Asus’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface, the Transformer series, has gotten a refresh as the company has revealed some rather interesting details about the Transformer 3 series of 2-in-1s for this year.
Much like the Surface, Asus is spliting up its Transformer 3 series into two categories: the meatier Transformer 3 Pro, and the lighter, and much more affordable Transformer 3. For starters, let’s look at the Transformer 3 Pro. Measuring at 8.35mm thick, the Transformer 3 Pro is Asus’s answer to the Surface Pro 4. The machine itself is capable of supporting an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe x4 SSD. For ports, the Transformer 3 Pro will feature USB-Type C as well as Thunderbolt 3 ports and Harmon Kardon speakers. An interesting addition to the Transformer 3 Pro is that it will come with a fingerprint scanner, allowing you to take advantage of Windows Hello.
As for the Transformer 3, this particular model is the lightweight variant of the Transformer 3 Pro. Measuring at 6.9mm thick, the Transformer 3 is capable of supporting an Intel Core 7th Gen processor, a 512GB SSD, and nine hours of battery life. Much like the Transformer 3 Pro, the Transformer 3 will come with USB-Type C. Thunderbolt 3 ports, Harmon Kardon speakers, as well as biometrics support that allows you to leverage Windows Hello.
Similar to the Surface, the Transformer 3 series of 2-in-1s will have their own series of peripherals. Standards such as the Asus Pen stylus and the keyboard cover are a given of course, but there are some new peripherals such as a Universal Dock and a quad speaker known as the AudioPod. By far the most interesting peripheral the Transformer 3 has is the ROG XG Station 2, a graphics dock that gives both devices access to a desktop-class GPU solution. This particular peripheral is meant to take advantage of virtual reality.
While Asus did not disclose the pricing of the peripherals itself, they did reveal the pricing of the Transformer 3 and Transformer 3 Pro. The Transformer 3 with keyboard cover will retail for USD 799 (RM 3,289), while the Transformer 3 Pro with keyboard cover and Asus Pen will retail for USD 999 (RM 4,112).