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00:00Hey, how's it going guys? This is Dave2D, and this is the Asus Transformer 3 Pro.
00:13Now it looks very similar to the Surface lineup, in particular the Surface Pro 4.
00:17It's obviously been inspired by that lineup, but this has one big difference.
00:20This device has a Thunderbolt 3 port, so it allows external GPU connections.
00:24Now, as of right now, this is the only tablet that allows that.
00:27Future Surface products and future tablets might allow it, but right now, this is the only one.
00:32In terms of its build, it feels pretty similar to the Surface Pro 4.
00:36Glass up front, magnesium shell, the kickstand on the back can be adjusted to any position.
00:41It's stiff, it'll hold its position, but I'm not sure about long-term durability.
00:46The mechanism looks like it works through friction between two metal parts,
00:50and I don't know if that'll wear down over time, but it's been working great for the past couple of months,
00:54so yeah, I think it should be okay.
00:56Using it as a tablet, it feels pretty comfortable to use.
00:59It's a different shape from the Surface products. Those kind of have a bevel on the edge.
01:03This doesn't have that. It's a different feel, but it's still very comfortable to use.
01:06Now, I prefer using these 2-in-1 devices with the detachable keyboards.
01:10I find that, I mean, there are devices that have the flip-around keyboards, like the Yoga products and the new XPS 13.
01:16I mean, this is just personal preference, but I like being able to use my tablet one hand
01:20without feeling the bottom of the keyboard underneath. I like that.
01:23Some people are going to be different. It's just a matter of personal preference.
01:26Port selection on tablets is never amazing.
01:29On one side, you have your standard microSD slot and a volume rocker,
01:32and on the other side, we have USB 3, HDMI port, and that Thunderbolt 3 port.
01:37This model here is $1,600 US, and it includes a stylus and the attachable keyboard.
01:43The Surface Pro 4 has a slightly stronger connection.
01:46I think, like, the magnets are stronger, but this is still pretty secure.
01:49The keyboard is backlit. It has a great layout.
01:52Like, I wouldn't change a thing on it, considering the smaller real estate it has to work with.
01:56You can have it go flat, or you can have it tilted on an angle.
01:59Both are comfortable to use. It's actually really comfortable to use on your lap as well.
02:03Everything feels solid. The typing experience is good, not amazing.
02:07Decent key travel, but the keys are a little softer or just spongier than I'd like it to be.
02:12And when you close it, there's no magnet on the other end to keep it closed, like on Surface products.
02:18The trackpad could be better. It uses Windows Precision Drivers, so I had high hopes.
02:23It's glass, and the texture is good, but the cursor jumps around sometimes.
02:27Not often, but enough for it to be a little bit annoying.
02:30I don't think it's hardware. I think a software update would fix it,
02:32but as of right now, in early January 2017, it's still an issue.
02:36The stylus feels really similar, if not identical, to the stylus for Surface products.
02:41It doesn't attach magnetically, though, so you gotta bring it around with you like a regular pen.
02:45The screen is 12.6 inches, 2880x1920, pretty high res.
02:50There's letterboxing in most videos because of the aspect ratio, but that's just the nature of tablet screens.
02:56It has very good color gamut and color accuracy out of the box.
02:59It's not as bright as I feel like it could be, or should be.
03:02I mean, it's bright for a laptop, but because it's a tablet as well,
03:05I kind of feel that in some environments, like if you're outdoors, it can feel a little dim.
03:09It's running a Skylake CPU. You can get it in either an i5 or an i7,
03:14both with Intel HD 520 graphics, 16 gigs of RAM, and solid-state drives.
03:19The 512 gig drive in my unit isn't particularly fast, I think it's a SATA drive,
03:24but I have seen units with newer manufacturing dates that had NVMe drives in them.
03:28You can't upgrade the RAM or the drive.
03:30I mean, you can configure it at purchase, but you can't open it up and upgrade it yourself.
03:34Performance for regular use is good. It feels pretty snappy, particularly with the i7.
