Amazon.com: Customer reviews: ASUS Taichi 21-DH51 11-Inch Convertible 2in1 (OLD VERSION)
3.2 out of 5 stars230byStyle: Core i5|Price:$449.99+ Free shipping with Amazon Prime
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Top positive review& 
269 people found this helpful
4.0 out of 5 starsA lot to like in this gorgeous package but Asus support is not what I'm used to.ByCarlosUPDATE 12/30/13:My review is the number one here so I feel obligated to post an update on my recent issues with the Taichi. I still love the machine, but Asus support is just too slow for me as you'll see on my story below and also on other reviews posted here.My Taichi had been overheating and I contacted support, I also told them about a screen crack I had due to a drop (Although the crack didn't appear until a month or two after the drop), the VIP Support exclusive to Taichi was friendly, professional, you name it, they were very good, however, things started to go south when they told me I had to ship the laptop back with my own box and paying my own shipping. You see, I come from a world of thinkpads where Lenovo ships me a box, overnight, with a prepaid overnight label and returns the laptop in the same way. I figured I would deal with it, but it was certainly inconvenient and disappointing for a business laptop. So I shipped the thing, praying that my package was good enough and didn't break the laptop even more and that it actually got there on time.Two weeks went by and I called in to see how things were going, they told me that the laptop was in repair and that I could check status online, etc. Then, I start checking online daily and notice that they have a message saying "out of warranty waiting for customer response". So I call in and they tell me that because I dropped it the laptop was out of warranty. That would all be fine however, before I sent it I had explained this to support and mentioned that I had the 1 year accidental damage protection and they said all was ok. Actually, they said that if not for that they would have sent a repair person to fix the laptop at my location, so how come now they forgot about all of this?The person I spoke to finally sent me a message, I should have received, letting me know of how much I had to pay to get it fixed, etc. but then later found my accidental warranty protection and told me all would be ok and that the laptop was already being repaired under that warranty.I'm still waiting for my laptop and although it hasn't been a month, like for some other people, this is already too long for me unfortunately, sometimes we fall in love with products because they are awesome and forget about reliability and support. I've dealt with thinkpad support many times over the years and they always delight me so for my next laptop I'm certainly going back to them. I will use the Taichi again when it comes back but if it breaks again or when its end of life comes, Asus won't see me back unless I start hearing raving reviews on the support side of things.UPDATED ON 6/9/2013This is a quick update of how things have evolved with the Taichi and I guess a final feeling after five months of use.-So far I haven't had any technical issues, the laptop is holding up very well. I even dropped it on its side once and it dented the housing but the screens didn't break and all works fine. Lucky break I think, this is not a laptop you should be dropping for sure!-I'm still getting 3 to 4 hours of battery life, so I haven't seen any degradation, which is great because I'm plugged in must of the time and I was afraid of battery degradation and no way to replace it. It's only five months though, we'll have to see.-I haven't seen many software upgrades from Asus, so what was buggy is still buggy. Like the palm rejection when using the pen, that's still there, I thought I had fixed it but nah, let's not kid ourselves, I have even stopped using my pen as much because it's just not as great of a experience as I'm used to. With that said, it's good to have the pen for signing things and what not, but I wouldn't recommend it for prolonged note taking.-My gripes with the Asus management software kind of went away, no more brightness issues, etc.All my other comments remain. I still love this laptop and don't think, even to this day, that there's anything better on the market for my needs. I hope they make a new version and keep improving on this design over the years, I would certainly love to buy a new one in another couple of years with longer battery life, better digitizer and a bigger SSD.Written in January 2013-------------I ordered my Taichi just two days ago from us.ncix and they supposedly only had one in stock which I luckily got overnighted to me. They were top notch with service and went the extra mile for me by shipping the item right away and even making a special trip to UPS to make sure I got it the next day as the pick up for that day had already been done.Now onto the Taichi.Pros-It's a great laptop all around, as long as you can live with some cons.