This week I had to fulfil my need for filling in ‘downtime’. Hours where I’m travelling, waiting, and just have to satisfy my urge to stay productive.
Mission: Blogging on-the-go, Off-Site Event Admin behind the scenes..
Personal Must Haves:
- Touch Screen for multiple email inbox navigation and speedy filing.
- Keyboard for responsive typing.
- Tablet like screen for ease of reading.
- Extra long battery life for those times when I can’t plug to a wall.
- Tweetdeck or multiple twitter profile client.
- Browser with full flash capability for those out of date sites…
- WiFi connectivity / 4G
- As little outlay as possible!
| iPad 3 w/ Retina Display | Microsoft Surface 10.6″ Slate | Asus TF300 Transformer |
| All the tablets boast lightweight fast applications. But upon testing out the ipad, I found the responsiveness for my speed typing just didn’t cut it for making newsworthy note-taking on the go. | The Microsoft Surface is yet to be launched but with the eye-watering price tag up there with ultrabooks I thought I’d look elsewhere than wait to part with ~$999 | The Asus Transformer was indeed my final choice, only because it came separately with the keyboard docking which doubles it’s battery life to a handsome 15hrs! |
The retina screen of the iPad whilst awesome wasn’t a ‘need’ factor for blogging. I could certainly see the use for photographers. I wanted to focus on my productivity tools for the moment, and wondered whether it was worth the wait for the anticipated Microsoft Surface. Faster processor, bigger price tag, and that’s ultimately what put me off. The Asus Transormer was the first to launch a quad-core processor in it’s android operating sytem, but this precurser was soon discontinued because the Asus Transformer Prime (Quad Core Version) would soon get hot and later cause funny bugs in reliability. Asus are re-releasing the Transformer Prime with a Quad Core later this month, but this will be launched with the Windows Operating system, and the first in a generation of touch screen ultrabooks.
No doubt the price tag will match, as we are anticipating the Microsoft surface being bracketed in the range $599~$999 depending on spec. It occured to me that for mobile blogging, and away from the desk, the small apps offered on the android require less memory and processing than their full counterparts on the Windows system. This alone saves on power consumption and overall battery span.
Finally what won me over was the keyboard docking designed by Asus. A must have for it’s feel and responsiveness with my level of writing, with the ingenius bonus of being that spare battery pack, as well as protecting the screen in a handy ultrabook format. The detaching is a little clunky and not as sleek as the magnetic Surface keypad, but it serves to protect the screen of my slate when it’s in my purse.
Total Spend: $650
- The Asus Pad $399, loaded with features and google connectivity for my pre-occupation of Doc Sharing.
- The Docking Keyboard $149, Stretching out the battery life up to 15hrs, responsive keyboard and trackpad.
- Clear WiFi Mobile Hotspot $49, plus $50 a month unlimited. The Asus doesn’t have 4G like the iPad, but with a mobile hotspot, I can maintain connectivity wherever I go, whenever I want.
