Hundreds of technology journalists, technology companies, technology brains and harried organisers descended upon Berlin to attend the event that was IFA 2012. This is one of the biggest consumer electronics shows around and ASUS have used the event to showcase a range of products that reveal a talent for finding that hidden niche.
I’ve already talked about the ASUS Taichi – the Windows 8 hybrid device that offers both laptop and tablet in one simple design and device – which was available for journalists to play around with at the show. It has had some interesting reviews and most people are waiting for ASUS to drop the hardware specs before they make up their minds.
Another lovely Windows 8 device from ASUS was the Vivo Tab that has a brushed metal finish and keyboard dock that’s more reminiscent of the elegant ultrabook designs than of the typical tablet hybrid. The slender device hooks neatly into the keyboard dock to create a laptop which is thin and light enough to fit into the portable tablet genre.
ASUS also revealed a lovely cluster of ultrabooks (that is my new term for a group of these) that include the Zenbook U500VZ and the UX21A Touch. The specs revealed for these ultrabooks are utterly charming and, with the IPS and multitouch displays, look set to take the competitive market up another notch.
Finally, the Transformer Book – another world first from ASUS – is the first convertible notebook which can switch between a laptop and a multitouch tablet in seconds. It’s certainly clever and definitely a speedier variant on the others in the Transformer stable.
So, the burning question is, when do these arrive on our shores and what will they cost? At the moment ASUS remains tight lipped on the answers to these queries, but it is sure to be an interesting lead into Christmas…
Mrs Mario
Mrs.Mario is a freelance journalist who loves to write about anything and everything. She accidentally fell into the cauldron of technology about eight years ago and has been slowly simmering in there ever since. She’s a geek but still has tons to learn about the wonderful world of technology. She also suffers from a rare disease known as “need to game” that demands it’s sufferers play at least one videogame a week. So far, she’s been coping with her ailment admirably.