REVIEW: Asus Transformer Book FlipTP500LN

With a 15.6-inch screen and weighing in at 2.3kg this hybrid boasts plenty of grunt but delivers very little.

Here's a tablet for the Incredible Hulk. The Asus Transformer Book FlipTP500LN is big, with a 15.6-inch screen, heavy at 2.3kg and in the version we tested packs plenty of grunt with its Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of system memory and Nvidia graphics.

While it's really a desktop replacement style notebook, the big Asus does have a tablet trick up its sleeve, or rather in its hinge which lets you swing the screen around the keyboard 360 degrees so you end up with a mega tablet. It also means you can prop the device up tent style.

I'm just not sure why anyone would want to wield a two kilo plus porker with a 15.6 inch screen as a tablet.

The 15.6 inch touch screen is a real weak point. Its watery, lo-res 1366 by 720 pixel picture came as something of a shock after spending most of my tablet and notebook time these days looking at beautiful, sharp, full-HD or 2K screens.

The screen is poor on contrast and viewing angles as well. While the 2.0 GHz Core i7 processor, 8GB of system memory and Nvidia GT840M graphics circuitry indicate the Asus should pack a punch, it doesn't work out that way in practice.

That's because the TP500LN has a slow, 5400rpm, 1 TB spinning disk for storage, rather than a speedy SSD drive.

So despite the grunt on tap which comes into its own once a game or video editing app is loaded, while navigating around the TP500LN it feels like a slug.

There is a higher-res 1920 by 1080 pixel screen on offer for the Asus and you could swap out the disk drive for an SSD but for the money there are better big screen notebook options out there.

This article was first published in The Australian.