Hi there, I recently broke my ASUS Transformer TF300T or I should say the missus did so I can get a replacement on the insurance or I can upgrade. The transformer is a good device, fell down on a couple of things though keyboard scratched screen, I guess as low end doesn't have gorilla glass, it also couldn't play protected movies via HDMI on TV when on hols or playback in 1080p when connected to such a display, these things really irked me and are putting me off replacing it like for like. I did like the device though, form factor is great so wondered if the TF700T addresses any of these issues as that is one option but the TF300T wasn't really fast enough, is the 700 any quicker. Next up is the Acer Iconia W510, this is a W8 Atom based device I have been trialing W8 on my trusty old EEEPC1000H and it runs fine apart from screen res limitation so I think I'd be happy with the Iconia and it seems to have great connectivity options, my EEPC running W8 has browsing performance that blows away the ARM based TF300 and the Ipad so this should be good I would of thought, anyone played with it? My last option is to go nuts and blow a wad and I have been eyeing up the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro which is a core i5 W8 transformer but can a tablet built on essentially desktop hardware be robust enough, I have not found anywhere with it in stock to have a play, its a big chunk of dough but reckon it gives me what I want from a tablet which is a PC that can do everything you encounter on the web with good performance, again anyone played with one? Cheers
What 'protected movies' are you trying to run on the 300 out of interest? I've never had a problem outputting video over HDMI on MXPlayer or BSPlayer for example.
I've got a TF700 and it has none of the issues you describe, and outputs to 1080p over HDMI when there's a capable display connected. Don't know what you mean by "protected", but I've not had any issues. The TF700 with the stock ROM does lag a bit in the browser, apparently due to the use of less than stellar flash internally, this was a minor niggle though. The general speed in non-IO-bound apps/games was very good. Anything which hammered I/O (browser was the only notable one), stuttered a bit. I'm running CleanROM 3.1 + Data2SD mod (and a 64GB Sandisk Ultra MicroSD) on mine an it flies (like, really flies). I've had no need or desire to flash an OC kernel either.
Have you ever tried anything from Google play, the ASUS issues are well known with the original prime and the TF300, plenty of unhappy owners posts on it, not seen anyone with a TF700 complain. So IO performance still bad on this one too, I thought the faster ram etc would speed it up, its mainly the browsing experience with flash etc I want improved really.
I don't have any movies from the play store to test, unfortunately, and assume that the any freebies woulnd't be "protected". It's a real shame about the I/O issues on the TF300/700 - a black mark on a couple of otherwise excellent tablets IMO (your issues notwithstanding). Sure, rooting and custom ROMs can sort the issue right out, but not everyone is happy to write off their warranty on a £4-600 tablet - I probably wouldn't have bothered unlocking mine if it wasn't for the I/O performance, and I've even convinced a friend to get a Nexus10 instead of a TF700, if they didn't have an appetite to root. Taking notes, Rich? I don't mind being a guinea pig for a mSATA/SSD equipped TF700 fresh out of Asus labs if that helps any
Annoyingly the previews play fine the you rent something and it doesn't work ....... Argh I'm edging towards the Acer as I've just realized the Samsung doesn't have a keyboard with the code they have given me and I reckon it'll be better performing device than the TF700 though won't have as nice a screen obviously. Course the other option is to take the cheque and buy somewhere else I suppose.
If I had bought it and owned it for a while I would probably do it but at its sticker price it should work well out of the box I had a galaxy tab 2 with dual core that could out pace the 300, and sounds like the 700 needs work to be it's best, if it was Nexus money I might consider it but it is not.
Can you let me know what software build your TF300 uses. It should work. Does it play on the device itself or not device and over HDMI? Have you tried other HDCP enabled HDMI devices like a PC LCD? There's still no TRIM on Android and if you exceed ~90% of the space used it trashes performance, but that's an Android issue on every device. I need to check whether Android 5 introduces TRIM, finally, but I *think* a future version of eMMC has internal garbage cleanup anyway. eMMC, like NAND, is getting better. Our PadFones 2s use Hynix v4.5 which is the fastest yet, but I'm not sure what spec Tegra 3 supports. I'm sure 2013 premium tablets will get 4.5+ in future as it's always a performance target, but mainstream/budget are always cost limited.
I no longer have the TF300 as we broke the screen and the insurers have it hence the upgrade questions so I can't help with the issue but android/transformer forums all over the net are complaining about it plenty of people who could probably help sounds like quite a few people have logged it too, ASUS blame Google, Google blame ASUS etc, as it works on the missus' Xperia I'd say it was ASUS at fault.
Don't want to finger-point, but my wife's Nexus 7 has none of the I/O issues I've experienced on the TF700 - so I would suggest that rules out both Android and Tegra3 as being the culprit.
I ended up choosing the Acer W510 and couldn't be happier, well I could, of course things can always be better, a 1080p screen would be nicer and an i5 but I wasn't prepared to pay extra considering my track record ~6 machines down in 3 years. But performance of the Atom in this device is superb (compared to other tablets) as I expected, Win 8 works really well as a tablet OS and is a pretty good desktop OS to boot too, the tablet can run full MS office, prints nicely from every application on the device to my networked laser, no need for apps that don't print from everything right (android/IOS) HDMI out works with google play, and of course any other thing on the web as I can install all the usual suspects 8) It's great in either extend desktop mode or external only and at 1080p, big one up on the TF300T for both things I do miss some of the Android apps, mostly the google stuff as they do great stuff that works well but a lot of the stuff I have signed up for work via web/chrome, albeit a touch slower for some like magazines. Still minor drawback for having the ability to run proper web with no compromises. Having had a good fondle and taken this risk I so wish I plumped for the Samsung as though this works well, the ability to fire it up on a big monitor and multitask means the Atom starts to struggle but then its doing a full PC job with monitor, keyboard and mouse and a number of other peripherals connected. Battery seems to last a lot longer than my old device too which is pretty good for x86 device, not as stylish as the ASUS though and neither the keyboard or the touchpad feel as good, they are passable, that's about as polite as I can be. It's early days but reckon MS is onto a winner to be honest, its only problem is the desktop/tablet divide being a little odd in that somethings only work on the web in desktop mode but I guess that is due to RT and just something I'll get used to.
