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back to article Asus ZenPad 10 Z300C: Cheap tab, dock combo you can turn up to 11

If you want a top-notch Android tablet and keyboard package, buy the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet. It's very good. But at £499 it's also very expensive. If money is tight, Asus can now offer you a superficially not dissimilar package for two hundred quid. That £300 saving suggests some major compromises, so is the Asus a bargain …

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  1. John Robson Silver badge

    Transformer...

    They had it so right - no physcial connection (and therefore no battery boost), no USB ports/SD cards in the keyboard? No touchpad?

    Oh well, another device I won't buy.

    2 0 Reply
    1. phil dude
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: Transformer...

      Spot on.

      I'm still waiting for the Lollipop update for my TF101...

      Excellent battery life (still) since the keyboard adds an extra battery.

      P.

      0 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      I will be boring again

      Warning: raging fanboi alert. Do not read on if this sort of thing gets to you.

      I will again bang on about the rather lovely Toshiba Satellite Click Mini I bought (with my own money) a few weeks ago. Does have a physical connection to the keyboard, with a battery boost. Keyboard has a full-size USB connector and SD card slot (as well as the micro-USB and micro-SD in the tablet part). Keyboard has a touchpad. Has 1920x1200 screen. 2GB RAM, 32GB storage. Atom processor.

      Downsides: Runs Windows 8 (upgrades to 10 with no trouble). This many be a dealbreaker for many here. 9" not 10" screen. Keyboard is really small. Unknown if it runs linux (haven't checked, forums report a few problems). Keyboard requires physical connection - not bluetooth.

      Available for £200 at John Lewis (where you can try the keyboard before you buy. You should do this. It's really small.), and less online.

      I like it. Been out a while, and may be due a refresh soon (the RRP dropped recently from £250).

      1 0 Reply
      1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: I will be boring again

        Well, if it runs something else but Windows it may make the Xmas stocking for one of the kids. A 200 quid for an ultra light laptop running Linux is not bad value for the money and it is likely to be much better than torturing yet another Chromebook into running Debian.

        If not, I will pass.

        1 1 Reply
      2. Bob H
        Reply Icon

        Re: I will be boring again

        I had a Toshiba notebook that transformed into a tablet many years back, it was great and I kept it alive for a long time before dust finally killed the fan and despite stripping it down regularly I had to give up.

        As you say the deal breaker is the 8.9in display, >10in or no deal.

        0 0 Reply
  2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    That perforation is gonna collect grime like nothing else!

    0 0 Reply
  3. tojb
    Unhappy

    don't buy Xperia Z4 Tablet.

    I got an xperia Z, had a horrible time getting it unlocked so as to be able to upgrade the OS. Many goats blown by this slab.

    0 3 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: don't buy Xperia Z4 Tablet.

      and yet Sony themselves give you all you need to unlock the bootloader on a Z4 tablet.

      http://developer.sonymobile.com/unlockbootloader/unlock-yourboot-loader/

      1 0 Reply
      1. Mike Moyle
        Reply Icon
        Trollface

        Re: don't buy Xperia Z4 Tablet.

        "and yet Sony themselves give you all you need to unlock the bootloader on a Z4 tablet."

        But it's proprietary and there's no source code and you can't modify it so no trugeek would ever be caught dead using it!

        1 1 Reply
  4. batfastad

    Netbooks

    Netbooks are a dead market they said! The future is touch they said!

    Erm?

    1 0 Reply
  5. Mikel

    Sorry, Asus

    Now that they have signed with Microsoft to shove their Office bloatware no matter how much I don't want it, I am no longer interested in any of their products with any set of features at any price. When I buy something it's mine.

    2 1 Reply
    1. Shades
      Reply Icon

      Re: Sorry, Asus

      You mean the stuff it took all of 30 seconds to uninstall when I bought my Asus Transformer Book TP300L? First world problems.

      3 0 Reply

  6. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. druck Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Full height cursor keys

    Well done ASUS.

    0 0 Reply

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