Transformer 2 News - Anything?

[Tristicus]

So after not being able to get the $100 off on my Thrive, I returned it. I was looking to get the Thinkpad tablet - you know, digitizer pen, Thinkpad keyboard dock, USB host, micro SD slot, gorilla glass, IPS panel, Netflix ready, HDMI on board, etc. Then I heard a little bit more about the Transfromer 2 - it is supposed to be rocking Ice Cream Sandwich and a Kal-El processor. However, none of this is confirmed, neither is the release date. Lots are saying October. I could wait that long...but is there any official news? The Thinkpad is really impressive so far, but with the promise of possibly a quad core machine right around the corner....

 

[gorcorps]

What's the price on each? I would assume the thinkpad is up there, but the Transformer 2 might be 100 less or more.

 

[Tristicus]

What's the price on each? I would assume the thinkpad is up there, but the Transformer 2 might be 100 less or more.

$479 for 16gb Thinkpad - $509 with pen
$579 for 32gb w/ Pen
64gb unannounced - probably $679

 

[Genx87]

All we have is rumors right now. But it sounds like Kal-El quad core Tegra 3. Priced at 399 and 499 like the current transformer.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The main problem is that the next generation of tablets will be MORE THAN twice as fast. Nvidia says the next GPU is equal to 5x Tegra 2 GPUs, and just thanks to quad core the CPU will be twice as fast.

The issue is that you might not see such tablets on the shelf before 2012.

 

[Tristicus]

The main problem is that the next generation of tablets will be MORE THAN twice as fast. Nvidia says the next GPU is equal to 5x Tegra 2 GPUs, and just thanks to quad core the CPU will be twice as fast.

The issue is that you might not see such tablets on the shelf before 2012.

From other companies, I believe it. But Asus, I'm not so sure. They are ahead of the game in tablets it seems, and the slider is releasing soon. Wouldn't make sense to release a Kal-el tablet the same year as Tegra, but then again..

 

[poofyhairguy]

So far the Transformer 1 is the one big success story about Android tablets (well that and the Nook Color). If I were Asus I wouldn't be in a rush to obsolete it so quickly. I expect a Transformer 2 March or April next year.

Remember, Tegra 2 was "available" six months before any products had one in it. I expect the same lag next time- quad-core tablets in Winter 2012.

 

[Tristicus]

Eh, maybe I'll just sell the Thinkpad before the Kal-El tablets launch.

 

[MagickMan]

poofy's right, no "next big thing" for around 9 months, IMO. They're going to wait for the next full product from Apple and see how their design compares before sticking their necks out.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

poofy's right, no "next big thing" for around 9 months, IMO. They're going to wait for the next full product from Apple and see how their design compares before sticking their necks out.

Pretty much, its going to be their ace in the hole.

 

[Bateluer]

So far the Transformer 1 is the one big success story about Android tablets (well that and the Nook Color). If I were Asus I wouldn't be in a rush to obsolete it so quickly. I expect a Transformer 2 March or April next year.

Remember, Tegra 2 was "available" six months before any products had one in it. I expect the same lag next time- quad-core tablets in Winter 2012.

Releasing a new 400-500 dollar tablet so soon after their first effort wouldn't be a good move for them. I agree with you, the earliest we'll see a Transformer 2/Kal-El tablet is going to be March-April 2012.

Right now, watch who supports their tablets and products, see which you'll want to give your money to next year.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Remember, Tegra 2 was "available" six months before any products had one in it. I expect the same lag next time- quad-core tablets in Winter 2012.

Two very contradictory statements you made there. Tegra 3 was sampling in March(at the latest, we had public confirmation that it was already being sampled at that point), six months later would be September of 2011. Which do you think it will be? Six month lead time or Q4 '12?

They're going to wait for the next full product from Apple and see how their design compares before sticking their necks out.

Apple has lost 33% of the tablet marketshare in the last year. The tablet market overall was up 331%(which means the iPad absolute sales are up enormously). Why would anyone wait? Right now, Asus is relatively me too against all the other 10" Android tablets(don't get me wrong, if I was buying an Android right now it would be the Transformer without a doubt). If they ship a Kal-El tablet sometime in September then they have a good chance of distancing themselves as long as their competitors aren't doing the same.

To look at this from a slightly different angle, more Android tablets sold in Q2 of this year then the total tablet market last Q2 by a decent margin.

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleas...os-captures-61-percent-share-of-global-tablet

It makes an awful lot of sense for any company in this market to get out a Tegra3 part ASAP(the first will have a big edge, everyone else will need to catch up).

 

[s44]

So far the Transformer 1 is the one big success story about Android tablets (well that and the Nook Color). If I were Asus I wouldn't be in a rush to obsolete it so quickly. I expect a Transformer 2 March or April next year.

That's the Apple strategy, not Android.

If Asus doesn't go to market with Kal-El right off the bat, somebody else will.

 

[Genx87]

So far the Transformer 1 is the one big success story about Android tablets (well that and the Nook Color). If I were Asus I wouldn't be in a rush to obsolete it so quickly. I expect a Transformer 2 March or April next year.

