ASUS at CES 2014: ROG 27” 1440p 120Hz G-Sync Monitor, Tablets, Smartphones, and a new Transformer Book
by Ian Cutress on January 6, 2014 3:30 PM ESTNew at CES: Transformer Book Duet TD300
The TD300 is being advertised as the world’s first quad-mode, dual-OS laptop that combines an Android tablet and Windows 8.1 laptop into the transformer form factor with up to a Core i7 processor under the hood. The quad-mode implies two ways to use Android (tablet or notebook) and two ways to use Windows (tablet or notebook) – switching between them is designed to be as simple as pressing the Instant Switch button.
The tablet/screen of the device will be a 13.3” 1080p IPS touchscreen with multi-touch display features and responsiveness, with audio supplied by ASUS SonicMaster technology. The front-facing HD camera is paired with a microphone, along with 128GB of storage that can be boosted with a microSD card while the keyboard dock can house a 1TB hard disk drive (unsure whether this is 2.5”, mSATA, PCIe or proprietary yet). The dock also has increased functionality (USB 2.0, USB 3.0, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 1.4) and the tablet segment comes fitted with 802.11ac dual band WiFi and 4GB of DDR3L-1600 RAM.
In terms of dimensions, the tablet measures 342.7 x 216.3 x 12.9mm and the dock is 340.9 x 217.6 x 16mm, suggesting a potential overall of 342.7 x 217.6 x 28.9mm (over an inch thick at the widest point) with a total weight of 1.9 kg.
The TD300 will be available in the EU/APAC in late Q1, with North America in Late Q2. Pricing will start at $599 for the i3/HD Display combination, whereas the i3/1080p will start at $699. No word on the i7 editions as of yet.
New at CES: VivoTab Note 8
As the name suggests, the VivoTab Note 8 is an 8” tablet running Windows 8.1 with a professional Wacom digitizer stylus in tow, with the aim of making this device suitable for productivity or creativity. The VivoTab Note 8 will come bundled with Microsoft Office Home and Student for this purpose, and ASUS like to point out the thin bezels and high definition display, to go along with the ability to use it one handed, as serious plus points.
Specification wise we are looking at an Intel Atom Z3740 (quad core 1.33 GHz, turbo up to 1.86 GHz) with 2GB LPDDR3 and up to 64GB of internal storage, with space for a microSD card and 1 year of unlimited ASUS WebStorage. The screen puts the VivoTab Note 8 in the mid-range specification pile, being only 1280x800 on an eight inch device, along with only 802.11 a/b/g/n support (not 802.11ac). It will feature a 15.5 Whr battery however, and weigh in at 380g.
Prices will start at $299 for the 32GB model and $349 for the 64GB model (making 32GB of storage only $50 – other companies could learn from this). Projected release dates is late Q1, early Q2.
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chizow - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
Yeah 1440P IPS started at $800 a few years ago, only in the last few years with the cheap Korean panels has this dropped substantially. Like anything, new tech introduces a price spike, there's a lot to like on this panel but I still want to see if there's LightBoost and 3D Vision included.Sabresiberian - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
I don't know why people are stuck on $800 being an average price for a consumer grade 1440p 27" IPS monitor these days, it simply isn't true -http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...
The ONLY justification for this monitor being $800 is that so many of you are still living in yesteryear's prices. Asus could make a nice profit selling it for $600. And, they would get more buyers, so I don't think they will actually make more money selling it for the higher price. (That being said, it isn't uncommon to release a product at a relatively high price and then bring it down, so that may be their plan.)
Sabresiberian - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
What I meant by "selling it for $600" is selling it at a retail price point of $600. Obviously they would actually sell it to a distributor like Newegg or Amazon for less than the retail price. :)Sabresiberian - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
There is no technical reason for it to be a TN panel. There is no technical reason it should cost $800 either. Both in one offering would be is just outrageous, and would knock my opinion of Asus and ROG down several notches. PLS is basically Samsung's IPS, so no reason for it to be one and not the other either (unless Asus just prefers to deal with Samsung over LG).There certainly is no technical reason to use VA either, and IPS is a more responsive technology, so I would also be surprised if it were VA. Not sure what AU Optronics is doing with their MVA solutions, but Samsung appears to be moving away from VA (PVA).
Tha Blob - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link
This monitor is using a TN pannels. IPS simply can not switch fast enough to go above 60htz without making the picture look like garbage. ATM TN pannels offer the best price/performance. As nice looking as IPS pannels are they are not the best for gaming and are certainly not responsive enough to handle 120+htz.Sancus - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
I don't think it's even (currently) possible to make a 120hz IPS monitor. *Some* of the korean 27" panels will accept a 120hz signal, but none of them will reproduce it as well as a TN 120hz. The pixels just transition too slowly.That said, manufacturers should really be looking to VA for these kinds of monitors, not just continue the TN crap -- Something like the Eizo FG2421 with it's *amazing* black levels(which are more important than color accuracy for media viewing and gaming, I would argue) at 2560x1440 is what we want.
althaz - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
This *VA panels are better for gaming and video playback, IMO. IPS/PLS monitors have worse contrast and are slower (but I still have one for graphics work).r3loaded - Monday, January 6, 2014 - link
I've never seen a 2560x1440 TN panel out in the wild and I doubt a panel manufacturer would make one for a niche monitor. So I'm still hopeful that it won't be TN.Tha Blob - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link
No mate it is a TN pannel. Altough Asus have stated that it will be a premium TN pannel.Tha Blob - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link
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