Last month I went to a store, played with a demo unit of Asus Transformer Book T100 and wrote a first impression review about it. Last week I decided to buy it to replace my old Dell laptop, and here’s my complete review on it.
First… Asus Transformer Book T100 is an entry level tablet/laptop hybrid with Windows 8.1 (full Windows, not RT), Intel Atom Z3740 quad-core Bay Trail processor, 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel IPS multi-touch display, 2GB of RAM, a 1.2MP front-facing camera, a micro USB port, micro HDMI port, micro SD card slot, headset jack, a few buttons and 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. On top of all, the price is set on $349 (US price) for 32GB model. I got myself the 64GB model hoping to have enough free-space left after all the basic applications installed.
The unit of Asus Transformer Book T100 consists of two units: the screen and the keyboard dock. The screen is well built, feels solid on my hand, slightly larger than iPad, and the weight is somewhere between iPad 4 and iPad Air. The back of the screen is made of plastic. It looks fairly attractive until we actually hold it and have our fingerprints everywhere. The keyboard dock is a decent keyboard, a bit small to my taste, especially the size of right Shift key. I kept accidentally pressing other keys when trying to reach that one. This keyboard unit weigh almost like the tablet unit, although there’s no battery or any important components inside. The only port available from the keyboard dock is the full-sized USB 3.0 (all other ports are located in the tablet unit).
T100 docking mechanism is convenient. It feels strong and solid. When the tablet unit is docked and the “screen” is opened, the dock hinge slightly raised the back of keyboard. There are 4 rubber legs at the bottom of the keyboard, allowing for non-slippery usage. However, in normal typing position, the keyboard base moves around the desk easily because 2 rubber legs at the back are no longer in contact with our desk.
In most other Windows tablet, we usually see a Windows logo on the bottom of the screen and pressing that logo is the same as pressing Start button. Asus Transformer Book T100 has a Windows logo on its screen, but it’s just… a logo. It will not react to any action. The actual hardware button for Windows button is located at the left side, near the volume up/down button. A weird position for Windows button, and during few days of usage, I never end up using that button. Swiping from right edge to left will display Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings, this becomes my primary way of accessing Start menu now.
Move on the next issue: setting up. Asus Transformer Book T100 comes with Windows 8.1 pre-installed. Upon unboxing, there is no battery at all in the tablet unit so we need to charge it for few minutes just to make it able to turn on. Once it’s turned on, we get the usual few questions of Windows setup. I linked the machine’s login account with my Microsoft account and got my outlook inbox set up automatically.
Windows 8.1 is a noticeable improvement from Windows 8. I like the new structure of settings menu.
My usual habit whenever I set up a new computer is to trigger software update so a machine will receive the latest possible updates. And I did the same with Asus Transformer Book T100. I fired up Windows Update and have it downloaded around 700MB of updates, I think. There are few optional updates for the Asus machine, and I decided to have them installed too.
So the Windows update has finished doing its job and telling me it will automatically restart within 2 days (or I can restart it now). I choose to restart. Guess what happened right after I restarted the Windows? I got the famous BSOD (blue screen of death). I restarted the computer again. My screen remains black for a while, did not display anything, but when I tried touching the trackpad on keyboard dock, it shows mouse pointer moving. I waited for more than 2 hours and it still does not show anything. So I decided to force power off by long-pressing the power button. It was successful. Then another blue screen telling me Windows is trying to recover from previous problem. I waited. Almost 30 minutes. Then it “recovered”, automatically restarted, then I can log in again. Everything solved? not really. Because the so-called “recovered” state is full of problem. My keyboard dock does not work at all (I need to do everything using on-screen keyboard). And when opening the Desktop, I practically can’t open any programs. Every 10 seconds the screen blinked and the Desktop was “restored”. Anything I previously opened was closed and my Desktop is always as clean as new… every 10 damn seconds !
After a wasted hour of failed troubleshooting, I decided to reset my machine back to factory state. It was a very slow process, but it worked. My Asus Transformer Book T100 returned to its original setting. I need to repeat the process of setting up Windows, but after that, everything worked, again, including my keyboard dock.
