Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 3 - Pad & Dock

Asus EEE Pad Transformer Review Part 3 - Pad & Dock

    The Asus EEE Pad Transformer indeed transformed CES 2011 when they introduced it, although they did not win the CES 2011 Best Show Award against the Motorola Xoom the transformer made some good impressions as it has the Mobile Dock where its a Physical Keyboard with I/O ports and extra battery for mobility. Asus introduced the EEE Pad Transformer as an Tablet that transforms to an netbook. The concept was to ease consumer in transitioning from netbook/notebook to tablets plus still giving them mobility and option in what kind of Mobility they want.


       Since I discussed mostly on the performance of the tablet in my 1st part of the review ( EEE Pad Transformer Part 1 Review ), this review will feature the pros & cons of the Mobile Dock itself.

PROS

Physical Keyboard - They physical keyboard itself is a great advantage in typing where honestly in long duration typing on a touchscreen will surely make your fingers sore. 

Touch Pad - You might ask, "Why do I need a touchpad when the tablet is already touchscreen?" The answer to that is, touchscreen is good but not precisely accurate, the touchpad is good when hitting the in between of words in editing or selecting a portion of an image where touchscreen may cause inaccuracy. 

Overall the Bronze and black color combination stands out that the Asus EEE Pad Transformer is not an ordinary tablet. The Mobile dock offers 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 SD Card reader for additional data transferring, its build is solid and has a metal 1st layer on its most common areas such as the mobile dock itself and the sides of the tablet itself.

Additional Battery - The additional battery on the mobile dock itself charges the tablet when connected, giving the tablet up to 7 hours of additional mobility thus you can have up to 16 hours of mobility in total. 

Why do I need the Mobile Dock? - This is the main question, overall the tablet can perform well without the Mobile Dock thus making it optional, but Asus introduced the Mobile Dock mainly for the easy transition of consumers from Notebook / Netbook to Tablets. Where you don't have to sacrifice the physical keyboard which is still more productive than typing on a on-screen keyboard. Plus the additional battery gives you the advantage over other tablets in the market today in terms of mobility duration. 

CONS

Additional item to carry arround? - It is true that you have to carry a keyboard so to speak when you want to attach it to the dock, but that is why its optional, you just need to bring it when you need it. But just like a netbook the keyboard dock merely weights just like a notebook adaptor so its just like the same thing. 

Widest tablet - The transformer's shape is sought after an netbook, so Asus designed the transformer to be as big as an netbook. To date the EEE Pad transformer is the widest tablet in the market, this is because it needs to be in the same size of the mobile dock so if it's attached at closed its like a netbook. 

No USB 2.0 Slot? - Unfortunately the Transformer Pad itself rather its in the Mobile Dock so unless you have the Mobile Dock you can't use USB Devices for Mass Storage or put a hardware interface device such as a keyboard or mouse. 3G mobile dongles are NOT legally compatible with Honeycomb 3.1 OS.

Why don't I just buy a netbook instead? - Its a tablet that can be transformed into a netbook. Asus made the mobile dock to make it an additional feature to become a netbook, currently in the market touchscreen netbooks are ever more expensive than a tablet so why sacrifice price when you can have both at the same price? 

Also its OPTIONAL, not an obligation accessory where its needed to run the EEE Pad itself, its just an highlighted feature that the transformer has that the other brands doesn't, which is your main advantage to this product. 

Overall the Asus EEE Pad Transformer is already one of the capable tablets in the market featuring the main advantage over the others is the Mobile dock which has the additional battery.