Can't find a Transformer Prime

[heymrdj]

Work just ok'd a Transformer Prime and I can't find a single one in the town of Fort Wayne. No luck at walmart, best buy, office depot, staples, HHgreg, or ABC Warehouse. Amazon.com says 3-4 weeks!?! to ship one. There's a few vendors available now, but they are charging a starting price of 599$ for it!?! WTF is going on with this tablet? I was hoping to get that instant satisfaction on company dime .

Thread Highlights Update 03/30/2012
Everyone isn't shipping Prime's, thought they were being phased out.
Found out that ASUS stopped shipments of the Prime
ASUS said that the Prime *will not* be stopped for the tf300 and tf700, the prime will coexist with them.
Gary, ASUS rep on XDA, claims announcement coming soon for prime
Update drops 29/30 that helps some of the wireless issues but mainly fixes some of the software glitching in the ICS update
It is repeated that the big announcement *is not* the update to ICS, but something else coming down the line
03/29 Gary says that an announcement is coming soon for the primes
Rumor post on XDA supposedly from ASUS support contains information that suggests the announcement is indeed a Recall Plan for the Transformer Prime with new parts to fix the wireless issue
Rumor of a pause in manufacturing to make new parts for the prime bolstered by the fact that at the same time Amazon and some other online vendors are showing In Stock. A call to Best Buy says new Primes are about 1-2 weeks out.

 

[Kenmitch]

Work just ok'd a Transformer Prime and I can't find a single one in the town of Fort Wayne. No luck at walmart, best buy, office depot, staples, HHgreg, or ABC Warehouse. Amazon.com says 3-4 weeks!?! to ship one. There's a few vendors available now, but they are charging a starting price of 599$ for it!?! WTF is going on with this tablet? I was hoping to get that instant satisfaction on company dime .

The 3 Staples around me show low stock clearance item....Strange

Here ya go. If it's what you want order it right now!

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...r-Prime-TF201/

 

[zerogear]

They're ramping down production maybe? In preparation for Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700?

 

[Bateluer]

Work just ok'd a Transformer Prime and I can't find a single one in the town of Fort Wayne. No luck at walmart, best buy, office depot, staples, HHgreg, or ABC Warehouse. Amazon.com says 3-4 weeks!?! to ship one. There's a few vendors available now, but they are charging a starting price of 599$ for it!?! WTF is going on with this tablet? I was hoping to get that instant satisfaction on company dime .

Well, basically, its afflicted with a design defect, and Asus already has a road map to replace it with the TF300s and TF700s in the summer. Supplies are going to be short until then, then they dry up completely after the TF700 hits the market. TF201 will go EOL then, despite what Asus is saying now.

 

[heymrdj]

The 3 Staples around me show low stock clearance item....Strange

Here ya go. If it's what you want order it right now!

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...r-Prime-TF201/

I haven't seen how long office depot's ship time is. I don't imagine it could be faster than my prime account at amazon. Still makes me wonder why the backup. You say it shows as clearance?

I know the TF700 Infinity is coming, but it will be a premimum tablet supposedly near the 800-900$ mark. Way more money than the company is willing to pay for the uses it will see. And the tf300 is plastic, and has half the storage at 100$ less.

 

[Bateluer]

I haven't seen how long office depot's ship time is. I don't imagine it could be faster than my prime account at amazon. Still makes me wonder why the backup. You say it shows as clearance?

I know the TF700 Infinity is coming, but it will be a premimum tablet supposedly near the 800-900$ mark. Way more money than the company is willing to pay for the uses it will see. And the tf300 is plastic, and has half the storage at 100$ less.

The TF700 will not, repeat NOT be 800-900 dollars for the entry model. Asus isn't that stupid and they have a reputation of pricing their products competitively. The TF700 will be 599, at most, for its lowest cost model.

With Office Depot, you could probably buy it and arrange store pick up?

 

[heymrdj]

The TF700 will not, repeat NOT be 800-900 dollars for the entry model. Asus isn't that stupid and they have a reputation of pricing their products competitively. The TF700 will be 599, at most, for its lowest cost model.

With Office Depot, you could probably buy it and arrange store pick up?

I find even 599 to be premium for a tablet. I would have gotten an IPAD 3 myself if the 32GB model was 499. 599 is just above what I consider useful. 32GB and 499 is where it's at for me. 16GB for no more than 399.

 

[Kenmitch]

I haven't seen how long office depot's ship time is. I don't imagine it could be faster than my prime account at amazon. Still makes me wonder why the backup. You say it shows as clearance?

I know the TF700 Infinity is coming, but it will be a premimum tablet supposedly near the 800-900$ mark. Way more money than the company is willing to pay for the uses it will see. And the tf300 is plastic, and has half the storage at 100$ less.

Yep look for yourself at Staples my zipcode is 92557

Officedepot shipping I'd think would beat the estimated 3-4wks you stated from Amazon.

Tried adding to cart to see what the estimated delivery date was but it doesn't show anything....Guess a person could call and ask them.

 

[Ns1]

Re^^

That would explain why it's no longer on the main staples site.

 

[heymrdj]

Called staples for 4 different cities and one guy explanined that it is clearance though he doesn't know why because they sell alot of them.

Seems with that 201 ramping down there's no good value tablets out right now. I guess they have increased even more so as a luxury item. Work might be telling me I'm not getting one after all

 

[Ns1]

Did you by chance get a clearance price?

 

[heymrdj]

Nah I asked them about lowering the price on a display model at staples and they told me no its still retail. That's. BS selling a used tablet for new.