Remember, Tegra 2 was "available" six months before any products had one in it. I expect the same lag next time- quad-core tablets in Winter 2012.

Yeah but to be fair, at least on the tablet side. They were waiting on Honeycomb from Google. Hardware was ready, but no OS.

 

[poofyhairguy]

ASUS' Chairman Jonney Shih recently confirmed to Forbes that an updated Transformer is on its way, saying only that it'd be very "impressive," and would be available before CES

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/asus-next-gen-eee-pad-transformer-to-pack-nvidias-quad-core-ka/

2012 CES is January 10-13.

I still think Transformer 1 through Christmas, then as soon as the masses clean out inventory we see Transformer 2.

That's the Apple strategy, not Android.

If Asus doesn't go to market with Kal-El right off the bat, somebody else will.

The tablet market is not like the phone market, consumers buy the products directly with no subsidies. In fact I would argue that the late cycle, high margin tablet sales that Apple has used to gain insane profits is part of what is drawing so many companies to make tablets. Especially a product like the Transformer that was low margin (compared to say the Xoom) to begin with, they need a Christmas cycle to take advantage of current production savings.

And I fully expect a Kal-El tablet off the bat, but I expect the very first ones to be like the first Tegra 2 tablets, The Gtab and the Streak, crappy rushed-to-market products just to take advantage of that advantage for the holiday season. The first GTAB was in November, I expect some crappy Kal-El around then.

I still don't think we will see quality Kal-El tablets (Galaxy Tab 3, Transformer 2) till 2012.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah but to be fair, at least on the tablet side. They were waiting on Honeycomb from Google. Hardware was ready, but no OS.

No, Tegra 2 was "released" Q1 of 2010, but we didn't see a major product have it until November when the GTAB was available. Viewsonic didn't wait, the poor GTAB came with Froyo....

 

[s44]

told you so (admittedly, it's Fuad, but it smells right)

 

[manko]

Some of the early stories about the Transformer 2 mention a possible Windows 8 version. What are the chances of dual-booting Ice Cream Sandwich and Windows 8?

 

[you2]

Tablets are changing very fast; rumors are that ipad 3 will have 'retina' ppi and will be available late q4. Why is this relevant? You can bet that 6 months later asus, samsung and others will feel the pressure to duplicate. What impact will ultra high resolution have ? Well its gonna take a heck of a gpu to drive that resolution and quite a few watts.... But anyways if you buy in Jan; it will be time to buy again in July ...
-
Then again maybe the rumor is false

 

[manko]

Tablets are changing very fast; rumors are that ipad 3 will have 'retina' ppi and will be available late q4. Why is this relevant? You can bet that 6 months later asus, samsung and others will feel the pressure to duplicate. What impact will ultra high resolution have ? Well its gonna take a heck of a gpu to drive that resolution and quite a few watts....

Well, the Tegra 3 Kal-El is already supposed to support tablet resolutions up to 2560x1600. I don't know what resolution Asus will use for the Transformer 2 though.

 

[Genx87]

Some of the early stories about the Transformer 2 mention a possible Windows 8 version. What are the chances of dual-booting Ice Cream Sandwich and Windows 8?

Windows 8 wont be out until Q4 of 2012. I absolutely expect an ARM based tablet running Win8. But chances are it will be using Tegra4 or the die shrunk Tegra4 which should be pretty beefy.

 

[Mopetar]

The main problem is that the next generation of tablets will be MORE THAN twice as fast. Nvidia says the next GPU is equal to 5x Tegra 2 GPUs, and just thanks to quad core the CPU will be twice as fast.

This sounds a lot like when Apple said the A5 was "up to" 9x faster. They found one synthetic benchmark where this was true and ran with it. In reality the average performance isn't nearly that good and outside of a few applications, there isn't a big impact on performance.

I don't think the Tegra 3 will be anything special. The graphics bump is nice, but outside of a games and a few other apps, most won't need any additional power. Other than that, it's still using Cortex-A9 cores on a 40 nm process, meaning that while it has more cores, individually they're not any more powerful or efficient than other SoCs right now. Once again, this won't be as much of a boost as waiting for something with Cortex-A15 cores.

 

[manko]

Windows 8 wont be out until Q4 of 2012. I absolutely expect an ARM based tablet running Win8. But chances are it will be using Tegra4 or the die shrunk Tegra4 which should be pretty beefy.

Ah, I see. Well, maybe Win 8 beta before that. I guess I'll have to make do with Kal-El until the next, next gen tablets are released.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The graphics bump is nice, but outside of a games and a few other apps, most won't need any additional power.

I personally can't wait for a tablet that can actually playback High Profile x264. The GPU bump is huge to me.

EDIT: I hope I am wrong and there is Transformer 2 this year. Hell make it the "Ice Cream Experience" device if we are dreaming.

 

[makken]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTmIf8Qseo&feature=player_embedded
DO. WANT.