The Transformer Book T100HA is an ideal laptop-cum-tablet hybrid companion for the mobile warrior looking for good performance, portability, connectivity and long battery life – all at an affordable price of S$499.
The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA 2-in-1 hybrid features the latest quad-core Intel® Atom™ x5 ‘Cherry Trail’ processors, Windows 10 (64-bit) operating system with Cortana, the voice-powered personal assistant, and support for Windows 10 Continuum adaptive interface technology.
I used the Transformer Book T100HA from ASUS for two weeks as I went about between meetings and events on the road, to see how usable the hybrid 2-in-1 laptop-cum-tablet would be for someone constantly on the move.
Lighter & thinner than predecessors, the tablet measures 265 x 175 x 8.45mm physically and weighs 580g, while the keyboard dock measures 265 x 175 x 10mm and weighs 470g.
I found the device ideally suited as a workhorse for the typical mobile warrior – it’s compact and therefore highly portable, and its battery easily lasts an entire workday before you put it to charge when you retire for the night back at home or at the hotel.
For leisure, you can simply pull the screen off the keyboard dock and use it as a tablet.
Typically, a compact machine like this – and even those super-thin but larger Ultrabooks – suffer from a dearth of connectivity ports.
But the tablet/screen portion of the T100HA comes with 1 x Micro USB port, 1 x Type-C USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, 1 x Micro HDMI, 1 x Micro SD card slot and 1 x headphone/mic combo jack.
The ASUS Transformer Book T100HA sports a durable aluminium-clad lid available in four colours: Rouge Pink, Aqua Blue, Silk White and Tin Grey.
The keyboard dock has an additional full-sized USB 2.0 port.
This means you can connect a mouse, an external hard disk drive and a mobile device all at the same time if you need/want to.
The T100HA was one of the first Windows 10 tablets to ship with a Type-C port.
The total weight ASUS Transformer Book T100HA is only 1.05kg.
It is smaller and allows you to stick the connector into the port any way without fussing over whether the connector is right side up.
This port is USB 3.1 so it transfers data at a much higher speed than the traditional USB 2.0 port – up to 10x faster, at 5Gbps.
Power wise, the T100HA has a 30Wh battery which is rated to provide 12 hours of non-stop usage for each charge.
Indeed, with the Transformer Book running multiple documents, emails and surfing the Web, coupled with some video watching, the T100HA didn’t run out of juice on me even once.
ASUS claims that its BoostMaster technology recharges the T100HA with 90 minutes’ worth of battery power in just 15 minutes.
A work laptop does not have to look grey and boring. The Rouge Pink version looks suitably trendy for the fashion conscious.
I found this really handy when I forgot to plug in the T100HA for recharge the night before and needed to bring it for an early morning event.
The almost empty battery was recharged to 40 percent while I took a quick breakfast at home, and lasted the morning until I had the chance to plug it in for a full recharge during lunch.
The T100HA isn’t without its weaknesses.
The low resolution (1200×800 px) of the screen is one common complaint, since most laptops nowadays come with higher screen resolution, with many at Full HD.
I’m actually okay with that resolution on the 10.1-inch 16:10 WXGA screen since I use the T100HA mainly for work and not for gaming etc.
On these small displays, I find that too high a resolution makes the UI and text too small for my presbyopic eyes.
My take:
“If you are constantly on the move, but need a laptop to read or type out documents, presentations and emails on the go, you would need one which is compact and portable enough to carry around; able to last the day without a recharge – without breaking the bank. The Transformer Book T100HA meets these requirements thoroughly.”
Watching YouTube videos is definitely good enough at that resolution. I usually watch proper movies on larger screens anyway.
The good thing about the 10.1-inch in-plane switching (IPS) touchscreen is that it’s bright, vivid, crisp and clear – which is a common consensus among other users online.
Even in bright sunlight, I could see clearly whatever was on the screen.
Technical specifications of the ASUS Transformer Book T100HA.
The other common complaint is the cramped keyboard, especially if you have large fingers..
It’s a direct consequence of keeping the T100HA to the 10.1-inch footprint – the unavoidable price you pay for compactness and portability.
I have no objections typing the typical email on the T100HA or for browsing the Web.
For writing longer articles, I prefer working in a office setup with a fullsized keyboard and multiple monitors that facilitate online research and simultaneous access to multiple windows for reference.
But that is an entirely different use case altogether and it is rather unfair to expect the T100HA to be compact enough for mobile use yet be capable of being a desktop replacement.
Tags: Asus, Atom, Cherry Trail, computers, Continuum, Cortana, hybrid, Intel, laptop, netbooks, notebooks, reviews, Singapore, T100HA, tablets, Transformer, Transformer Book, Windows, Windows 10