-The keyboard is outstanding. I type a lot, all day long really, and the keyboard couldn't be better. And this coming from a Thinkpad owner of 10 years.-The touchpad is flawless, it works like a charm. I've never used a touchpad this good. I think it's pretty on par with mac touchpads, both on desktop and modern areas of Windows 8.-The build quality seems top notch and it's a gorgeous piece of hardware. Sure, you have to handle it with care because of the screen on the lid but overall it's a great build.-The 1080p Screens are top notch, the viewing angles are great, the colors look great, the text is sharp, a lot to like there.-UPDATED: The size is good for a laptop. Enough space for a great keyboard. I got good vision, but the screen on desktop is very useable at 1080p resolution. I don't have to zoom or anything, that said, I am young and have great vision. My IE browser seems to be auto zoomed in to 125% and thus I didn't have any issues reading web pages, however, after installing chrome I see that at 100% zoom you really can't browse the net, it's too small. The 125% zoom works well though, and everything in the desktop looks good.-The lid collects finger prints but you can't really see them from a far, so that's great because I was concerned about the laptop looking bad all the time due to finger prints.-It has a tablet on the lid! Sure, this is not your light and small ipad, but it works well, the colors are great and I do plan to replace my tablet and laptop with this one device.-Backlit keyboard. This is a huge pro for me and one of my requirements.-Comes with a good quality laptop sleeve, VGA and Ethernet adapter. That's $100 in accessories right there.-Comes with a one year accidental projection damage warranty, that's another added value/bonus there.Cons-UPDATED: Battery life. After some use, I seem to get from 3 to 4 hours of battery life while working full steam, typing, listening to music on headphones, backlit keyboard on, wifi and Bluetooth on and screen in medium brightness or so. If I dial things back a bit I can get past four hours just a bit, but I'm not sure how they got their five hour estimate though. For me this is fine as I'm plugged in most of the time and I may buy an external battery for long trips or meetings. Using it on and off as a tablet (and putting it to sleep when not in use with 2 second smart resume) I can get through most of the day.-UPDATED: I had some big issues with the digitizer pen at first, but I recalibrated the pen and touch input under windows settings and ever since it's working great (as intended). I no longer have lag when writing and the palm rejection is much better than before, although not quite all the way there in my opinion. Is it as good as Wacom? No, at least not in my opinion, but it does the job. One thing I'm not happy about is that it has no eraser head and the eraser button doesn't work on Microsoft's metro pdf app, there's no way to erase in this app with the pen, I can erease just fine with my Wacom pen on my thinkpad on that app. That said, the eraser button works fine on pdf annotator and onenote.-UPDATED: The Asus "management" software is a bit buggy, it seems to be fighting with Windows for authority. The main issue I see is with brightness, sometimes you set it to something and then it comes back to something else, this is due to power profiles not acting correctly I think. Also, auto brightness never ever gives you the top brightness even if you choose to get full brightness. The only way I got full brightness was by disabling auto brightness and then the brightness still changed some times on its own, mainly on tablet mode. Maybe there are two light sensors and the tablet one can't be disabled? Don't know. The screen switcher was a bit off at first but after some updates it seems to be doing fine.-UPDATED: The brightness is said to be a bit low, and it is mainly if you leave the auto brightness on, however, I find it adequate on both tablet and laptop mode, even on bright sunlight it seems adequate in my opinion.-The size for a tablet is a bit big, but if you want mainly a laptop and second a tablet then this is the best option in my opinion. I was expecting it to be lighter for some reason, as I have a HP TouchPad with a cover on and that package seems like two pounds to me, so you would think another .75 pounds wouldn't be so much, but it feels a bit heavy, that said I can live with it.-I had read on some tech sites that using a tablet with 16:9 aspect ration on portrait was a bit ridiculous, and you know what, it kind of feels weird. I guess it's something to get used to, but don't expect it to feel natural right off the bat.Subjective Items-UPDATED: No touch screen in laptop mode. To me this is a pro as the laptop screen doesn't have finger prints and it's matt which I love, I don't think I could stand a glossy screen for work all day. Also, the touchpad works so great that you may not miss touch so much in laptop mode. I can easily pinch to zoom, scroll, pull up charms, etc., all from the touchpad. You will want to touch the screen sometimes, specially after spending some time using the touch screen on the lid, but I'm happy with the way it is, another touch screen would've added more weight and a glossy screen in the front and that would've been a big issue for me.