out again, damn where was my notification email this time
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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer coming Tuesday 4/26
- Thread starter airrphoto
- Start date
out again, damn where was my notification email this time
Man, Im glad I decided to get one when I did. I managed to get one ordered off of newegg.com Wednesday and it literally JUST came in about 15 mins ago.
I got to say the screen is to die for, so amazing.
I didn't get the dock and actually was going to wait awhile to get this but with such limited supply I had to jump on it befor it was too late.
I hope everyone else gets theirs in a reasonable amount of time, I know a lot of them were left out to dry by some retailers.
I got to say the screen is to die for, so amazing.
I didn't get the dock and actually was going to wait awhile to get this but with such limited supply I had to jump on it befor it was too late.
I hope everyone else gets theirs in a reasonable amount of time, I know a lot of them were left out to dry by some retailers.
Joe Average
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It's interesting that Newegg is selling the dock for $129.99 according to that link. Typically when such a "hot ticket item" appears and is so in demand, their auto-adjusting price system would actually jack the price up a bit, not down... weird.
yimingwuzere
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Certainly an error on their part. Note how the RAM slots do not tally with RAM configuration (RAM slots = 0/2 free, configuration = 1 1gb stick). I'd bet they're all soldered to the mainboard.
BobSutan
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Hell by the time these things are in any meaningful level of availability and use new models will be rolling off the line. Hard to develop for something that's going to have such a short effective life-cycle.
new tablets will have honeycomb as well, so software development life cycle shouldn't be a problem. if your talking hardware yeah, quadcore's will be out in a few months, but that probably won't bring to much to the tablet considering tegra 2 only games are slim.
heatlesssun
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Not all tablets are just for running light apps.
Whitebread
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Has anyone attempted to view 1080P content on this thing? I'm specifically concerned with outputing the video and audio via HDMI. In either case (viewing on screen or via HDMI), is the video smooth?
Whitebread
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Also, can the tablet alone function as a host?
I'd ask in the xda forum. it sounds like it has issues with mkv files. from what I've read it seems like it plays smooth for some and others not so much.
Whitebread
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Ok, I will do that. Thanks.
All about bought based on both specs and brand recognition, but to different degrees. When you are the market leader and trend setter, brand recognition just counts for more. But to suggest that Apple and iPad aren't spec sensitive is to ignore reality. Why is iPad 2 spec'ed up from iPad 1? Why do all Apple refreshes come up-spec'ed from previous versions?
And for PCs and Android....let's face it...there are so many vendors that all they have are specs [and price]. This has little to do with a tablet designed for lightweight apps needed lots and lots of RAM -- if you aren't trying to get sales by trying to mislead your customers.
Checking mine now, I hope mine isn't but I got my pre order in fairly early. They didn't charge you did they?
The Quad core aspect isn't going to be a great increase in performance from a stictly processor stand point, its the new GPU thats in it. A unified GPU from nvidia will undoubtedly increase the performance for media viewing A LOT.
Besides a big screen, what can the Asus Transformer or the Xoom do that a smart phone like a Droid Bionica (once it releases, hopefully with more ram) can't do?
A couple Fry's within driving distance of where I live has them (only checked 32gb version) in stock for pick-up only.
A couple Fry's within driving distance of where I live has them (only checked 32gb version) in stock for pick-up only.
BeavermanA
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You up in northern CA? Ain't shit in stock here, have 5 Frys within 30mi, one down the street and nothing.
heatlesssun
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In terns of application support since all of these devices are touch only and running the same base OS their capabilities aren't intrinsically different, there is a lot of overlap. That said, tablet/slates are much bigger obviously so things like reading, video playback, gaming can be much more immersive and certain applications obviously work better on a larger screen.
I am. Was listed in stock for Concord and Sacramento. Now only Sac is listed as in stock. How accurate that is I don't know.
Because, as you've said, they're just refreshes. I'm sure you're already aware of the apple jokes about features being held back so they'll have something to put in the next version?
There are indeed different degrees, both have hardcore and casual users, but the degree in which one has over the other is what i'm pointing at. Which Apple vs PC, which one is more likely to be bought with specs and which for brand recognition? The answer was pretty clear.