 

[destrekor]

Nah I asked them about lowering the price on a display model at staples and they told me no its still retail. That's. BS selling a used tablet for new.

Seems standard practice, apparently.
At Office Max, a chair I wanted (in specific color) was out of stock, the other color was in stock, both had display models in the chair area.
I asked if I could get the display model for a discount, they said no. They came back and, after talking with a manager, said I could get without the assembly fee. Gee, thanks but no.

 

[Ravynmagi]

ASUS had the same problem with the first Transformer. It took months to find this in retail stores.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I got mine from Office Depot.com. OD seems to be the third biggest seller in priority (behind BB and Amazon).

I love mine despite its few flaws!!!!

 

[heymrdj]

Guess I should have googled. Went to BB (yeah i know) and talked to a guy I know in there. Asus apparently stopped all sales of the Prime a month ago due to the issues. Supposedly there will be an announcement in a few weeks as to where it's going from here. Many techs are hoping for a revised 201 supposedly in the works. Other's think it'll go straight to the 300 which is also rumored to be out shortly.

Downfall of the 300 is less quality, and less storage space in a slightly cheaper package. If price rumors are true, this will make for a tremendous 200$ price parity between the 300 and the 700, missing the sweet spot of tablets, the 499 point. It'll be a 399 tablet that looks like it will be built like a toy (ala kindle) and a 599+ tablet that will be fairly decent but more than the average tablet sale price. Especially* for an Android.

 

[heymrdj]

Did some research and according to a CNET interview, ASUS says the 700/300's will NOT replace the 201, but will instead run along side so that ASUS as tablets at 399, 499, 599, and 699 (300, 201, 700, 700 in order). Backs up what the associate told me, the fact that they are supposed to be getting revised 201's in the next few weeks. Trying to get Amazon to tell me their side of the deal.

 

[zerogear]

The flaw is what? Aluminum back panel interferes with GPS and Wifi signal?

 

[heymrdj]

The flaw is what? Aluminum back panel interferes with GPS and Wifi signal?

No official answer. As of 3/12 or so, ASUS started RMA's with new parts that supposedly took an entire month to get down the chain (RMA's were taken in but held for a month citing a wait for parts all around the world). http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1443868&page=110

Seems to be a new mainboard. This could mean a mainboard and back panel and wireless antenna assembly all in one depending on integration, I don't know enough to know for sure. Some modding has given an idea that a simple plastic strip between the antenna and body solves the issue? Hey don't we remember another high profile company with this issue? :whiste:

PS: That's the thread with the ASUS rep saying there's supposed to be news in two weeks on the TF201. Of course it is the 27th now, still no news, but all the rest of the news has been late, that's not really surprising.


PSS: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1537260 Gary Ken (ASUS rep) thread. He updated yesterday stating new firmware with "fixes galore" will be available the 30th. Can not decipher if this is the "major" news for the tf201 or not. He does go on to day that some sites will be staffed with ASUS support for the tf201 issues to continue resolving the problem.

Overall kinda early to tell, it seems like ASUS wants to make it right, but in other ways it seems not. Either way I think I'll keep my order open with Amazon and we'll see how it goes from here eh?

 

[sjwaste]

I got mine from Office Depot.com. OD seems to be the third biggest seller in priority (behind BB and Amazon).

I love mine despite its few flaws!!!!

How bad is the wifi issue? I kind of want an ICS tablet. I trust your opinion, is there better product for a similar price running ICS?

 

[heymrdj]

As of right now, out of stock champagne is on order for 498$. 32GB. Wait and see what pans out over the next few days. Amazon support tells me they have been receiving no new stock from ASUS since about Feb. 25th. Asus does say however that new stock of the tf201's IS coming. Everything seems to support a mid-life change in manufacturing. I wanted champagne because it looks a little classier. On top of that it's OOS just about everywhere so I'm hoping if it is a new manufacturing run I'll be getting one.

 

[BabaBooey]

I will sell you mine......

 

[poofyhairguy]

How bad is the wifi issue? I kind of want an ICS tablet. I trust your opinion, is there better product for a similar price running ICS?

It is the best ICS tablet. Best screen, smoothest interface and I say that after playing with a Xoom with ICS. The GPU helps with the GUI, and it can game.

The real problem is a weak GPS (usable with wifi) and limited wifi range (honestly worse than any device I have). On average 2/3rd the range of my SGS2 and the speeds go to crap according to speedtest if the back is pointed towards the router.

I live with the flaws (I bought a new router for it for example) because it is so much better than any Android tablet I have seen, especially at its real speed of 1.6ghz.

 

[heymrdj]

It is the best ICS tablet. Best screen, smoothest interface and I say that after playing with a Xoom with ICS. The GPU helps with the GUI, and it can game.

The real problem is a weak GPS (usable with wifi) and limited wifi range (honestly worse than any device I have). On average 2/3rd the range of my SGS2 and the speeds go to crap according to speedtest if the back is pointed towards the router.

I live with the flaws (I bought a new router for it for example) because it is so much better than any Android tablet I have seen, especially at its real speed of 1.6ghz.

This is my experience after watching from afar for the last couple of months. I reeally want one of these bad boys, and I really hope ASUS is doing right with it by remaking it with new innards.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The innards aren't the issue. Its that aluminum back. Tear downs show replacing the back means redoing the device almost. Also returned RMA units perform the same as mine- Asus's standard for "working" is low.

I have had mine two months which is eons in mobile devices. I really needed a new router anyway so I didn't mind buying one that helped the Prime.

At this point I would maybe wait for the upcoming plastic backed model, even though it lacks the awesome Super IPS, if I had a large place and I didn't want repeaters everywhere.