At that point, I was not sure what was the cause of previous BSOD. My guess was… one of the optional Windows Update was not really compatible with the machine and caused the whole problem. I decided to run Windows Update again, but this time I left the “optional” downloads unselected. So I waited again for 700MB downloads and long installation time. My machine restarted. And it worked ! Wow, I was really happy. Then I used Internet Explorer for the only task it’s worth for: downloading Firefox and Chrome. Before I finished the download, a popup message appeared. This time, it’s from Asus Autoupdate program. It said it had downloaded and installed an update and need the machine to restart. I thought the problem was already solved since Windows Update ended without crashing. So I followed the request from Asus Autoupdate and restarted the computer.
Guess what? I got another BSOD ! This time it shows 0xc000021a error. Then Windows was trying to recover itself again. After MANY restarts, Windows did not managed to recover. I forced it to power off several times, it detected problem and tried to recover several times. Took me about 3 hours to get Windows to somehow recovered to a bootable condition, and I used that opportunity to restore the machine again, back to factory settings.
Ok, in the first day of ownership, I have set up my Windows three times already. I tried to browse and found a lot of people having the same problem. From lots of reading, I discovered that Asus has released a BIOS update for T100 and some people said it solved the problem with updates. So I tried. I checked this page of Asus Support website and found BIOS 216 there. I downloaded it, plus the BIOS-Utilities. Then I upgraded T100’s BIOS.
The upgrade process was smooth (warning, make sure you have T100 plugged in to charger the entire process). My computer restarted without a problem. Then I run Windows Update again, all good. Then the popup message from Asus Autoupdate appeared again, still good. I finally upgraded all the software updates without crashing my Windows !
Update: today I checked the Asus Support website again and somehow they removed BIOS 216 from there. Strange, considering this 216 update solved my problems
After I solved the dreadful experiment with Windows Update, I moved on to install some of my “basic” applications. Yes, I had to open Internet Explorer again, to download Firefox and Chrome again. IE must be very delighted to have me open it twice in a day.
Most basic applications worked fine. I downloaded Facebook, Flipboard, eBay, Dropbox and other “metro”-style apps with notifications. All looking good. I have few “classic” programs for Windows desktop that was made more than 10 years ago and it still worked fine in Windows 8.1, of course I need to do a little effort to set its compatibility mode. Novice Windows users might need some help from someone to get this done, or they might perceive it as Windows 8.1 no longer supports their “old programs”.
During few days testing, I have experienced at least 20 times of application “not responding”, and I have to kill it manually using Task Manager.
The battery of Asus Transformer Book T100 is good. It can easily survive more than 10 hours of normal work days. My main issue is not about the battery life, it’s about the super long required time to charge it back. I mean, T100 charger is a standard 10W micro USB charger. Even old netbooks would probably have charger with greater wattage. One time I had 15% battery left. I stopped working at around 11pm. I plugged in the charger and went to sleep. The Windows was still on (I did not shutdown it), and I have couple of apps running on standby like Facebook, Skype and Twitter to receive notifications. I woke up at 6am in the morning and the battery was NOT full ! It was around 86%. A true dealbreaker for me. I can’t have my laptop charging slower than my sleep time. Next day I tried the similar situation, but I shut down the Windows before went to sleep. The next morning, it was fully charged. So in order to have this laptop fully charged the next day, I need to remember to shut down the computer before I sleep. And so I won’t receive any notification at night. Not really a problem since I will be sleeping anyway, but kinda defeats the concept of a “tablet”, isn’t it?
Next, I did a little experiment with Bluetooth keyboard and Bluetooth mouse. I detached the included keyboard dock and connected Asus Transformer Book T100 with my collection of Bluetooth accessories: 1 Logitech keyboard, 1 Belkin keyboard and 1 Logitech mouse. The result? Well, if T100 is connected to ONE Bluetooth device, the connection is generally stable. But when it’s connected to 2 or more devices, I noticed some lags in my keyboard typing and mouse movement. Sometimes the lag can be more than 5 seconds, which is very annoying. I guess they design the Bluetooth mainly for one device: mouse. Most people won’t need to connect T100 to a Bluetooth keyboard since it comes with included keyboard dock that works without Bluetooth connection. As for me, I planned to use T100 as my desktop machine, meaning I will have it connected to my normal monitor, then I work with normal Bluetooth keyboard and mouse while the unit stays invisible from me. This planned setup doesn’t allow me to use the keyboard dock. Plus I kinda prefer to use full-sized keyboard for serious typing. The included keyboard dock is ok for casual (or occasional) typing, but certainly not for day-to-day heavy typing work.
