By: Rob Whent, Director of Entrepreneurs-In-Residence
In Chinese, Taichi means “Supreme Ultimate Force” and that’s exactly what you will feel like you have when you get your hands on this new ASUS Windows 8 Ultrabook. No questions here about whether it’s a laptop or a tablet – quite clearly it’s both, and at the same time!Most importantly (to me anyway) is that it runs the full and familiar Windows 8 operating system No “apps” needed here – lets run “programs”.
I have been a fan of ASUS for some time now and have always been impressed with their quality and innovative designs but when I first saw the Taichi I was blown away. I won’t bore you with all the techie specs and stuff – you can get those online by clicking here – but I will talk about the biggest feature of this Ultrabook – its two-sided screen! I have been using this thing for over a week now and I can’t believe how amazing it is to have the convenience of a tablet AND the usability of a laptop all in one. When the unit is closed, you have a beautiful laptop with a sheer reflective black glass surface giving the Taichi 21 a futuristic look and feel. When you open the lid, you basically have a very functional ASUS laptop with an illuminated keyboard that I find particularly useful. The flat black surface is smudge resistant and the keys have a great clicky feel to them. All the controls are on the sides of the keyboard and are easy to find and use. The high quality speaker system is designed by Bang & Olufsen and they sound incredible for such a small device.
The Taichi comes with two 11.6 inch 1080p IPS displays which means it’s great for watching movies on but the best part is the different ways you can use the screens. The first way of course is just as a laptop – one screen on. The second way – which is great for presenting – is mirror mode. With the lid open, everything you do on your laptop side of the display is mirrored on the outward-facing lid. I used this feature in two meetings last week and it was extremely useful. In Dual Screen mode, the Taichi actually acts as two computers! You can be working away on your PowerPoint presentation on one side while someone else is surfing the web on the other! My only complaint is that the inside screen is NOT touch-enabled. I found myself time and time again using the touch tablet, then opening the lid and trying to touch the inside screen. Pretty frustrating.
All in all if you are looking for a good dual purpose laptop/tablet all-in-one, the ASUS Taichi 21 may be the perfect choice for you.