The Asus Transformer AiO is both a Windows 8 PC and a massive Android tablet

Asus’s exciting dual-booting Transformer AiO P1801 touchscreen all-in-one (AIO) has finally got a price and release date after making a splash at Computex in June 2012. The first Transformer system of its kind, it's an 18.4-inch full HD 1920 X 1080-pixel multi-touch touchscreen docked onto a stand. When docked, the AiO is a Windows 8 PC, complete with dual-core (or quad-core) Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs. But remove it from the dock and it turns into an Android tablet!

The PC-tablet combo will start shipping for $1,299 (approx Rs 65,000) onwards in the second quarter of this year.

The stand, which Asus calls PC Station, and the touchscreen both have different processors.  You can expand the bundled 4GB of RAM to 8GB. There’s also a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 730M GPU with 2GB of graphics RAM. Users can have up to 2TB of hard drive space. 

When docked into the PC Station, the tablet becomes a Windows 8 PC

When undocked, the Transformer turns into what is perhaps the largest Android tablet we have seen. It runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which brings Google Now and performance improvements. Powering the tablet part is an Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC and 2GB of RAM. The tablet has 32GB of internal storage.

The tablet can operate independently of the desktop, but there’s an easily accessible remote desktop application that allows for untethered access to all the Windows 8 files and apps. This sounds like a very neat idea for times when all the Windows productivity power is needed. At the same time, you can also run Android apps, so you don’t have to stay frustrated with the lack of apps on the Windows Store. The tablet also features a convenient carrying handle and a folding stand for comfortable tabletop use.

Asus Transformer AiO running Android

In our opinion, a Windows and Android dual-booting, PC-tablet combo sounds very promising. Windows 8 already offers both the desktop and tablet experiences, but a common complaint is the not-so-seamless transitioning between the two modes. What's more, there's no denying that Google Play is better stocked than the Windows Store, and Android is much higher on app developers' pecking orders. However, we would like to see how Asus has managed to implement the untethered remote access feature. If it works as advertised, Asus could have a gamechanger on their hands here.