Asus Transformer Book Detachable Ultrabook Review (Part 3)

Performance and Battery Life

Asus Transformer Book (Core i7-3517U 1.9GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark 7: 4,414

·         3DMark06: 3,840

·         3DMark11: E924/P512/X177

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 482MB/s (read); 317MB/s (write)

Asus Transformer Book

Toshiba Kirabook (Core i7-3537U 2.0GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 5,275

·         3DMark06: 5,272

·         3DMark11: N/A

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 553MB/s (read); 500MB/s (write)

Toshiba Kirabook

Acer Aspire S7 (Core i7-3517U 1.9GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 5,011

·         3DMark06: 4,918

·         3DMark11: E1035/P620/X208

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 934MB/s (read); 686MB/s (write)

Acer Aspire S7

MSI Slidebook S20 (Core i5-3337U 1.8GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,043

·         3DMark06: 3,944

·         3DMark11: E1053/P578

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 484MB/s (read); 286MB/s (write)

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MSI Slidebook S20

Asus Taichi 21 (Core i7-3517U 1.9GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,998

·         3DMark06: 4,818

·         3DMark11: E1137/P610/X201

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 516MB/s (read); 431MB/s (write)

Asus Taichi 21

Microsoft Surface Pro (Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,673

·         3DMark06: 3,811

·         3DMark11: E1019/P552

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 526MB/s (read); 201MB/s (write)

Microsoft Surface Pro

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 (Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,422

·         3DMark06: 4,415

·         3DMark11: E917/P572

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 278MB/s (read); 263MB/s (write)

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

Acer Iconia W700 (Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,580

·         3DMark06: 3,548

·         3DMark11: E518/P506

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 542MB/s (read); 524MB/s (write)

Acer Iconia W700

Dell XPS 12 (Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz, Intel HD 4000)

·         PCMark7: 4,673

·         3DMark06: 4,520

·         3DMark11: N/A

·         ATTO (top disk speeds): 516MB/s (read); 263MB/s (write)

Dell XPS 12

The Transformer Book runs off a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U processor, the same one used in various Ultrabooks that went on sale last fall, like the Acer's Aspire S7 and the Asus' Taichi 21. In addition, it has 4GB RAM, 128GB SanDisk SSD drive, and of course, Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated. That is, we don't believe it is a slow computer. In fact, it boots in 6 seconds, probably the fastest boot time we ever recorded on a Windows 8 PC. It also resumes from sleep mode in less than 2 seconds, as advertised. What we're trying to say is: calling this a slow system would be a huge mistake.

If you are thinking its 500GB hard drive will reduce the performance scores, please rest assured that it is not true. First of all, we have similar scores even when running the tests with the keyboard removed. Second, Asus said the operating system is installed on the 128GB solid-state drive and that the computer stores files there first by default, unless you tell it to do otherwise. In other words, you will not start using it until you run out of space on the SSD. It's really easy to think about the keyboard dock as one giant external hard drive, when you plug it in, you even get the same Windows dialog box that you would if you inserted a thumb drive.

Asus does not joke when it said the tablet's 5,000mAh battery could last 5 hours: our test unit ran exactly 5 hours and 1 minute in our rundown test (video looping, WiFi on). If you see the chart above, you'll see that's about average for the first touchscreen Ultrabook with Ivy Bridge CPU - new Kirabook and Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A Touch offer pretty similar results. The best you could hope for a device like this maybe half an hour longer, but hopefully that will change when Haswell chip becomes the new standard. Now, as we have said, the keyboard dock has its own 3100mAh battery that promises to extend the runtime to up to eight hours.