Windows 8 Tablet – Review: ASUS Eee Slate B121

With Windows 8 Beta coming in February, now is a great time to get a Windows 7 tablet that will fully work with the Beta and even final commercial version of Windows 8.

Here at Windows8update we are dedicated to providing our readers the information they need to make the right choices when it comes to Windows 8 and the hardware that will run it.

Without further ado, we take a look at today’s tablet option, the ASUS Eee Slate B121. The B121 features the following hardware under the hood:

• a 12.1-inch LE-backlit WXGA display with a 1280×800 resolution
• Intel Core i5 470UM 1.33GHz Processor
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 64GB SSD
• Intel Integrated Graphics
• Integrated Hi-Def Audio
• USB 2.0
• HDMI
• MMC/SD expansion port
• lithium-polymer battery with up to 2.5 hours of life
• 2MP Webcam
• Bluetooth and 802.11n wireless
• Weight: 2.60 lbs
• Dimensions: 12.30×8.20x.0.70-inches

First off, the Eee Slate B121 is a great tablet if you are looking for a full-fledged desktop/laptop replacement option.

It has an attractive enough design, a huge 12/1-inch screen, and plenty of processing power behind the hood. The B121 also features a tough design that offers a corning gorilla glass display that can handle serious knocks and bruises along the way.

The 12.1-inch screen is as a welcome feature, instead of 10-inch and smaller displays found on most tablet devices.

This helps share content and presentations with those around you, and also makes for one killer gaming tablet.

While not all high-end games will work with the B121, most certainly will at least on lower settings.

Another great part about the Eee Slate B121 design is the various input options such as touch, stylus, or an external bluetooth/USB keyboard.

The best part about Windows tablets is there capability to precisely recognize handwriting and pen-use, while still offering great touch features thanks to the Wacom digitizer stylus that is included.

Design and touch-abilities aside, I truly believe that hardware is key.

Many of the reasons I’ve turned away from considering lower-end Windows tablets is that they feature weak processors and video cards that make the useless for any serious tasks, and therefore of less value than an Android/iOS/Playbook tablet.

This isn’t the case with the B121, which ditches common tablet processors like the Atom in favor of an impressive, speedy Core i5 processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. If you are looking for a mobile option that can also be used with a stand, keyboard, and mouse in order to offer a true, powerful desktop experience than this is certainly a worthy tablet.

This tablet offers a great power-user machine for users that don’t want portability but still want as much power under the hood as possible. For business users though, there is even more to offer with the Ee Slate’s “Trusted Platform Module” (TPM) which safeguards confidential data by hardware-encrypting files.

This is important for defending against attacks by hackers looking to capture passwords and encryption keys that give them access to sensitive data. TPM is widely-recognized as an industry standard and so having this kind of security on your tablet is a major plus.

While Windows 7 works fairly well on this tablet, I can just imagine how well this machine will function with Metro on its side.

Of course nothing is perfect, and the B121 isn’t without flaws. For one thing the battery life is awful, and for most tasks won’t last much more than two hours. This alone limits how portable your experience really is.

This basically means that the B121 is better suited as a desktop machine for the majority of the time, but offers mobility when needed.

Also, the B121 is a hefty machine at nearly 3 pounds, and so holding it in your hands can get tiring rather quickly.

At the end of the day though, if you are looking for tons of power, business security, and are willing to overlook poor battery power and weight than Asus’ Eee Slate is hard to beat.

The B121 is available through Microsoft’s Store for $1399.00.