Asus Eee Pad Transformer shipments surpass 400,000 units per month

[Emil]

As expected, monthly shipments of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet have reached 400,000 units, making the company's goal to ship a total of 2 million tablets in 2011 quite attainable. Asus' tablet shipments are expected to grow further in Q3 2001; the company has requested its touch panel providers supply a monthly target of 400,000 units to 500,000 units during the quarter, according to sources at upstream panel suppliers, cited by DigiTimes.

It turns out Asus has even bigger plans for the Transformer. Internally, the company has set a more aggressive goal for boosting its tablet shipments in 2011: Asus has reportedly placed contract orders of as high as 4 million to 4.5 million units for the second half of the year. If Asus can pull that number off, it will be in the list of top tablet makers.

When the Asus Eee Pad Transformer arrived in the US three months ago, it was quickly sold out. Rumors suggested that the device was low in volumes due to component shortages or even because of quality control issues but Asus declared that finding a unit was hard due to demand, not supply. The company announced two months ago that it was increasing the number of units shipped. Last month, Asus CEO Jerry Shen has already gone on record saying that the Transformer will exceed shipments of all other tablets, besides the Apple iPad.

The Eee Pad Transformer sets itself apart from the tablet competition with an optional chiclet-style keyboard dock that essentially transforms the device into a netbook. Besides making the device much more convenient to type on and handle productivity tasks, it also extends battery life from around 9.5 hours to 16 hours thanks to a second battery within. The actual device costs $400 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model, although the dock will set you back an extra $150.

The Transformer has a 10.1-inch 1280×800 IPS Gorilla Glass capacitive touchscreen display, a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear and 1.2MP front cameras, a Micro SD expansion slot, and HDMI out. You'll also find speakers and audio jacks, USB 2.0, 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, as well as a G-sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, e-compass, and GPS. It also comes with Asus' Waveshare interface, which includes MyNet (streams media to networked devices), MyLibrary (digital bookstore) and MyCloud (cloud storage and remote access tool).

The Transformer comes with Android 3.0 (codenamed Honeycomb) but is upgradeable to Android 3.1 (codenamed Honeycomb) via an over-the-air update. Asus is currently testing an update to Android 3.2 (codenamed Honeycomb).

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https://www.techspot.com/news/44737-asus-eee-pad-transformer-shipments-surpass-400000-units-per-month.html

 

[gwailo247]

I'm going to need some kind of portable computer for school this fall, in addition to a desktop. I was leaning towards a laptop, but this device seems intriguing. Any thoughts on which would be better?

 

[aj_the_kidd]

gwailo247 said:
I'm going to need some kind of portable computer for school this fall, in addition to a desktop. I was leaning towards a laptop, but this device seems intriguing. Any thoughts on which would be better?

To me its a no brainer, spring for the laptop, tablets a nice but cannot replace laptops or netbooks just yet, in my opinion. I guess the tablet option is somewhat more portable but a netbook is much more flexible, not to mention in some cases cheaper and you can store more data. Plus laptops/netbooks will last longer and at the rate these tablets are being pushed out, this model will be obsolete in a year and a good laptop should last you for 3-5 years.

You may look "cool" with tablet but you will be more productive with a laptop

 

[Morgawr]

I have one, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly where it 'fits'. It certainly is a cool device, but it lacks a lot from the productivity point of view. I guess if all you need it for is to type papers, then it would be just fine. However, if you need any more advanced apps (say a simple programming language like python) it doesn't exist. So all considered, a netbook or ultra thin is probably the better choice for things school related...

It really is just a giant smartphone at this point with a keyboard.

 

[gwailo247]

aj_the_kidd said:
To me its a no brainer, spring for the laptop, tablets a nice but cannot replace laptops or netbooks just yet, in my opinion. I guess the tablet option is somewhat more portable but a netbook is much more flexible, not to mention in some cases cheaper and you can store more data. Plus laptops/netbooks will last longer and at the rate these tablets are being pushed out, this model will be obsolete in a year and a good laptop should last you for 3-5 years.

You may look "cool" with tablet but you will be more productive with a laptop

Yeah, the obsolescence is/was my main holdup. Time to browse the laptop guide. Thanks!

 

[supertech]

I have this unit and at that price range you can't beat it and I was even able to upgrade to Android 3.1 over the air. The battery life is very disappointing through and doesn't live up to what it advertises or my iPad.

 

[aj_the_kidd]

Morgawr said:
I have one, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly where it 'fits'. It certainly is a cool device, but it lacks a lot from the productivity point of view. I guess if all you need it for is to type papers, then it would be just fine. However, if you need any more advanced apps (say a simple programming language like python) it doesn't exist. So all considered, a netbook or ultra thin is probably the better choice for things school related...

It really is just a giant smartphone at this point with a keyboard.

I've got the early Galaxy tab 7" and bought the keyboard dock as well and writing up emails is fine but writing up and formating documents isn't worth it in my opinion. Nothing beats a mouse and keyboard combo for document formatting. Which is why the tab has become a primarily a browser and gps device.

gwailo247 said:
Yeah, the obsolescence is/was my main holdup. Time to browse the laptop guide. Thanks!

No worries

 

[Guest]

The ASUS transformer is by far the best tablet so pleased with mine and has come down in price as well - http://amzn.to/jLbPxq

 

[Omnislip]

aj_the_kidd said:

Morgawr said:
I have one, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly where it 'fits'. It certainly is a cool device, but it lacks a lot from the productivity point of view. I guess if all you need it for is to type papers, then it would be just fine. However, if you need any more advanced apps (say a simple programming language like python) it doesn't exist. So all considered, a netbook or ultra thin is probably the better choice for things school related...

It really is just a giant smartphone at this point with a keyboard.

I've got the early Galaxy tab 7" and bought the keyboard dock as well and writing up emails is fine but writing up and formating documents isn't worth it in my opinion. Nothing beats a mouse and keyboard combo for document formatting. Which is why the tab has become a primarily a browser and gps device.

gwailo247 said:
Yeah, the obsolescence is/was my main holdup. Time to browse the laptop guide. Thanks!

No worries

The difference between 7" and 10" is much more significant than I think you imagine. Furthermore, the availability of a trackpad is significant, and the possibility of a USB mouse. You shouldn't recommend people away from a very good solution to their needs because you have had a bad experience with a completely different product.

 

[Guest]

Omnislip, op requested recommendations; as such, they were provided based on the posters' opinions.

I would second, or even third, those suggesting a laptop over a tablet.