ASUS Transformer Prime will go on sale January 18th, comes bundled with keyboard starting at $799

Posted by Buzz Moody on January 12th, 2012 6:10 PM | 35 Comments

According to Allie Coyne over at PC & Tech Authority, the exact date for the ASUS Transformer Prime launch is January 18th which is next Wednesday. Although ASUS haven’t yet disclosed where you’ll be able to purchase a Transformer Prime from, they did disclose the price you’ll have to pay for one. Starting with the 32GB model (unsure if Wi-Fi only) you’ll have to pay $799 and for 64GB model you’ll be forking out a whopping $899. These prices include the keyboard docking station as you won’t be able to buy a Transformer Prime on its lonesome for a few month according to ASUS.

The Transformer Prime will be the first Android device (and tablet) to launch here in Australia with Tegra’s new quad-core CPU. Other specs include the 10.1-inch 1280×800 IPS display, 1GB RAM, MicroSD slot, 8MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera. There will be an update to Android 4.0 available for the device as soon as it’s launched — so don’t worry about this beast not getting the latest version of Android.

We’ll let you know of the exact retailers selling the device once we get the word from ASUS.

Source(s): PC & Tech Authority

3.2

4.0

Asus

Honeycomb

Ace

It’s selling now from hb hifi with limited stock

http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody

*pulls off glasses*

http://twitter.com/xavierdylan Dylan Xavier

Yes. forget about the 18. its already available.
Anonymous

Are you sure it’s the prime? and not just a transformer?
d00bius

definitely the Prime.
JB HiFi has had them in stock for a few days now… $792 for the 32Gb version..
and yes, it updates to ICS out of the box.
http://twitter.com/xavierdylan Dylan Xavier

Yes. i held it in my hands.
Gregmond

Its the Prime, but not advertised. You have to ring em or go there, and those they had are probably gone. I got the last in my local store as they only had 4.

Greg

hmmm can’t see it anymore, only the slider.

Greg

I’ve got it!!!!!!!!!
Some JBHiFi stores already have it in stock & for sale.
And I’ve already upgraded it to ICS 4.0.3

Brian

I believe the ICS update for the Prime has already been released?

http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody

Yes, but the wording seems to suggest it comes with 3.2 out-of-the-box but will update to 4.0 once you boot it up.

Brian

Right you are, Sir.

http://www.facebook.com/daniel.sweatman Daniel Sweatman

At that price will possibly hold off people till the next round of tegra devices.
http://twitter.com/aaronmcauley Aaron McAuley

I passed over the first transformer for a Galaxy Tab 10.1. I thought “I don’t really need a keyboard dock…”, but this is just too damn awesome. I’m holding off for the 1080p version shown at CES, then the Galaxy Tab gets set aside.
Sonny

Must be cheaper to import? B&h ship here if I’m not mistaken, but anyone know cheaper?

Brian

B&H sell it for $499 for just the tablet, plus around $50 shipping … maybe even a little more in shipping. Add the dock for another $150 and a bit more shipping, and yeah it’s cheaper. I think they have major stock issues though. I fail to see how we’ll get stock in Australia if B&H still don’t have stock available on demand. I guess we’ll see next week!

http://blog.conceptualbrains.com/ Android

Asus has changed the tablets market completely by launching the transformers in the market. A nice hybrid of tab and netbook. Most awaited product…
Hikari0307

and that price point has passed the line of being too expensive.
I guess I’ll have to buy it here in Malaysia before going back to Australia. I heard Asus is offering a worldwide international warranty for it so it should be okay buying it. My only concern is the wifi,( I don’t care about gps) since it’s a wifi only device so no 3G for now. People seem to have mixed reviews on how the wifi performs, I can conclude it’s below average but seems like it’s a lucky draw on how bad below average is between really bad and just a bit below average.
ASUSFAIL

Super awesome quad core tablet in…champagne gold? LOL NO THANKS
Blam

I’m not going to bother with this Prime model. Asus have just announced at CES 2012 an updated Prime -Asus Transformer Prime TF700T

http://blogs.computerworld.com/19544/asus_transformer_prime_tf700t

This new model has:

- Full HD Screen
- 2 Megapixel Front Facing Camera, and
- A new back panel design. Asus says the TF700T’s back panel will
“enhance” its Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS performance compared to the
original Transformer Prime model. Some users have complained about
issues in those areas, presumably due to the all-aluminum casing used on
the original Prime tablet.

Asus is expecting to release this new model in the next quarter of this year.

I reckon Asus Australia, should hold off the release for now until the TF700T model is release.
James

The Good Guys are advertising it but out of stock!!
NOZ

Its now in stock with jbhifi as of today. Looks very very nice. 792 for 32gb and 893 for 64gb. No wifi. Have picture but no where to upload. They also have toshiba thrive 7 inch but pales in comparison to galaxy tab 7.7 inch.

Lug668

I saw that too in JBHiFi. See attached.
Nalinbhanot

then why is it not on the site

Hikari0307

Will you guys be reviewing the prime?
Joshua boyde

I love the idea of the Prime, but I personally wont be buying one, nor similar sized tablets.
I have tried my best to live with a Asus Transformer… but I ended up giving it away as a “present”.Instead, I chose a HTC Flyer 16GB wifi 7 inch tablet with digital stylus as my daily driver; given that it fits easily into my pants / shorts pocket and hence is accessible everywhere… anyone for private web surfing / emails in the toilet cubical at work =)I see the black-mark against the Asus Transformer Prime type of products is its cost point when compared to ultra-books. From JB HIFI you can buy a Acer S3 i3 ultra-book for under $900, the Asus Transformer Prime at $800 – $900 is too expensive for a market that is blurring into other computing market segments. If the price of the Prime was a few hundred cheaper than it would rock.Also, I would love an Android tablet to be able to WYSIWYG edit word docs, but alas it can’t so I am left using ezPDF Reader to markup the PDF copies of my work DOCs. Until, someone produces an application suite that can WYSIWYG edit Microsoft Office documents then the Asus Transformer and Slide tablet is not a serious work editor and hence an ultra-book will always best this type of tablet… at this price point.Now, you may counter with, but the Prime has 3G and the ultra-book does not.

Well, my counter to your counter is … “why are you buying 3g devices in the first place”. Most probably you already have a phone with a data plan included. Would it not be better bang-for-buck to hot-spot share your phone’s data with your wifi devices and thereby maximize the use of a single data plan rather than partly using up individual data plans. Also, for many people their phone is with them 24 – 7, whatever the situation or circumstances. Hence the phone is the perfect G3 access point for your wifi tablet devices.

In conclusion, IMHO the Asus Transformer Prime is a great idea and pulls the heart strings as an impulse buy, but when considered on a logical analysis of the situations and circumstances … other solutions are more cost effective.Cheers

d00bius

…..the Prime doesn’t have 3G.

It also comes bundled with Polaris Office, which is as close as you can get to MS Office for Android. It’s not perfect, but it’s about as good as you’ll probably get unless Office is actually ever ported to Android…

Hikari0307

I’m on holidays in Malaysia right now and the prime just hit stores here yesterday. Bought the 32gb version + dock for RM2199 (about AUD680). The device is brilliant and so far it’s been great. Surprisingly it came with ICS out of the box instead of honeycomb which is written on the box and what the sales guy told me. I wanted to try honeycomb first for a day or so before upgrading to ICS to see if there was much boost in performance ahaha. It’s been great so far and the wifi doesn’t seem to perform as poorly as some people describe it.
I used this handy app https://market.android.com/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&feature=search_result to test the how strong or weak the wifi signals are.
Held the prime in one hand and my galaxy SII in my other hand and walked around my family’s house and I got some similar results between the two and considering this house is way bigger than my apartment in Aussie, I guess it’s gonna serve me well as a wifi only device.

Russia D

Congratulations, Do you still recall Where you bought it ?

Russia D

I am thinking of buying one from KL/
Hikari0307

Bought it in Low Yat Plaza in KL, it’s right in front of Berjaya Times Square
http://plazalowyat.com/
It’s kinda the place to go for electronics in KL. Majority of stuff there are electronic related each floor with different stuff like cameras,computers, mobile devices etc.
There was a few shops selling it, they have it on display and an ASUS booth at the center court has it on display as well.
Though I heard stocks ran out though they say they will have more stocks after the Chinese New Year celebrations (which is right now and for the duration of the week) which translates to new stock will be in February.

Chris

Costco had the old one for $100 or more less than anyone else before the discounts started.
http://twitter.com/gemini67 dario67

Just read that Asus will not be releasing a 3G prime, what a joke !!! They have just shot themselves in the foot. Absolutely stupid decision

Keeno_7

I imagine that most people prefer to tether the device to their phone to use the data allowance on that, rather than needing a second account. I guess that this would be the main reasoning behind that decision.
Geo

u have ur phone for 3g dont u??

Tip Us

Galaxy S III - Timeline

Recent Comments

Most Commented Stories