ASUS TAICHI 21 Dual-Display Convertible Notebook Up For Pre-Order

[Cristian_25H]

With two weeks to go until the official launch of Windows 8, ASUS has given the green light to pre-orders of its Win8-running TAICHI 21 convertible notebook featuring two 11.6-inch touchscreens. The back-to-back displays of the TAICHI 21 have an IPS panel, support up to 10-finger touch, and offer a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

ASUS' multiple monitor mobile machine runs Windows 8 Home Premium (64-bit), is less than an inch thick, and also packs an Intel Core processor (a 1.7 GHz i5-3317U or 1.9 GHz i7-3517U), Intel GMA HD graphics, 4 GB of RAM, a 128/256 GB SSD, stereo speakers with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower technology, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, dual HD cameras, two USB 3.0 ports, and a 6-cell battery enabling up to 5 hours of operation.

The TAICHI 21-DH51 with a Core i5 CPU and a 128 GB SSD costs $1,300 while the 21-DH71 with a Core i7 chip and a 256 GB drive goes for $1,600.



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[IvI]

To small for me... If I ever buy something like this, then only with 13" screen.

 

[Kantastic]

21 inch ? A bit overkill I think ?

It's 11.6 inches, not 21. The 21 is just the naming scheme, like how their 11.6" Zenbooks are named the UX21-XXXX, and their 13.3" Zenbooks are named the UX31-XXXX.

 

[Anarchy0110]

It's 11.6 inches, not 21. The 21 is just the naming scheme, like how their 11.6" Zenbooks are named the UX21-XXXX, and their 13.3" Zenbooks are named the UX31-XXXX.

Oh lol I got it

 

[mediasorcerer]

Intel gma, wow!! only 1600$ too lol, dont get me wrong, asus make great gear. So if you can't be bothered opening the lid, which might take at least a few seconds, you've got a tablet yes? Very handy.

 

[avatar_raq]

Too expensive. Is ASUS turning into a new 'apple'?

 

[Fourstaff]

Too expensive. Is ASUS turning into a new 'apple'?

Cheapest Asus Ultrabook costs about $1000, $1300 is by no means expensive for a fancy new product. What are you comparing this to, bargain basement laptops with shoddy build quality?

 

[avatar_raq]

Cheapest Asus Ultrabook costs about $1000, ....

Exactly!

 

[Fourstaff]

Exactly!

So you expect more features for same price? That is asking too much in consumer tech ...

 

[avatar_raq]

So you expect more features for same price? That is asking too much in consumer tech ...

Moving from one generation of laptops to the next, people came to expect better performance and/or better mobility for the same price points, otherwise the price would just keep going up, which generally did not happen in the past, or there would be no point for the companies to introduce new products and no point for consumers to upgrade.

When Intel launched the ultrabook campaign to compete with apple's MacBooks, I, among others, was hoping that this meant we are going to get ultramobile laptops with specs better than those of MacBooks for comparable prices, or with comparable specs but with significantly lower prices. What is really happening with ASUS is neither this nor that. People might as well go and buy Apple's stuff. Other companies are taking better decisions in this regard IMO, Lenovo comes to mind.
Howeve, only time and sale figures will tell.

 

[Fourstaff]

Moving from one generation of laptops to the next, people came to expect better performance and/or better mobility for the same price points,

Optimising old tech != new shiny (useless) tech.

When Intel launched the ultrabook campaign to compete with apple's MacBooks, I, among others, was hoping that this meant we are going to get ultramobile laptops with specs better than those of MacBooks for comparable prices, or with comparable specs but with significantly lower prices. What is really happening with ASUS is neither this nor that. People might as well go and buy Apple's stuff. Other companies are taking better decisions in this regard IMO, Lenovo comes to mind.

If you shop around you can get ultrabooks way cheaper than what Macbooks sell for, like Samsung 5 series and plastic Acers. I have seen the 5 series 60% of the price of the MBA, doubtless you can find even cheaper. The premium you pay over normal laptops is about £150-200 here for the lower end ultrabooks, something entirely palatable to those who need to shave the extra weight and get extra battery power.

 

[Octavean]

Moving from one generation of laptops to the next, people came to expect better performance and/or better mobility for the same price points, otherwise the price would just keep going up, which generally did not happen in the past, or there would be no point for the companies to introduce new products and no point for consumers to upgrade.

