Performance
While the new Asus Transformer Pad TF300T is very much a new model, the details shared with its more premium metal TF200 Prime brother make it perform almost exactly the same.
The Nvidia Tegra 3 takes a slight cut in speed, dropping from 1.3 to 1.2GHz, a hundred megahertz drop that’s unlikely to inconvenience anyone, even the most die hard of performance nuts.  We certainly didn’t notice any major performance issue, and had no issues playing any games taking advantage of the Tegra 3 chip inside, nor did we find any noticeable slowdowns with applications, browsing the web, or switching between homescreens.
Storage options are also similar to the previous model, with the TF300T offering either 16 or 32GB versions, with both sections of the Transformer supporting upgrades to storage. The tablet section features a microSD slot for boosting capacity on the touchscreen, while the keyboard dock’s SD slot offers both a convenient way to upgrade memory quickly and on the cheap, while also allowing you to look at photos you’ve shot on most digital cameras without a problem. If your camera doesn’t take an SD card, we’re pretty sure you can plug it in over the one USB port found on the keyboard dock.
The 10.1 inch screen is close on the two models, too, with the Pad sporting a regular In-Plane Switching (IPS) LCD panel similar to what Apple’s iPad uses, albeit with a 1280×800 resolution. Unlike the Prime, however, the TF300 uses a regular IPS panel, different to the SuperIPS+ on the Prime.
The difference between these two technologies can be seen mostly in the brightness. Both seem to offer excellent colour reproduction in the viewing angles, although like most tablets, the TF300 doesn’t have the best usability in direct sunlight, probably because the screen doesn’t have the same insane brightness that helped the Prime out in this way. We spent most of our reviewing time inside with the tablet, and you probably will too.
Multimedia and connectivity is also close to bang on between the models, with the TF300T featuring an 8 megapixel rear camera (on the tablet) with reasonably low f/2.2 aperture, front-facing 1.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth with A2DP, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, and GPS. Even the keyboard dock is close to identical, with the only differences being the build material and the smaller battery inside for extending the life of the tablet.
However, there are some differences, and the plastic chassis is one of them, offering a cheaper build than the metal designs used in the Transformer range up to now. In the hands, it’s clear that Asus has made some budget cuts with the TF300T, but it is by no means awkward.
In fact, the slightly textured back of the plastic tablet section gives your fingers something to hold onto, while the smooth plastic keyboard dock feels no different to many of the Windows laptops we’ve reviewed.
Our battery performed quite well, too, managing to keep its charge over the three day period we spent constant time with the unit. We surfed the web, played some games, typed this review (seriously), and still had plenty of battery left, suggesting that if the tablet is paired with its keyboard dock, you should be able to manage between 10 and 13 hours with the dock, and around 8 to 9 without. If you use the tablet even less, expect a decent several day standby time.
So if the Transformer Pad TF300T is almost identical to its superb Transformer Prime brother, has Asus come up with an amazing budget version of that tablet?
