Asus Transformer Book T100 – Keyboard and Trackpad

The Asus Transformer Book T100 has a full keyboard, lacking only the separate numerical pad you get in a large laptop keyboard. Keys are smaller than normal, though, meaning it’ll take a while for those used to larger keyboards to get up to full speed.

We did get on well with the Asus Transformer Book T100’s keyboard, though. It’s much higher-quality than most of the Bluetooth keyboards people buy for their tablets, with a good crisp action and a decent amount of travel given its petite dimensions.

Using a non-Bluetooth keyboard also avoids the annoyance of having to keep its battery charged. The tablet part and keyboard connect with good old-fashioned metal connectors, rather than communicating over the airwaves. The keyboard’s F-keys also let you control things like volume and screen brightness, which you don’t tend to get with a third-party keyboard accessory.

The Asus Transformer Book T100’s keyboard module is not perfect, though. Its trackpad needs work. A tiny trackpad is virtually mandated by the T100’s size, but it feels
very cramped and its mouse buttons are pretty poor. Although there’s an
indicator line suggesting the buttons sit under the bottom part of the
pad, they actually extend up to near the top, with an inch-long dead
zone at the very top. The action of the button too feels a little
clunky, and the left and right button zones are not clear enough. It’s
one of the Asus Transformer Book T100’s weaker parts.

Asus Transformer Book T100 – Screen

The Asus Transformer Book T100 has a 10.1-inch screen of 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution. In the world of tablets that’s a pretty low resolution – fewer pixels than the much smaller Google Nexus 7. It results in pixel density of 155ppi, which is fairly poor.

As a result, text appears a little blocky close-up. Of course this sort of pixel density remains the norm in the world of laptops. You still have to pay a lot of money to get a high-resolution laptop, and among tablets Windows devices lag behind in resolution across the board. This is why we find it fairly easy to swallow in a £349 Windows tablet like his. 

What the Asus Transformer Book T100 offers over many low-end touchscreen laptops are good viewing angles. As it uses an IPS-type panel, you don’t get the contrast shift that a TN screen produces when approaching from the wrong angle. This screen type is still the most common in laptops although – thankfully – it has been ditched by almost every tablet at this point.

Image quality is pretty unremarkable among IPS-based peers, though. Colour accuracy is a way off, with virtually every shade looking a little gloomier than it should. This is one area where you really feel the cuts needed to get the Asus Transformer Book T100 down to £350.