More about Bluetooth connection. I was so spoiled by my Macbook that every-time I wake it from sleep, my Bluetooth mouse (and Bluetooth speaker) reconnects almost immediately. When T100 does to sleep, it disconnects all the Bluetooth connection. When it wakes up, SOMETIMES they get reconnected, sometimes they don’t. Even after I waited for more than 5 minutes. Sometimes I need to forget the device (from Bluetooth setting) and do re-pair.
Overall, T100 is a decent device. As a laptop, it runs reasonably smooth. It starts faster than my old Dell Inspiron laptop. It feels more responsive and snappy, which is not bad at all for a device with Atom-class processor. However, since it runs Windows, it also inherits a lot of Windows’ classic problems, from tedious updates, BSOD, application not responding, and many more. I guess I have used Mac for so long and I took for granted its ease of use. I started to think Mac needs to do this and that… but now using Windows again for few days refreshes my memory. And I come to love and appreciate my Macs again.
If your previous laptop is a netbook-class, you’re going to love T100. If you want T100 as your secondary laptop, it also serves well for mobility purposes. I don’t think this laptop can be used as someone’s primary laptop (the 10.1″ screen size is too small for long hours work), but it’s an excellent companion when you need to travel light.
For me, this device has its strong points, but it doesn’t meet my specific needs (the issues with Bluetooth connection and the long charging time). So I guess I will take this back to the store sometime this weekend and get my refund.
I was thinking about getting a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for mine, and this review was very helpful. Thanks!
my asus t-100’s speakers not working when tried to configure audio test it shows “failed to play test tone”…. ay solution for it?
I need help. I went to shut off it off! ans it did the normal turn off. But i just went to turn it back on and all i see is a black screen, and my mouse! i can move the mouse! But that is the only thing, nothing is responding
My Asus Transformer Book T100 suddenly died /power off when battery level is 60% (in docking mode) and when battery level 20% (in tablet mode). This is happen for many times…Is this battery problem or OS problem.
Any one can help me? Thank you
Hi Hotman, I have similar problem with you. I am almost certain it is the battery shortage problem. Once I charge it it comes back on. If you have found other cause for this problem, I sure would like to hear it. Cheers,
Hi Pak Setiadi,
Hope you are well. Interesting review on Asus Transformer T100. I have T100TA DK0046H 32MB, I’m trying to update BIOS and the problem is “The Bios file doesn’t match the Bios ROM. Please Exit!”. Need your favor to solve this problem as I intended to update the Bios to cope with ridiculous battery draining which is only stand for about 4 hrs with normal usage of WIFI browsing and texting with MS Word!
Thank you.
Hi Astro. Thanks for visiting my blog. Unfortunately I am not able to help you because I have returned my T100 to the store and claimed full refund. I no longer have T100 unit. I use Toshiba Encore for my Win 8.1 tablet now. Less issue with BIOS and more portable.
Hi Pak Setiadi,
Hope you are well. Interesting review
Dear Pak Setiadi,
I find your review on Asus T100 very enlightening. At present I want to buy a hybrid and I consider choosing between Asus T100 or Dell inspiron 11 series 3000, which have a comparable price. I wonder if I may request your opinion as to which is a better choice between the two, or whether there is another brand of similar price with a better value. Thank you very much.
Glad you find my review useful.
About your question, it all depends on your intended use of the product. Asus T100 has built-in keyboard dock. Dell Inspiron is designed differently. To me, they’re both too heavy for ultra portability. When I need to work with decent screen size, I’d rather go with my MacBook Pro. When I need ultra portability, I ended up buying Toshiba Encore 8. Smaller, lighter, and the same power of full Windows 8.1 desktop. Your usage pattern and personal preferences might be different. Just go to a store with demo units and get a feeling about each model’s size and weight. Believe me, it matters.