When Intel launched the ultrabook campaign to compete with apple's MacBooks, I, among others, was hoping that this meant we are going to get ultramobile laptops with specs better than those of MacBooks for comparable prices, or with comparable specs but with significantly lower prices. What is really happening with ASUS is neither this nor that. People might as well go and buy Apple's stuff. Other companies are taking better decisions in this regard IMO, Lenovo comes to mind.
Howeve, only time and sale figures will tell.

The performance of a new generation of microprocessor over its predecessor may be incremental and the price may be very similar or identical. For example Ivy Bridge with respect to Sandy Bridge. There were gains made but nothing earth shattering. Every product made isn't necessarily made for the seasoned (or jaded) upgrader. A buyer may need additional systems or may be a first time buyer. Progress is still made from generation to generation and there nothing wrong with manufacturers updating their product line even if the improvement is minor. It's up to the consumer to educate themselves and decided if its a worthwhile investment for their needs.

 

[avatar_raq]

The performance of a new generation of microprocessor over its predecessor may be incremental and the price may be very similar or identical. For example Ivy Bridge with respect to Sandy Bridge. There were gains made but nothing earth shattering. Every product made isn't necessarily made for the seasoned (or jaded) upgrader. A buyer may need additional systems or may be a first time buyer. Progress is still made from generation to generation and there nothing wrong with manufacturers updating their product line even if the improvement is minor. It's up to the consumer to educate themselves and decided if its a worthwhile investment for their needs.

Agreed. Sad but true!
I blame AMD's lack of competition for the minor improvement ivy bridge offered over sandy bridge.

 

[Filiprino]

This laptop has two screens, and one of them supposedly has pen input in addition to touch input.

 

[Octavean]

Agreed. Sad but true!
I blame AMD's lack of competition for the minor improvement ivy bridge offered over sandy bridge.

Also, the industry doesn’t always go in the direction that we would like to see it go in.

For example, remember the Mhz wars between Intel and AMD fighting to get to 1GHz first? I initially wanted to continue down the road of faster single core processors but as you know the industry eventually went in the direction of more efficient multi-core processors. I bought my first multi-core processor (AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+) because it was powerful and reasonably priced despite having no specific need of more then one core at the time.

Now the direction Intel seems to be going in with Ivy Bridge is power efficiency. There likely would have been a more significant improvement with respect to the performance delta with Sandy Bridge had raw performance been the main objective. And we all know what happens when you significantly overclock Ivy Bridge, which, is step in the wrong direction for many here. Haswel and its successors will probably be no different in its objectives.

IMO its unfortunate that there is such a shift towards mobile computing. Portability is almost always more expensive in terms of performance (less performance per $) and the need for power efficiency further impedes performance.

The Asus Taichi is a nice design IMO but it comes off a little like a concept or of proof concept design rather then a retail product.

 

[tacosRcool]

Sony has a 20 inch tablet

 

[Octavean]

Sony has a 20 inch tablet

Asus has a Transformer All-In-One Android and Windows 8 hybrid 18.4-inch desktop / tablet:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/04/asus-transformer-aio/

Great concept design IMO, not necessarily practical due to the size of the tablet though. Not totally unmanageable considering there are 17” laptops,….just no 18.4” tablets,……

Asus Transformer all-in-one hands-on - YouTube

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

I wonder if you can get it minus Winblows 8

 

[aayman_farzand]

Not bad at all, slightly thinner would've been nice though.

I'm still rocking my 2011 MBA, there still hasn't been a mammoth leap in Ultrabooks, maybe next year we'll see something after Haswell ULV comes out.

 

[Fourstaff]

I wonder if you can get it minus Winblows 8

Pretty sure you can install Win7 on it no problem. Just remember Win7's dual screen is not very good at all.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Pretty sure you can install Win7 on it no problem. Just remember Win7's dual screen is not very good at all.

True

 

[Cuzza]

Two screens? can they operate simultaneously? Battleship!

 

[mediasorcerer]

Seems like a lot of money to pay for portability.
I'm glad they made it though, even if it seems a bit unappealing to myself.

 

[epicfail]

damn someone on the plane is going to see im watching porn on the other screen.....

 

[Wile E]

I want this with only a single touchscreen.