Last week, Asus revealed a pair of teaser videos for a product that put an emphasis on thinness. One of the videos also tipped an amalgamation of a smartphone, tablet and a laptop, which left us utterly confused. Earlier today, Asus ended the mystery, with the Taiwanese company officially unveiling the Transformer Book T300 Chi.
While all the specifications are not known to this point, what we do know is that the T300 Chi will include a next-generation Intel processor, likely to be the company’s 5th-generation Broadwell processors, which are due out later this year. The processor will be backed up by either 2GB or 4GB of RAM. Powered by either Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro, the T300 Chi’s claim to fame is not just its wafer-thin profile, but also its 12.5-inch 2560 x 1480 display. The T300 will include an integrated Intel GPU.
Speaking of that wafer-thin profile, Asus refers to the tablet portion of the T300 as the world’s thinnest, measuring 7.5mm. Even when combined with the keyboard, the T300 Chi is still quite thin at just 14.3mm. While Asus says the detachable is still in development, Asus says it is “extremely light, I was almost questioning if I could be holding a tablet.”
Here’s another intriguing aspect to the Transformer Book T300: Asus’ product page indicates that the device will run “Windows 8.1 or other editions available.” Could that mean Windows 8.1 with Bing? This is a version of the OS that will be provided strictly for OEMs and, because it will be cheaper, will allow them to price their hardware lower.
No specific release date was given, though Asus said the T300 Chi will be out later in 2014. Given the late 2015 release window for Intel’s Broadwell processors, a late 2014 release for the T300 Chi sounds just about right. However, pricing information is not yet available.
