Asus has outed a touchscreen desktop computer that runs both Windows 8 and Android. Oh, and if that's not enough, it detaches from its dock to become an 18.4-inch tablet too.
Still, it's not the strangest news story today.
The Transformer AiO boots up in Windows 8, but you can switch it to Android at the touch of a button. Handy if you want a greater selection of apps, or want to play a game only available on Android. It's a touchscreen desktop, but take it out of its base and you can walk around with an 18.4-inch tablet.
It'll be interesting to see what kind of battery life you get out of it when detached from its base.
The screen is a 10-point multi-touch LED-backlit display. It can still switch between Windows 8 and Android when out and about, effectively giving you two desktops and two (massive) tablets in one package. That has got to be worth a look.
There's no word on price or availability yet, or which version of Android it'll ship with. But rest assured, we'll be keeping a close eye on this one.
The Transformer AiO continues Asus' range of computers that turn into other devices. First there was the Transformer Prime that shed its keyboard to switch from a laptop into an Android tablet. Then Asus outed a laptop with a screen on the lid -- close it, and you can use it as a tablet. Known as the Asus Taichi, it runs Windows 8 in both guises.
This is the latest Windows 8 PC to be announced at Computex in Taipei. Microsoft's latest isn't due until October, but if this little lot is anything to go by, it looks set to reinvent the PC.
Are you excited by Windows 8? And would you buy the Transformer AiO? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook.
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Reshad Al Rabeh 4 June, 2012 12:52
Does that mean it will be running Windows RT, or Windows 8? Because as far as I know Android only runs perfectly with ARM CPUs, so dual booting on an ARM chip would make more sense. But in turn that would make it into a tablet rather than a full desktop?
anonymous 5 June, 2012 10:24
@Reshad
It could run on either. Windwos 8 has been ported to ARM code already, its was in a MSDN Technet post, this means the end product may run ARM for full Android compatibility or x86_64 for full Windows 8 compatibilty.
It all depends for me on how MS implement ARM compatibility. If all programs have to be rewritten then you'll see barely anything, but if they can just be recompiled and work out of the box, or if they do a Universal Binary style EXE that contains both code (unlikely cos they didn't do it with 64bit) then ARM it will be.
Of course I dont know the answer to these questions but ASUS probably do already.