Asus Transformer Mini T102HA review – an excellent miniaturized 2-in-1

17 Comments

  1. Joey

    October 13, 2016 at 2:36 am

    Thanks for the review, this is a great website. About your comment that you would prefer the I/O ports on the bottom of the left side, rather than the top of the left side, I strongly disagree. One common major design flaw that I find with some tablets and 2-in-1’s is that they place ports/plugs on the lower sides and this really interferes with holding the tablet. This is especially bad when the ports are on the lower left side – exactly where most right-handed people will want to hold the device. Surface Pro line got this right by moving the ports to the top sides and making a flat-sitting reversable-orientation power plug that doesnt stick out into the hand like most power plugs. Especially with the often relatively the low running times and sometimes slow charging times, I think they should be designed for comfortable tablet-use whilst being plugged in to power cables.

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 13, 2016 at 3:40 am

      Hmmm, that makes sense, never thought about it, mostly because I pretty much never use my tablets while charging (the iPad takes hours too) and also rarely actually hold them in hand. The reason I would want them at the bottom is because I don’t like having the charger and HDMI cable so visible and in the way as they are right now, but that’s just a personal preference and a matter of aesthetics, your argument actually makes more sense in practice and daily use.

      PS: I’ve updated that part and added your point of view. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

  2. Zona

    October 13, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    I think this detachable is perfect but the price is a deal breaker, i would pay this around $250-300 NOT $400.

  3. Sarig

    October 14, 2016 at 7:28 am

    Shame you didn’t have the stylus to test, that’s one of the most critical features for me.

    Otherwise it’s about what I expected, so no disqualifying things in the review here for me.

    The Surface 3 was only available for a short while where I live, and at a *much* steeper price than what this is listed for, so while I wanted one, it just wasn’t realistic, and this might fit the bill.

  4. Joey

    October 14, 2016 at 11:25 pm

    I really hope Asus releases this with 4GB in Australia. 2GB RAM is just a flat-out deal breaker for me and many others, but unfortunately Asus has a history of only releasing 2GB versions of their devices in this market segment in Australia. It’s almost 2017, enough with the hobbled 2GB machines.

  5. Joey

    October 14, 2016 at 11:33 pm

    Andrei, your review said the CPU has two cores, but this spec page says it has four cores:
    ark.intel.com/products/93361/Intel-Atom-x5-Z8350-Processor-2M-Cache-up-to-1_92-GHz

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 15, 2016 at 4:39 am

      Right, my mistake, thanks for the heads-up, I’ve addressed it in the post.

  6. Joey

    October 14, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    That Intel spec page also says the CPU was launched Q1’16, not Q1’15 as in your review.

  7. Joey

    October 14, 2016 at 11:46 pm

    Actually, your review says the Cherry Trail *platform* was released Q1’15, not this specific CPU, my bad ;)

    • Andrei Girbea

      October 15, 2016 at 4:40 am

      Yes, the 8350 was released in Q1 2016 like you’re saying, but is based on the same platform that was initially launched in 2015.

  8. Robert

    November 28, 2016 at 12:10 am

    In Jan 2012, I bought a new ASUS Transformer prime TF201 with a keyboard dock. It is Android based. It has been such a piece of garbage I swore I would never buy an ASUS product again. This was a result of the WIFI receiver. Several complaints I have found online about it indicated that ASUS located the receiver near a component that affected its ability to function properly. It would lag severely only 10 feet from the router. Mounting a piece of foil above the upper right corner would double the reception speed. :^P
    I will admit that I might have liked it better if it had been windows based which wasn't really happening much at the time I don't think.
    1. Do you think the WIFI on this unit is much better.
    2. Is it possible to wipe mine off and put windows on it?
    3. Will my dock work on newer ASUS windows based unit?
    I did like having an extra battery built into the keyboard dock.
    <I realize that I have gone mostly off topic. I would be grateful for a response regardless of whether you post this or not>. thanks!

    • Andrei Girbea

      November 28, 2016 at 5:49 am

      Hi.

      1. It should be, you have the results I got on my unit in the article, at 30 feet with two thick walls in between.
      2. No, as far as i know
      3. No, the new units have a different physical connector.

  9. Jay Dee

    December 14, 2016 at 8:27 pm

    Microsoft currently has the 64gb version on sale for $279. At this price point, this is perhaps the best tech deal of the holiday season. Especially considering it comes with the keyboard and active stylus.

  10. Khaye Guzman

    August 4, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    I really find it very inconvenient because like now I am trying to use the internet but the wifi isn't connected while my mobile phone is already connected. I shut down the tablet after troubleshooting and when I turned it on the wifi icon is gone and it is saying that windows did not detect any networking device. How can I fix this problem?

  11. Chris Guizio

    April 19, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    Unfortunately ASUS is moving backwards with this model in comparison to older models. Yes, there are some upgrades but the majority of the core components are unchanged. I currently have a T100HA and recently purchased the T102HA. The T102HA has the same 4g RAM, the same processor, the same screen and both have Windows 10 Home.
    ***The item that I find funny is that even on the ASUS website it indicates that this item has Windows 10 Home installed, but on the same line it states that ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro*** though there is no option to order a version with Windows 10 Pro.

    Some may not think of these changes as a major issue but if I would have done more research I would have reconsidered purchasing this model because of these changes. I may still give the T102HA to my wife and keep the T100HA for myself.
    Going backwards: Although it wasn't the best quality, ASUS opted to remove the rear-facing camera, so in order to take a picture with this model you have to turn it around to use the selfie/chat camera to try and take a picture.
    They also eliminated the USB Type-C connector from the T102HA.
    You can only change the viewing angle of the screen by using the kickstand or holding it in your hand. The T100HA model has a much stiffer hinge assembly which holds the screen in place at any angle.

    Upgrades: from 64g storage to 128g (although only 116g is usable) Though not really a major upgrade because both models accept USB thumb drives and both have a microSD card slot.
    They included a Pen/Stylus with the T102HA which is very responsive and accurate however, the pen holder is a joke. It does not support the pen as it only holds it in place by the clip, so the Pen just dangles and is prone to catching on items because it just flops around.

    • Andrei Girbea

      April 20, 2018 at 10:15 am

      You should also consider that we haven't seen much in terms of platform updates at this level, as Intel no longer develops this low-end hardware, and that's one of the main reasons hardware wise not much has changed from the T100 to the T102.

  12. Ted Crum

    June 11, 2022 at 1:23 am

    I'm still using mine in 2022, and Haven't found a machine I like better to throw in my motorcycle for cross-country work. I almost gave up on it because the touchpad would "bump" select too easily while scrolling. I looked for a solution for a year, then finally found that bumping could be turned off in the ASUS Gestures app (not in the driver control panel.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *