Asus Transformer Prime with Tegra 3 to launch soon

It might sound like something out of a Transformers movie, but Asus are launching their new ‘Transformer Prime' mobile machine. The interesting news is that it has the next generation Nvidia Tegra 3 processor inside. This is the first tablet to feature Nvidia's hot quad core ‘system on a chip' (SoC). Claims are that this has three times the performance of the current Tegra 2 processor but it amazingly consumes around 60 percent less power.

The Asus Transformer Prime has a 10.1 inch screen and is only 0.33 inches deep. The battery life is the stand out topic of discussion as Asus claim it will last for a whopping 18 hours when you combine it with the mobile dock system and keyboard. Asus are also supplying a keyboard with the product. Battery life is 6 hours less without the mobile dock, but 12 hours is still impressive. Asus have also built in a new 8MP camera and an LED flash system which can handle 1080p recording in poor light conditions.

Asus claim the battery last long enough to last “a trans-ocean flight, all-night game session, viewing several movies on a long road trip, or even video recording, editing, and then playing back your child's school play.”

Nvidia look to be very seriously targeting this market with the first quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor. Gaming performance is apparently breaking new ground.

The Transformer Prime is said to launch before the end of the year, and will be powered by Google's 3.2 Honeycomb Android operating system.

No UK prices have been announced yet, but the states has some ballpark figures already. $499 for the 32gb version and a 64gb model priced at $599. The docking accessory will add $149 to the overall cost. This means that the full experience will cost between $650 and $750. We would expect this to translate to UK prices around £550 to £650.

Kitguru says: One of the sexiest new tablet computers planned this year, even if it is quite expensive.

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