Asus Transformer Pad TF300 sneak peek

The cheaper Transformer is here and we got a quick sneak peak of what it looks like this afternoon. Asus will make the official announcement on the 22nd but local reps allowed us to share with you some in-the-flesh photos of the Transformer Pad 300.

At first glance, it would be hard to figure out if this is the Transformer Pad 300 or the original Transformer Prime. Asus made sure that they built the Pad 300 in the same solid build and elegant finish.

In some areas, the Pad 300 might look better than the more expensive, all-metal construction of the Prime. The lid cover has that concentric pattern etched to it like the one on the Zenbook.

The lid cover is now made up of some polycarbonate material but still has that look and feel of aluminum. The replacement material also solves the WiFi and GPS problems that plagued the Transformer Prime.

As a result, the Transformer Pad 300 has become a bit thicker (9.9mm vs. 8.3mm on the Prime) and heavier (635g vs. 586g). It still looks slim and sexy but not when you put it beside the Transformer Prime.

And of course, the specs…

Asus Transformer Pad TF300 specs:
10.1″ IPS display @ 1280×800 pixels
NVidia Tegra 3 T30L quad-core processor @ 1.2GHz
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
8MP autofocus rear camera, LED flash
1080p video recording & playback
2MP front-facing camera
Asus SonicMaster technology
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Notice that the hardware configuration is almost the same as the Prime, spare for the display material used.

So instead of the bright and vivid Super IPS+ display used in the Prime, Asus cut some corners and used a cheaper IPS LCD panel instead. Everything else looks the same on paper.

The keyboard and the trackpad was also changed and improved a bit. The area where the keyboard sits is deeper than the area in the palm rest giving each individual keys some more space and height.

[uds-billboard name=”pad300board”]

The big question really is — how much cheaper is the Pad 300 compared to the Transformer Prime TF201? We have a figure but we just can’t share it with you yet. The only hint we can give you is that the whole tablet and dock will be priced really close with the SRP of the new iPad. Now that’s going to be an interesting comparison.