The best Dual-OS Tablets from Asus: Quick Review Roundup

Hi guys, welcome back to this site!

Compared to other tablet manufacturers – even Apple -, i think Asus is more creative and productive in developing a wide range of tablets to the consumers market under the Asus Transformer series.

Samsung may have a lot GALAXY tablets available on the market, ranging from varied different models, high-end to low-end, big screen to small screen variants.

However, what Asus brought to the tablet market is not just about pushing a lot of devices to the consumers just like what Samsung has been doing until now.

Despite not having some ground-breaking sales number just like Samsung or Apple, Asus has many innovative and unique devices around the tablet market.

One of them is Asus Padfone series.

As you all know already, Asus Padfone series is a smartphone – 4.5 to 5-inch Android smartphone - that can be transformed into a tablet by using the device called “Padfone Station” (the tablet device), similar just like inserting a removable battery into a tablet.

Besides Asus Padfone series, this company also has another innovative and unique tablet series called Asus Transformer Book series.

What makes this tablet series interesting is, Asus Transformer Book interestingly is a dual-boot tablet that can run on both Android OS and the full-fledged Windows 8 Pro OS at the same time.

So if user of this tablet wants to use Android OS, he just needs to detach the tablet from the keyboard dock and press/slide the dedicated dual-boot switch on the tablet.

It goes the same if user wants to use the Windows 8 OS. He just needs to attach the tablet to the keyboard dock and slide again the dual-boot switch.

Just like what i mentioned above, Asus Transformer Book Trio (or Trio Book?) and Asus Transformer Book Duet are both dual-boot OS tablets, running on both Android OS and Microsoft’s full-fledged Windows 8 Pro OS.

And both tablets also run in the same design concept, which a tablet that can be attached to the keyboard dock (just like other Asus Transformer tablets).

Okay then, if you’re interested to learn more about these 2 Asus Transformer Book tablets, including my take on their gaming performance, then here you go, my quick review roundup of Asus Transformer Book series. Enjoy!



Asus Transformer Trio Book is the first-gen model under this series. Just like what i already mentioned above, this tablet is pretty much like i said earlier.

To make it simple, it is a tablet, running on both Android and Windows 8 Pro OS. This tablet also ships with its own keyboard dock.

However, unlike the keyboard dock of other Asus Transformer tablets with Android platform, the keyboard dock of this tablet is much heavier.

It’s actually as heavy as the normal keyboard of laptop.

But what makes this device different than laptop is, the screen of Asus Transformer Book Trio tablet can be detached from the keyboard dock because it’s a tablet.

And then, it can be used as a normal regular Android tablet.

The dual-boot-OS capability of this tablet can be activated with a dedicated button/switch that Asus has provided on the keyboard dock.

By dragging this switch, you can either use the Android OS or Windows 8 Pro OS of this tablet, which then will pop up the options for both OSes on the screen.

So if you are in the mood to use Android OS, the overall performance of this platform will be taken care by the light-weight hardware specs crammed inside the screen/tablet – like the Intel Atom Cloverview processor, 2GB of RAM and PowerVR SGX544 MP2.

Meanwhile, if you’re in productivity mode and wanting to use the full-fledged Windows 8 Pro OS, the overall performance of this device will be handled by the real monster specs – like Intel Core i7 Haswell processor, 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics Card inside this device.

On the hardware standpoint, the “Android” mode of Asus Transformer Trio Book comes with an Intel Atom Cloverview Z2580 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM, PowerVR SGX544 MP2 – which are more than adequate to handle many heavy performing games across the market, especially given the fact that PowerVR SGX544 GPU is really great in graphical performance, as seen on iPhone 5.

On the other hand, the “Windows” mode of Asus Transformer Trio Book comes with an Intel Core i7 Haswell dual-core processor clocked at 2GHz per core, a whopping 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics Card handling all the graphics-related tasks on this tablet.

