I was always afraid I'd break one of the two connectors, but, fortunately, I never did. That means you're blindly shoving the tablet into the Docking Station, and it takes some serious finagling the first few times. The slot that holds the tablet has raised sides to support the device, so it's hard to see the raised 40-pin connector that plugs into the Transformer. The hardest thing about using the Docking Station is actually docking the Transformer. When it's docked, the Transformer can actually charge via the Docking Station, so when you take it off you'll likely have more battery than when you sat down. Around the sides are two USB ports and an SD card slot, along with a space for the charger-the Docking Station has its own rechargeable battery inside, which Asus says will add up to 6.5 hours of battery life to the Transformer. There's a sliding silver lock switch, which snaps into place when the tablet is fully docked. On the face of the Docking Station is a chiclet-style, netbook-sized QWERTY keyboard, a surprisingly large touchpad, and a the hinge where the tablet connects. Unfortunately, at 1.37 pounds, it weighs nearly the same as well. At 6.9 by 10.7 by 0.6 inches (HWD), the Docking Station's dimensions are virtually identical to the Transformer.
The consistency is nice, making the combination look like they're made for each other rather than two distinct products. The Docking Station is made to look just like the Transformer itself: it's got the same dark, brownish-gray/metallic color scheme, and the same geometric pattern on the back.
It's a useful accessory that distinguishes the Transformer from other Honeycomb tablets, but the keyboard is small and takes some getting used to, and going back and forth between touch-screen and traditional inputs can be awkward. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 Docking Station ($149 list) snaps onto the bottom of the Transformer, and turns the tablet into a netbook, complete with mouse, keyboard, USB slots, card reader, and more. Asus' response, it seems, was to give buyers of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 ($399, 3.5 stars) the best of both worlds. The line of reasoning goes something like this: Tablets are great for watching videos and basic Web browsing, but they're not as efficient for work as a keyboard-and-mouse combination. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security SoftwareĪ common knock on tablets, from the Apple iPad (4.5 stars, $499) on down, has been that they're designed for consumption, not creation.
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