If there’s one thing that’s bound to be prominent at CES 2011, it’s tablet devices. ASUS is getting the ball rolling with four new tablets – each of which offers something different for users. The 7-inch Eee Pad MeMO is designed for taking handwritten notes with its included stylus, the 10.1-inch Eee Pad Transformer offers the capabilities of a fully-fledged notebook thanks to an optional docking station, while the Eee Slate EP121 is a 12.1-inch tablet powered by an Intel Core i5 dual-core processor. However, it is the 10.1-inch Eee Pad Slider that really stands out with the inclusion of a unique full QWERTY sliding keyboard design.
Eee Pad MeMO
The smallest of the new ASUS offerings is the Eee Pad MeMO. With its 7-inch capacitive touch-screen with pressure sensitive input and included Media Note and Painter applications it is designed for taking handwritten notes on the go with its included stylus pen. Running on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and powered by a Qualcomm 8260 1.2 GHz processor the MeMO also sports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mini-HDMI port for outputting full 1080p video at 30 fps, onboard mic, front-and rear-facing cameras and a Micro-SD card slot.
The Eee Pad MeMO will be available in June for US$499 to $699.
Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Pad Slider
The two 10.1-inch offerings are the Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Pad Slider. Both pack IPS touch screens, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI out, 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, choice of 16 or 32 GB SSD and 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM, and both will also be running Android 3.0.
While both can be used as touchscreen-only tablets, the Eee Pad Transformer, well, transforms into a notebook form factor by way of an optional portable docking station that provides a full QWERTY keyboard, extra USB ports, a card reader, and extended battery life – up from eight hours in tablet mode to 16 hours when docked. The Eee Pad Slider, on the other hand, features an in-built QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the back of the device to provide a notebook-like form factor when needed.
The Eee Pad Transformer will be available in April ranging in price from $399 to $699, while the Eee Pad Slider will be available in May, ranging in price from $499 to $799.
Eee Slate EP121
As well as packing a larger 12.1-inch LED-backlit 1280 x 800 pixel touch screen display, the Eee Slate EP121 also packs some more grunt under the hood with an Intel Core i5 dual-core processor that gives it the power to run a wide range of standard office and multimedia applications under Windows 7 Home Premium. A capacitive Wacom digitizer stylus is included for precision input and control, while traditional desktop use is possible using the included external Bluetooth keyboard.
The Slate EP121 comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, two USB ports, mini-HDMI out and offers a choice of 32 or 64 GB SSD, which is also expandable via SDXC, up to 4 GB of DDR3 RAM. It measures 12.28 x 8.15 x 0.66 inches (31.2 x 20.7 x 1.7 cm) and weighs 2.53 lb (1.14 kg).
The ASUS Eee Slate EP121 will be available this month, ranging in price from $999 to $1,099.