Not to mention, Asus has also provided a staggering 1TB of internal storage, as opposed to the 16/32/64GB on the “Android” tablet mode, which is expandable through microSD card for up to 64GB.

Asus Transformer Book Trio comes with an 11.6-inch display sporting the 1080x1920 pixel resolution, 5MP rear-facing camera, 1.2MP front-facing camera, a non-removable battery (19Wh) promising for up to 13 hours for the 'tablet' mode and added with 5 hours more when used as 'Windows' mode with the keyboard dock.

In terms of gaming performance, it’s really obvious that this tablet will excel on this sector really well.

With the Intel Atom processor and PowerVR SGX544 MP2 GPU, not to mention 2GB of RAM, this tablet is more than capable to handle some of the latest graphics intense games like Modern Combat 4, Need for Speed Most Wanted and even GTA San Andreas, although this GTA game probably won’t run smoothly in full highest graphics.

Meanwhile, thanks to the beast Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and a powerful Intel HD Graphics Card, there are also many older games on your PC or laptop that can be played on this tablet, of course the ones that perfectly match with its system requirements.

So don’t expect to see games like Call of Duty: Ghost or GTA V to run on this device because that’s not going to happen, especially due to the lack of RAM and less-powerful GPU.

Overall, i think it’s really obvious that Asus Transformer Trio Book tablet is a decent quality tablet.

In fact, thanks to its innovative design concept and dual-boot OS capability, plus some monster specs, i think Asus Transformer Trio Book really stands out compared to other tablets out there, even the iPad or Microsoft Surface Pro.

The most importantly is, it’s made by Asus, which has years of experience in tablet and laptop-making business. So its quality will be guaranteed top notch.


A year after releasing the first-gen Asus Transformer Book Trio, Asus struck again the tech industry by releasing the second-gen model – or successor, if you would - of this dual-boot OS tablet.

This one is called Asus Transformer Book Duet, which is the same type of tablet just like the predecessor – a regular tablet that can boot 2 different platforms (Android and Windows 8 Pro) and can be attached/detached from the keyboard dock.

However, on this second-gen model, Asus made some tweaks and upgrades on some sectors of this device.

First of all, the screen is now enlarged to 13.3-inches but with the same 1080x1920 pixel resolution. So when it comes to sharpness, then the first-gen model might be the winner here given that its screen is smaller but with the same resolution, plus higher PPI (190 vs 166).

However, having 1080p resolution on a screen below 14-inches already delivers a sharp and eye pleasing experience to most of users out there.

Just like the previous-gen model, this tablet also consists in 2 different type of hardware specs – for each Android and Windows platform.

The “Windows” mode of this tablet receives the same Intel Core i7 Haswell dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics Card.

I don’t know quite sure about the internals that handle the “Android” platform of this tablet.

But i believe they are not very different with the predecessor. I’m guessing, it comes with the same Intel Atom Cloverview processor, 2GB of RAM and PowerVR SGX544 MP2 GPU.

Unfortunately, if you’re planning to get this device near time soon, i have a bad news.

As confirmed by multiple reports, Asus decided to cancel the release of Asus Transformer Book Duet to the consumers market because both Microsoft and Google have issued the warning to any manufacturers for not using both Android and Windows OS on the same one device.

So if any manufacturer, develops one tablet or smartphone that can is running on Android and Windows OS, the device will be banned from entering the market globally.


Okay then, that’s it for now about these Asus Transformer Book tablets. I’m not quite sure if there is any other similar devices or tablets across the market just like these Asus dual-boot tablets.

But in this quick review roundup, i only put these 2 Asus devices because these 2 tablets are actually the only dual-boot tablets that run on Android and Windows 8 Pro platforms.

But i’ll probably make some new updates on this page in the near future if there is indeed any other similar devices just like Asus Transformer Book Trio and Duet.

So if you don’t want to miss that, be sure to bookmark this page for further read in the future. You’re probably gonna need it.

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