Pretty much my point. Quad cores aren't needed on tablets, but that's the way the market is going towards if the tablet manufacturers continue to treat it as if they're selling PCs. Every one of them is competitive and will continiously want to one-up each other.
On the user end, this kind of competition is good, as it means Android tablets will now be evolving and branching at a breakneck pace. You want power? Here's one. You want gaming? This one. Battery life? Here. HTPC? Here. Connectivity? Here.
It uses baseline h264. So any video you run on it, even if it's already h264, will have to be re-encoded to run on the transformer properly. So those HD videos you've been... err... acquiring... may not run on it. It's an issue inherent with the Tegra2 chipset. So if you want better compatibility, either wait for Tegra3, or have the manufacturer use a third party decoder chip.
BeavermanA
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Man, I should call my dad and tell him to go pick some up. Says the store closest to his house is in stock. Just watched a 16gb in a 24hr auction on ebay sell for $540+shipping....
Edit: fuck, the 2nd closest to me just listed 16gb as available, too bad they close in 10min. Guess I'm waking up early.
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I'm a bit pissed at Amazon for cancelling my order so quickly. I have waited much longer for things to come back into stock before. Asus under-estimated demand for the Transformer, so it is just a matter of time before new stock comes in. I am willing to wait and able to cancel on my own if I'm not satisfied with the situation.
Jokes? I'm supposed to base reality on jokes? I think Apple offers the features it thinks will both enhance the user experience and that it can deliver with confidence, while maintaining those feature sets they feel are important in a product. I don't think they leave off tech for the next refresh in the manner you suggest.
Of course the answer is clear....because a zillion companies are making PCs and only one makes Apple products. But Apple products compete on specs just as much as the others. But the others comprise a zoo of this and that trying to find some magic formula that people will like. Sort of like what Asus is doing with the Transformer. A lot of what makes the Transformer attractive is the price and the fact that it comes from Asus, which many of us hard-core PC upgraders know well.
I don't know that quad cores aren't needed on tablets. The iPad 2 has software that lets you encode video. Extra cores count in that situation. Perhaps in games too and outputting video at 1080p.
I'm all for this. However, I do want my tablet to be a tablet. 3 lbs is too much for a tablet, IMO. I want something under 1 lb, ideally. I think too many users push for feature creep to the point that tablets get up to 3 lbs and at that point they are just like a laptop. The blur at work. Give me 500GB SSD and 16 GB ram at 1 lb with a retina-type display @ 9.7 inches with wireless connectivity and I'm in hog heaven.
computerpro3
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This thing is awesome....sitting here in the airport tethering off of my phone, have an entire season of topgear in 720p (encoding stuff to baseline profile is trivial on my 4.8ghz 2600k) and best of all Im not tethered to the power cord like everyone else. The keyboard dock is just sweet- works so well to control n64oid that I'm playing super mario 64 and I completely forget Im not using a real n64 controller. BEst purchase I've made in a long time.
Whitebread
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What is baseline h264? I found basic information about it on google but, nothing conclusive.
No kidding!
I'm not sure I agree with this....widescreen is great for movies...but I have real TVs for that...if I want to watch a movie on the go, I'm happy with 4:3 as it is better for everything else (IMO). Frankly, I'm not happy that most PC monitors are in widescreen format. Doesn't help at all for getting real work done. Just IMO, though.
heatlesssun
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A lot of people like 4:3 for portrait mode but would prefer 16:10 like me however everything is 16:9 these days.
16:10 is even worse than 16:9 from my POV. IMO, the industry made a huge mistake moving from 4:3 [except for TVs, that is...I'm totally happy with it there]. But that's the world we all live in.
Actually, I really like widescreen monitors for work- if you have a big enough one. I have dual monitors running 2560 x 1600 resolution and that tends to work out really well. There is a finite amount of vertical space you can use. I've also found widescreen to be really nice for gaming as well. Then again, some people's idea of gaming is different than mine.
heatlesssun
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Very much happy to see 4:3 gone myself. I'd much rather have the 1280x800 of the Transformer over 1024x768. I have had several convertible Tablet PCs with 1024x768 screens and they never felt that good for writing.
BeavermanA
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Fuck yea, success! Grabbed a 32gb at Frys. Last one they said. Told me no 16gb were left, then next guy in line comes up and gets apparently the last one.
