Asus Unveils Quad-Core Transformer Prime Tablet 274
MojoKid writes with an article in Hot Hardware about the fancy new Asus tablet/laptop hybrid. Quoting the article: "Asus and nVidia have collectively taken the wraps off the next-generation version of Asus's well-received Transformer tablet line. The new system aims to carve out a slice of the premium tablet market that Apple's iPad has dominated for so long. On paper and in pictures, the Prime impresses. The Transformer Prime incorporates NVIDIA's new Kal-El (Tegra 3) processor and is one of NVIDIA Tegra 3's upper-end launch systems. The new ARM-based CPU contains a fifth 'companion core' to reduce and manage idle power consumption and contains 12 GPU cores, up from the eight GPUs in Tegra 2. NVIDIA claims that Tegra 3's GPU is up to 3x faster than Tegra 2, thanks to additional architectural enhancements. Asus is also rolling out a new LCD they're calling 'Super IPS+.' The display's normal brightness tops out at ~500 nits, but the Prime offers an alternate Super IPS mode that pushes display brightness up to 600 nits for use in bright outdoor environments."
Re:Intruiged (Score:5, Informative)
I scored a new nook for cheap (about $135)...and boot it into cyanogen mod7 from the microSD card (will soon root it permanently when I get around to it), but I did it mostly as a fun experiment I saw a friend do..it was pretty much pocket change, so what the hell.
Well, I've found I'm pretty much tethered to it at home whenever I am at home. It follows me to every room I go to.....I'm constantly checking email on it...browsing for info (recipes, grocery store weekly ads, slashdot, shopping for newegg specials, etc).
I honestly didn't think I'd find a use for it...but I find that since I moved recently to a new place...rather than having desktops/laptops/netbooks fired up and running 24/7 in pretty much every room of the house, I now just use the nook tablet and carry it with me wherever I go in the house.
I've travelled with it before, and is fun to take to watch movies (I watched a bunch of riff-trax last trip which was fun) on the plane, etc.
My only complaint would be the lack of camera, gps and 3/4g would be nice for places without wifi when traveling, but honestly, I love the thing and use it like I never imagined. I truly thought once I did the rooting...it would just gather dust somewhere.
I'm thinking with the new nook tablets coming out, used original nook colors will start dropping in price..I might pick up and root a couple more of them to have around the house.
Also thinking of rigging one up to put in my car, and route through sound system for tv/movies/concert videos on the road...fixing up some kind of mount in there to hang it on in front of the stereo maybe.
I'd even considered getting some type of mi-fi maybe from verizon for the car..just to give it internet connectivity for trips out....
Re:Intruiged (Score:4, Informative)
Same here. My iPad follows me around the house. I use it *more* than I expected. I bought an Apple TV (I only just found out it supports Netflix streaming) to go with it, and just rip all Netflix DVDs to the iPad as they arrive. Then I can watch in bed or stream to the big TV in the living room.