ASUS Transformer 3 Pro

Last year I bought a new convertible 2-in-1 laptop, the ASUS Transformer 3 Pro T303UA to replace an old laptop form long ago. I chose this particular make and model because I was wanting something affordable, small, portable, with a stylus pen for note-taking. The Microsoft Surface Pro was the best-marketed style of laptop but I felt it was too expensive (keyboard extra, stylus extra). The same goes for the iPad Pro which doesn't offer a full OS experience (iOS not macOS).

After using my device for a few months now, which is the i5, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD variant, here are my pros/cons.

Pros:

• Good price.
• Great connectivity:
• USB 3 port.
• USB C 3.1 thunderbolt port (charges via this port too).
• HDMI out.
• SD card reader.
• Included keyboard and stylus.
• Stylus works great.
• Good screen resolution and brightness (though average with glare due to it being glossy).
• Fast to boot and launch applications.
• Great for reading technical books, watching media, browsing, etc.
• Not too heavy for what it is.
• Linux (Ubuntu) works well.
• 4 GB RAM is good enough for basically all tasks including programming through an IDE.
• Easy infra-red camera facial login.
• Good web cam position, good enough for web chats.
• Rear camera. Although poor, at least you have one.
• Decent stereo speakers.
• Good kickstand.
• Audio jack (I know, right?)

Cons:

• Poor battery life (2-4 hours of use in battery-saver mode).
• The metal back and sides scratch ridiculously easily.
• Since it's not popular, basically no silicone or rubber cases are available.
• The touch-pad isn't good (I don't think any are).
• Limited to SATA SSD speeds (not NVMe).
• Zero options to upgrade (i.e. impossible to upgrade RAM, battery).

Of the cons, the only thing that really bothers me is the poor battery life. That means if I'm being mobile say in a coffee shop, I really need to plug-in even if I'm just browsing. Otherwise if I forget, then my battery will go right down. It's a hassle more than anything, and a fact of life that you just need to accept - this isn't an Apple product with fantastic battery performance.

I would love to have the functionality to add more RAM in, which I can't because it's soldered, or perhaps swap-out for a higher-capacity battery, but those options are impossible. The metal backing being easy to scratch isn't helpful at all, but I honestly don't care what the back looks like since I'm looking at the screen when using it which is what the device is all about.

All-in-all I'm very happy with the device I went for. I don't regret going for the 4 GB RAM version over the 8 GB which was £400 more - it's simply not worthwhile for a +80% cost for an almost 0 gain in performance for most tasks.

There is a newer refresh of this laptop, the Transformer Pro 3 T304UA which is the 2017 model. It's the same thing as what I bought, except it's a year newer with the next generation Intel processor inside instead...and no more thunderbolt on the USB C, which also means now you have a separate charger...and the screen is smaller...and less bright...and lower-resolution...and they took out the infra-red camera sensor replace it with a fingerprint sensor. It feels like it's 1 step forward, and 2 steps back.

For me, the perfect 2-in-1 laptop would be something like my Transformer Proi 3 T303UA, which has decent connectivity (USB C), screen, etc, but with upgradeable RAM, up upgradeable SSD, and have great battery life. That would be fantastic. Unfortunately, the way the market is, no convertible laptop lets you upgrade the RAM (or anything at all), and virtually no regular laptop for that matter. This is why all these mobile computers will either become obsolete in the near future, or are impossible to fix if a component fails, which is in-line with the whole planned obsolescence all tech companies are wanting to force you to upgrade every 12-24 months. And that's why I don't think it's wise splashing a lot of money on one of these things, you're always going to have to repeat the process.

It doesn't help that market leaders like Microsoft can't even put a USB C port on their Surface Pro because they're so short-sighted, and that their cheapest option is still too expensive. Or that Apple doesn't make a proper 2-in-1 like this to increase proper competition.