This is the first unit I have reviewed that was supplied with Windows 10 pre-installed. This told me several things including the fact that my upgrade on an old notebook just before launch had not gone entirely as it should have done.
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The ASUS Transformer Book T300 measures 31x19x1cm, the last figure varies from .8cm at the front edge to 1.4cm at the back edge. It weights 1425grams all these figures assume you use the unit as a notebook. It can also be used as a tablet without the keyboard when the weight is only 720grams.
So let’s deal with the keyboard first. It is an 84key unit with alpha and numeric keys being full size. The only external connection is a micro USB port back of the left side that can be used to charge the unit. The key action is positive and in this mode it’s a decent notebook.
One thing you might buy a Windows 10 unit for is touch and its ability to annotate documents this unit can of course do this.
Going round the tablet (in landscape mode) finds a DC input on the back left, towards the front of this side is a Windows button and a volume rocker at the front edge of this side. The front of the unit has an on/off button; the right side has a single USB3 port and a micro HDMI port and finally a headphone socket. There is nothing on the back, it has inadequate speakers which I assume are on the face of the screen probably along the top edge near the pin hole microphone and webcam.
Three cables are supplied, a mains lead to charge the (it can also be charged using a micro USB to USB lead), a micro USB to micro USB lead and a USB3 to USB hub which has two USB3 ports.
In theory boot up is around seven seconds, but as it takes several seconds to recognise that the keyboard is attached the actual boot is probably around double that.
The viewable screen is 27.5x15cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of a little over 12.4inches. The text on the screen appears small until you realise the display is 2560x1440 and 235ppi; you can increase the text size.
The screen supports 10 point touch which is useful when used in tablet mode. The processor is Intel running at 1.4GHz and it has 8GB of RAM and it runs Windows 10 Home in 64bit mode.
The Hard Drive is a 128GB SSD drive. It comes up as a 102GB drive with just over 80GB free. The battery life is stated to be 8 hours; the best I got is just over 7 hours.
Adjusting to a touch screen always takes a while but with the small text size you tend to sit closer so touch is more ‘normal’. I am sure everyone prefers a keyboard to typing on the screen so this can give the best of both worlds.
The ASUS CHI300 is available from the link below for £689.48 with free delivery.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Y0LX4IA?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634
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