Yep, those 'jokes' are reality.
Again it's a matter of degree. Which one relies on brand recognition? And which relies on specs? Because i can tell you that i live in a country where apple has very little marketing (Word of mouth, or maybe youtube, and that's it. Typical for Asia.) and Apple is practically non-existent. Take away the brand recognition, and Apple is nothing over here.
Video doesn't actually correlate to CPU. The dual core transformer, for example, actually supports less profiles than the single core galaxy tab (The guys at the other forum that has both are still using their tabs for watching videos apparently). The goal of video hardware, is to offload anything video related away from the CPU. This is compounded in mobile devices since the CPU can't decode most videos by itself at all.
If you want the quad core, go ahead, but it's far from being needed to run your daily android apps.
Of course, you want the lightweight one with high capacity storage, one of the manufacturers will make that for you eventually. Much like PC's, variety is on Androids side.
The archos 70 250Gig is selling and people are mounting them on their cars. Some are actually complaining why they didn't come out with a 500Gig android unit like in the earlier models. Rather niche, but it's proof that if there's a market for it, someone will build it. The ability to play most video formats helped a lot, coz it'll be a real pain converting 250Gigs worth of videos.
Frankly tho, my 8Gig tablet streams off my file server so i don't have much use for anything bigger. If i really need something bigger on the road, i can attach my WDPassport.
As for 4:3 vs 16:9. On 16:9, you see more of a page when held vertically, and more readable text when held horizontally. No to mention the benefit when watching videos.
There are various ways you can encode a video so they made profiles to atleast make them standard. Baseline is the minimum features you can use and meant for lightweight PMPs. And while it can potentially be just as good (It's a small screen, you usually won't notice), the problem arises from the fact that most videos you download are encoded in a higher profile, so you have to re-encode them to baseline to make them work on the device.
I did this for my iPod and considering how large my library is, it turned into a chore fast. So much so that i eventually just quit watching videos on it. By the time i got my Archos, it had been months since i last added an episode to my iPod. It also meant i had to store duplicate videos on my harddrive so i have a selection to quickly choose from (Which also meant losing free space and leaving the PC running overnight so the series is ready the next day)
If the tablet truly supports higher profiles, you can benefit from it even tho the screen isn't 1080p, simply because you don't have to spend any time transcoding. Take the video from your video folder, drag it to your device, and you're done.
I don't know where are live, but I just read an article today about iPad 2 selling like hotcakes in China. I grant that things may not be the same everywhere, however.
I guess we are beating a dead horse here because I will never agree that Apple relies on brand recognition only. The specs matter. I guarantee that iPad 2 would have been a total dud if the specs didn't count. I'm sure you know that but you simplify the situation way too much. As for the rest, yeah, specs are all that matter in the tablet world because they are all Android and positioning against a zillion other competitors and the only innovation is in the specs. They are following a market is which, sadly, has been created by Apple, even though the first product didn't come from them. It almost validates Apple's claim. Get the tech out of the way so you can concentrate on the creativity. It's starting to sound as though I'm an Apple fan-boy, but it ain't so.
Perhaps so for output, but on a PC with discrete graphics encoding is done on the CPU. Perhaps it's different on a tablet. I actually have done no encoding on my iPad and wouldn't know how to determine if it is CPU bound or GPU bound if I did.
I have dual core now and it seems to be making a difference.
No disagreement there. Well, it's not that much of a pain to convert 250 G of videos. I've transcoded way more Blu-rays than that, as that is only 5 to 7 Blu-rays.
I have some use for more than 16 GB which is why I want a Transformer [for the SD card] and have a 64 GB iPad 2. Video isn't that much of a big deal for me as I don't enjoy watching movies on tiny screens. But output to a hi-def TV in a hotel room would be one good use of this tech.
You get a page you can't read at all on 16:9 when held vertically [on a tablet]. Never of any use. Yes, you get more readable text in horizontal position on 16:9 but it is still readable enough on a 4:3. Hence, overall, 4:3 wins from a usability POV. As for videos, output to a real screen and it's a moot point. And even if you don't, the image is big enough to see. Overall 4:3 wins. It's why Apple uses it.