time, e-mail, write documents, make powerpoint presentations, read online textbooks, and surf the web with decent speed. I have a desktop so I most of the heavy work would be done on that such as writing papers ect. I like how the Prime is so portable and what brought me to it was the Android functionality of it. In addition, I use Open Office (free) on my desktop so I don't know if Polaris Office would be any drop off. Are there any other students who have made the switch from a laptop to an Asus Transformer Prime?

 

[mknollman123]

short answer - it does all those things and well

 

[vicw926a4]

I think it depends on what you plan to use the Transformer for. For me, the Transformer works nicely for about 90% of my activity, and excels for video & music consumption,but there are still things that depend on legacy apps that aren't available except on the mother ship PC. Casual document and spreadsheets are manageable on the TF, but still not up to the full applications on the PC.