I agree with most of the complaints about the T100 but the low cost and ability to run Windows makes up for them to me.
I purchased the device as a replacement for an original iPad. I moved away from Apple because Apple crippled the iPad. I resisted updates for years and the device worked great. Lightning fast. Finally, a few years ago I decided to upgraded because I was wiping the device clean to share with relatives during a trip. Since then the browser has been unstable. The T100 rectifies this problem and I can choose what software to put back on it in the event of a format/reinstall. I’d rather have two T100s than one new iPad, for those reasons.
I set up my new device but dont like it at all. I want to restore the factory settings before returning as I dont want any of my information to be left on there. Are you able to describe exactly how I can accomplish this as I am not real tech savy! Would you be able to respond via email as I may not be able to find this site again. Thanks for any help you are able to provide.
Sounds like a great piece of tech, hamstrung by an appalling OS…again. Microsoft should have learnt by now. My Mac and Android devices are rock solid. About time they gave up trying and started doing
It’s actually a interesting plus valuable piece of information and facts. I’m happy for you to distributed this helpful data around. Please keep us up to par this way. Thanks for spreading.
I am truly grateful to the owner of his web site who has shared this wonderful piece off writing at at this place.
We were given 2 of these T100¬s by a company we work with. Nice that it runs Windows, certain things easier than on Samsung tablet and iPad currently use.
Battery charging is a real pain, will have to turn it off and charge over-night. Cannot get them to work in Bluetooth with 6 other gadgets happily working together on Bluetooth.
como puedo resetear la tablet asus t100t
I did have some problems at first and had to do a factory reset. It’s working fine now except that every so often I get the problem described in the review of a black screen on start up with just the pointer and then nothing happens. (I haven’t had a BSOD) The only way out is to keep the power button held in until the machine switches off and then try again. Anyone having the same problem and any ideas on what might cause it?
hello
can you email bios vesion 216 to me? or other way
I sad for this problem
I update to version 220 but still problems is existing . I doubt that update was not finished correctly but asus bios flash show this version already instal
thanks
no reply??
I AM very sad
Before you download, let me remind you one thing that I do NOT guarantee this BIOS will solve your problem. I am not responsible for any risk that might happen from installing this file. Use this file at your own risk.
https://www.mediafire.com/?c7ce41tebdc8116
Hi, Sorry to hear you had problems with your t100. It is a wonderful second computer to my desktop. I have had no BSODs, and it does Windows update just fine. Mine charges fine overnight, but I found there is not enough juice to charge and use it at the same time. I have been able to use a bluetooth mouse AND stream music to my Logitech bluetooth device at the same time.
One weird issue I have though: every week or so, it will not wake from sleep, and I have to hold the power button in a LONG TIME (~30 seconds) to get it to reboot.
Did you face the “blue screen of death” again? I’m facing it now and can’t find the Bios 216. Hmm.. =(
no more BSOD for me as I have returned it to the store and got a refund :)
I just got mine yesterday, and I cant access the camera app as it says its already being used by another app. A little white light is on next to the camera. When check task manager I cant decide if any of the apps are the problem nor why the warning doest just tell you.
Robert,
Great review! I have an ASUS T100, and I’ve almost experienced 100 percent of what you’ve discussed. Additionally, I’ve returned mine to the store twice before the current one, and think I may have finally learned my lesson. The first one had a dead pixel slightly right of center near the bottom of the screen. The second one refused to recover, even after the BIOS update, and advanced recovery attempts. The Windows update was the final fail for the machine. No recovery ideas posted anywhere worked. Now I’m horrified that I told my father to purchase one, after reading the early reviews which were all positive, but before running into the short comings of the T100 first hand. Contrary to one of your earlier critics, the T100 does seem to have sufficient power to replace a casual business user’s primary laptop for office tasks and even for modest gaming like Halo Assault, but for support reasons the occasional application lag and apparent system “death” after updates (more than 15 minutes for recovery from an update for a tablet is still “death”.), is a deal killer. We don’t purchase tablets because we like down time. We buy them to increase our up time.
