Incredibly Expensive Asus Transformer Prime Launched in India for Rs. 49999

By Tech Wire Asia | 2 March, 2012

Asus has launched its Transformer Prime Android tablet in India. The Transformer Prime has a 10.1 inch LED backlit Super IPS screen with Gorilla Glass display, 1.3 GHz Quad core NVidia Tegra 3 CPU, 12 core NVidia GeForce GPU, and ships with Android Honeycomb 3.2 (can be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich).

Asus Transformer Prime costs Rs 49,999 in India. Is it a good buy? (Photo copyright Abe Olandres)

The Transformer Prime comes with 1 GB RAM, 64 GB memory, 8 MP camera (rear), 1.2 MP camera (front), WiFi, Bluetooth and a battery which lasts for 12 hours.

I must say, I am impressed with all the specifications. Best part is, the Transformer Prime comes with a detachable keyboard, to make it look like a slick laptop or netbook. The only thing which is bothering me is the price tag. At Rs. 49999 (about US$ 1,016), the Transformer Prime is the priciest tablet in the market. Quite a few Ultrabooks are priced lower than this.

Jesus! Asus, what’s with you? I mean what’s with the price of Rs. 49999? Whatever the folks at Asus are smoking, I want some.

Look, the tablet is slick. But Asus is trying to sell the tablet to a country which is obsessed with low-cost tablets which cost less than Rs. 4000. For the price of Rs. 35000, I can hatch up an iPad 2 (WiFi) and Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard and have a working tablet. Asus’ Transformer Prime doesn’t give me one good reason to not go with an iPad 2 or even the rumored iPad 3 for that matter. An Intel Ultrabook is another option I can exercise for Rs. 50000.

The keyboard dock and the keyboard itself seem like tantalizing options, but let me tell you that they aren’t as useful as they seem. As I have found, a keyboard’s usefulness with tablets is quite limited. The lack of multi-tasking, the inability to use Alt+Tab keys, and the inability to click the app icons with just the keyboard make a keyboard for a tablet a nice feature to have, but not a must-have.

Asus really has the chutzpah to price a tablet so high with Apple’s iPad 3 launch lurking. I don’t think Asus has the means to back it up.

Would you buy the Asus Transformer Prime in India?

Via FoneArena