03:39Now, if you stress this thing hard, like on benchmarks, or if you want to edit videos,
03:43there is noticeable CPU throttling, and gaming performance on the integrated HD 520 isn't that good.
03:48But when you connect it to an external GPU, using the Thunderbolt 3 port, that is where this thing shines.
03:54So, if you're not familiar with an external GPU, it's a box,
03:57and you basically stick a desktop-grade GPU in there, so anything from Nvidia or AMD,
04:02and then you get desktop GPU capabilities in your device.
04:05So, the Asus Transformer 3 Pro was originally designed to work with the Asus XG Station 2.
04:10That's not out yet, it will be soon, but in the meantime, it actually works quite well with the Razer Core.
04:15You gotta install some Thunderbolt 3 drivers, and you need to get some software to run the whole Razer Synapse thing,
04:20but it works.
04:22Depending on the card you put in here, you can get some amazing performance.
04:25It's a pretty standard performance drop, around 10-15% less than a desktop,
04:29because of the Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth limitations, but it's still good.
04:32Remember though, that performance drop, that 10-15% number, is only if you're using an external monitor.
04:38If you don't want to use a monitor, and you want to pipe it back to the display on the Transformer 3 Pro,
04:43you lose even more performance. We're looking at 20-25%.
04:46And if you're curious, that Thunderbolt 3 cable will power and charge the tablet, so it's a pretty sweet setup.
04:52Something like Overwatch doesn't have great performance on the integrated HD 520,
04:56but I connected a GTX 1080, and you can get some ridiculously good frame rates.
05:00One thing to keep in mind, this is a 2-core CPU.
05:03There's plenty of games that will run great on a 2-core CPU,
05:06but there are games that are more CPU dependent, that would do better on a quad-core.
05:09So you've got to research your game if you want specific benchmarks.
05:12Now in terms of a GPU recommendation, because this is a 2-core CPU,
05:15and because it doesn't get to clock full speed because of the CPU throttling,
05:19I'd recommend maybe a GTX 1060, or even a 980 if, you know, your budget's a little bit lower.
05:24But you don't want to just spend money on a card that you can't really make proper use of.
05:27VR also had problems working. I tried connecting an HTC Vive, had issues.
05:32I'm not sure if it's because of a port limitation, there is only one USB port on the tablet.
05:36The keyboard's actually not bad for gaming.
05:38It's kind of strange because it's not even a real keyboard, it's a keyboard cover.
05:42I mean, it's not going to cut it for a 400 APM Starcraft player,
05:45but it's a very usable keyboard for games.
05:47There's an exhaust up top. It doesn't interfere when you're playing games,
05:50but if you're using some more demanding applications while you're holding it in portrait as a tablet,
05:55it gets pretty warm up there.
05:57The fans don't spin when it's idle, but when it kicks in, it's audible.
06:00It's not super annoying or super loud or anything, but you'll know when it's on.
06:04Speakers are up front, Harman Karman branded, but they're very average sounding.
06:08They don't get too loud and the bass is pretty weak.
06:11The front webcam is 1080p and it has infrared, so it supports Windows Hello for login, which is pretty cool.
06:16The back camera is 13 megapixel.
06:19It doesn't look great, but I doubt many people are going to use this anyways, so whatever.
06:23Battery life on this thing is relatively short.
06:27Normal use, like doing work, we're getting around 5 hours of life with the screen at 250 nits.
06:33Watching movies, you'll get around 3.5 hours, which is enough to finish most movies,
06:37but for a tablet, the battery life is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum.
06:40Now, overall, I really like this setup.
06:42I don't think that this particular model, like the Transformer 3 Pro, is the perfect version of this,
06:47particularly the battery life, but this is the only one you can do it on right now.
06:51I love the fact that it's a tablet when you want it to be.
06:53You can connect a keyboard when you want to type or just go ham on a keyboard.
06:57You have an external GPU if you want to play games.
06:59It's a super modular system, and I think this is a really good direction for mobile computing.
07:03I think if I wasn't making YouTube videos, I would definitely try to make this thing my daily driver.
07:08Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
07:09Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
07:11It's been nice, and I'll see you guys next time.