I was deeply engaged in a spirited game of Halo Assault earlier and decided to take a break. My tablet gave a notification that an update has down loaded and was ready to install. I placed the T100 into the keyboard dock, and it appeared to go to sleep. I pressed the power button to wake it up. Nothing happened. I pressed it again, but this time holding it from approximately 45 seconds until the screen back-lit. Finally, I got the ASUS logo and the loading circle at the bottom of the lovely black background. It’s now been 3 hours…. Same screen
-Returning to the store today. Just like the previous return, its the third day of ownership….
Thank you for your comment.
T100 does have sufficient power for most normal usage. My deal-breaker was not about the processor power nor the update nightmare (because I got it sorted out in the end). I decided to return it for 2 reasons: the time required to charge this unit is way too long, and the unit becomes unstable when 2 or more Bluetooth devices are connected.
I have the German version 64GB/500GB T100 and I am using it is my desktop replacement. As Robert says, it is totally adequate for this role with the only problem being the Bluetooth. My experience has been a little different from Robert. For the vast bulk of the time, the T100 happily connects to both my Targus Soft Touch mouse and my Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard. They work fine with no problem. However, every so often, they just do not work. When I use the keyboard dock to navigate to the Bluetooth settings page, most of the time the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard reconnect and then work fine for a while. Every so often when I get to the Bluetooth settings page Bluetooth is turned off! I turn it back on and usually the mouse and keyboard connect again fine. So, this is a bit annoying but since it only happens at most once a day and only takes a minute at most to fix I can live with it given the strengths of this device. The principal strength is its flexibility. When hooked up as a desktop it works seamlessly (except for the BT issue). I have it connected to an Asus Varidrive which acts as USB to HDMI connector and provides the Ethernet connection to my work LAN. In tablet mode, the form factor for this device is awesome. With a smart case on it gives at least as good a tablet experience as the iPad. OK, W8 is not as slick as iOS in tablet mode but when I cannot get what I want done in the Modern UI I can fall back to the desktop and be sure that if it can be done on any computer it can be done on this device. That cannot be said of an iPad. I should mention that there is a rarer problem which may or may not be related to the BT. Sometimes the keyboard repetition gets stuck. When this happens there is nothing to do but reboot. This would be a massive deal breaker except that it only happens about once every two weeks. So, while this device is not perfect, the combination of features it offers in this lightweight package is unique on the market.
Really? Only a tart would think a $350 device would be a desktop/laptop replacement. It works for what it is, stop complaining that your Corolla is not as fast as your Ferrari.
Really? Did you even READ my post before commenting?
I even said this laptop is faster than my Dell Inspiron, and not once I complained about it being slow.
I wrote a REVIEW here, dude. I’m supposed to tell the readers about problems and obstacles I have to deal with, including that booting trouble.
My main deal-breaker was NOT about the speed. It was about the Bluetooth stability and the super slow charging time.
So I was not complaining that my Corolla is not as fast as my Ferrari. I returned it because this Corolla randomly stop moving when there are more than 2 people on-board and it took 3 times longer to charge the battery (while different models of Corolla doesn’t take this long to charge).
can a Mouse Be connected to the Asus T100
yes, you can either use Bluetooth mouse or USB mouse; it has one full-sized USB port
The problem I have with this unit is that it won’t charge from any other USB source than the included charging block. If I use my own, charge in the car, or from ANY other USB block, the unit states it’s plugged in and charging but after hours of being plugged into these alternate sources, the charge percentage actually drops…sometimes significantly. This is the 3rd unit I have exchanged and all 3 have done this. Can’t find a reason for this.
Plus, I’ve experienced the same auto updates with errors and not rebooting.
I don’t think it’s worth the money and has significant design flaws. Otherwise this unit would be outstanding.
I did my own experiment with USB wall chargers, it WILL charge as long as our USB wall charger is 10W. Most of USB wall chargers out there is 5W, so it won’t charge.
And the super long time to charge the battery is also my biggest let-down.
My unit was already back to the store :)