The ASUS Transformer Pad 300 Series
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 27, 2012 5:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Eee Pad
- Asus
- Mobile
- Transformer Prime
- Transformer Pad 300
The Transformer Pad Infinity is the new high-end Android tablet from ASUS, but the TF Pad 300 series slots in below the TF Prime at $399. Still based on NVIDIA's Tegra 3 (likely lower clocks than the TF Pad Infinity), the 300 Series drops the aluminum chassis in favor of a similarly styled plastic body (available in three colors: red, white, navy). Thickness and weight are both up (9.9mm vs 8.3mm), but the 300 Series is still thinner and lighter than the original Eee Pad Transformer.
The SoC used in the 300 Series is exclusively NVIDIA, but 4G LTE connectivity will apparently be an option through a discrete LTE baseband.
The 1280 x 800 panel used in the 300 Series maintains the same 1280 x 800 resolution of the Prime but it drops the Super IPS+ designation, it's just standard IPS.
| ASUS Tablet Specification Comparison | ||||||
| ASUS Eee Pad Transformer | ASUS Transformer Pad 300 Series | ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime | ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity | |||
| Dimensions | 271mm x 175mm x 12.95mm | 263 x 180.8 x 9.9mm | 263 x 180.8 x 8.3mm | 241.2 x 185.7 x 8.5mm | ||
| Chassis | Plastic | Plastic | Aluminum | Aluminum | ||
| Display | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 IPS | 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 Super IPS+ | 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 Super IPS+ | ||
| Weight | 675g | 635g | 586g | 586g | ||
| Processor | 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 (2 x Cortex A9) |
NVIDIA Tegra 3 (4 x Cortex A9) |
1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 (4 x Cortex A9) |
3G/4G LTE - 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 (2 x Krait) WiFi - 1.6GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 T33 (4 x Cortex A9) |
||
| Memory | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | 1GB | ||
| Storage | 16GB + microSD card | 16GB | 32GB/64GB + microSD slot | 16GB - 64GB | ||
| Battery | 24.4Whr | 22Whr | 25Whr | 25Whr | ||
| Pricing | $399 | $399 | $499/$599 | $599 - $799 est | ||
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nathanddrews - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
It was all the rage at CES, then I became very excited when I saw the title of this article. Do we have to have for the 10" 300-series to come out before they release the 7" 300-series?haukionkannel - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Nice to see also more budget version of trasformer! A bigger battery would have been nice, but otherwice this seems to bee solid product. Good IPS display, relative powerfull CPU...Not bad at all!
chrnochime - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Curious as to why they took out microSD support. Considering it costs the same as the first TP, has smaller battery and better screen. Does that IPS screen cost that much as to justify removing the connectivity?Malys - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
It does have a micro SD card slot. It says so on the Asus product page for tf300t. :)sidefxv1 - Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - link
With all these new TF models, the one thing I wish they would release is a version that's compatible with the TF101 docking station. There were so many rumours that subsequent TFs would be compatible with it when it came out, and while ASUS didn't confirm it at the time, they certainly didn't do much in the way of denying it.NeedajobintheUSA - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
After hearing so much about you, the wonder kid, with the billions of dollars I thought why not ask if you have any ideas about jobs for Americans who want to work and live in America? You know, all those wonderful jobs that your country now have which were previously in my country. Your country is sucking up all the jobs out of country, folks with Masters Degrees and ordinary hard working folks who do call center jobs are being fired and your people in India are taking up all the slack.So tell me Mr. Rich Anand, your billion dollar website is also sucking up American dollars, and look, there are Americans with no jobs. I don't expect you to care, you see I am well acquainted with the Indian way of thinking, money first, God second, money third, the poor can disappear. I bet you do not have the nerve to print this comment. I just wrote it because I am upset with people like you and your country who are driving us Americans to poverty. Losing our jobs, our houses, while you suck up our jobs.
I hear you folks believe in Karma, well I hope that regardless of how many offerings you make to your temples that you all suffer deeply, for all those Americans who have had their houses foreclosed, for those poor children who have no homes, and for the many others without jobs. May you all suffer for your greed and selfishness. I wish President Clinton had never signed NAFTA, I wish that Bush never gave companies bonuses for taking jobs overseas and I wish I never heard of you or your country.
ol1bit - Thursday, March 1, 2012 - link
Idiot!Anyone can go out and build a hardware Website. If you dedicate the time, energy, creativity, and of course good reviews, you to can be successful, right here in America!
Nuff Said.
InsaneScientist - Friday, March 2, 2012 - link
What the (censored) is wrong with you???I don't think I've ever been as pissed off from reading a comment on this site as I am over yours... with that said, I'm going to TRY to be reasonable in responding to you... in the hopes that you might grow a neuron or two.
First off, there's no bloody way he's got anything even remotely resembling that much money from running this site. Despite the traffic that this site gets, ads do not pay that much... and there are operational costs to deal with. I sincerely doubt running this site provides any more than a rather average income. If even that.
Plus, to top it off, he'd show up on Forbes' rich lists if he were a billionaire, as you claim, and he doesn't.
He does this because he loves it and he cares about the community, not for the money.
And that time and time again, we've seen the readership of this site (both collectively and in individual cases) have issues with companies and Anand has taken up our fight because he has a voice that these companies respect?
And that he repeatedly does everything in his power to make this site reflect everything that we want it to be? He actively solicits and listens to the community's voice?
You do realize that he lives here in the US, right? And Anandtech just hired a whole bunch of new staff people that... mostly live in the US?
You do realize that he is providing a service that we AREN'T PAYING FOR?
Besides, even though it's not even relevant here, what's to say that people in other countries don't deserve to work and make a decent wage? Hmmm?
I... could go on, but I'll stop.
But I would like to say that I had thought we'd gotten well past mindsets like yours, and, on behalf of America, I would like to apologize to those outside our country who had to read that terrible comment. -_-
</rant>
Marit - Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - link
Can your moderator please remove vile racist comment above?On a brighter note...Love the look of this product! I have a Prime which I'm really enjoying, tbh the battery life is superb. Asus have obviously bought out a more affordable version which is fair enough. Nice colours btw!