14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, we wrote about our meeting with NVIDIA, and the company's thoughts about the Tegra 4 SoC (system-on-chip), how the processor wasn't really delayed and how it would start to show up in the news more often.
One of the reasons is simple: tablets featuring the Tegra 4 SoC are finally going to go up for sale, from HP, Toshiba and ASUS.
What we have here is the ASUS device, though it's actually a sort of upgrade based on a previously existing device line.
Called Transformer Pad TF701T, the newcomer is a 10.1-inch model equipped with an IPS screen whose native resolution is of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
That puts it at 263 x 180.8 x 8.9 mm, or 10.35 x 7.11 x 0.35 inches, and a weight of 585 grams / 1.28 pounds.
The Tegra 4 SoC, with its quad-core Cortex A16 1.9 GHz processor and 72-core GeForce GPU, is backed by 2 GB of RAM included on the same chipset. The full name of the chip is Tegra 4 T40X.
The hardware list continues with a 1080p video capture main camera (5 MP camera with F/2.4 aperture), a 720p front-facing webcam (1.2 MP), an HDMI output with UHD video out (ultra high-definition), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with Miracast, a microSDXC card slot, and Bluetooth 3.0.
Meanwhile, the keyboard dock (263 x 180.8 x 7 mm / 10.35 x 7.11 x 0.27 inches, 570g / 1.25 pounds) adds USB 3.0 connectivity, full-size SDXC card reader and a secondary battery.
That said, since the tablet's own 31Wh battery can last for 13 hours on its own, the extra 4 hours from the dock lead to a total of 17 hours. That's significant by any standard.
Finally, ASUS tossed in a high-quality ASUS SonicMaster audio technology-enabled speaker and the TransCover case, with a durable synthetic screen cover and a hard shell rear. It can fold in ways that lets the tablet lean at two different angles, for typing and watching videos.