-The audio is a bit low for my taste. I had read that the audio was pretty loud, but I wouldn't consider it loud, I would consider it adequate but that's about it. I was expecting a bit more bang. That said, I listen to a lot of loud music and may be a bit deft already, so your mileage may vary.-This vs the surface pro? I went with this one because for just another $150 (vs surface with cover), I get a backlit keyboard, two screens and an adjustable screen that I can easily use in my lap, bed, couch, anywhere at the craziest angles, which I tend to do. The surface wouldn't work for me in the same way and I would've had to adjust. That said, I wanted mainly a great laptop with a nice enough tablet. I think the surface pro is a good tablet (not great due to low battery life too)and an OK laptop.-UPDATED: The keyboard lacks media buttons for pause/play/next track, etc. Those are useful while playing music. It also lacks the new windows keys that come with some keyboards for charms, search, etc. That said, it's a small keyboard and they couldn't have put everything in there. The other thing is that the function keys, F1 to F12, are primary vs the other items like brightness and volume. I prefer it the other way, but again this is subjective. I did fine a tool called KeyTweak which allows you to remap your keyboard keys however you want, and I have changed F10 through F12 for media buttons, so that problem is solved!**Lastly, this is a warning. The 128gb version, which is the one I have, only comes with 63gb of available space out of the box. This is crazy! I was expecting more like 90gb after windows, etc., but Asus has a 20gb recovery partition and a 4gb OEM partition in there, so that's pretty substantial and I plan to kill at least the recovery partition and get my space back**So the final verdict.I love it so far. Sure it has some drawbacks, but there's no perfect hybrid out there right now. I was planning to wait for second generation models but come on, life's too short to be waiting and waiting, I've been waiting long enough and this is 90% what I wanted so I'll take it and enjoy it. The battery life is the biggest limitation/con in my opinion, but I plan to buy an external battery of some sort to have around for emergencies or long meetings/seminars.To me this laptop is just AWESOME and I wouldn't buy anything else on the market over this for my own needs.
Top critical review& 
7 people found this helpful
1.0 out of 5 starsAfter 1 yr... very unreliable, buggy, terrible battery, and various harware and software failuresByLightfootNice try, interesting concept, etc. Just not worth the pain in the neck. Waste of money. Was not a fun introduction to the hybrid/convertible market. Big mistake. I wrote a very positive review and wanted to like it last year, but it just got worse and worse after about the 4th month of owning it and using it.First of all mine is now sitting in a shelf in my closet. I will sell it to you for $100.After 1 year of using this thing and taking care of it, here is my experience:It was fun at first, but also very buggy from the start. For example auto screen brightness has never worked.Update to windows 8.1 was a disaster, went back to 8, and never bothered again.Battery is pathetic, and my charging port is also bad like an Achilles heal. I spent $150 repairing this at local shop (warranty won't cover this, bastards), but it still sucks. Gotta position the charger tip a certain wa in the port in order to make good contact and charge.Mirror mode hasn't worked for a few months. Not interested in sending in back to Asus for repair, because they hold onto it for a couple weeks, and this is my work laptop.Laptop performance is generally unreliable. The display sometimes gets stuck upside down. Switching between tablet screen and laptop screen is buggy, quirky, unreliable. And also embarrassing if you are doing it in front of people because it usually fails to switch smoothly and reliably. Just extremely buggy.The port on the left side broke after 6 months. That is the serial port adaptor. So that leaves me with two USB ports and a mini HDMI port. The one thing this baby does well is adapt to multiple monitors. I have to use a USB hub and various j5 graphic adaptors, but it works well, and that is the only reason I still use this thing at work.I never use the tablet screen because it is to buggy to be functional for work tasks.The back lit keyboard is nice, but it is buggy too. Sometimes it fluctuates from dim to bright and bright to dim for no reason.Another huge frustration, and this is common for me with Asus laptops, is that I can't get the power options to work consistently. The power options seem to reset, for example in terms of what closing the lod does or when to hibernate. This week I walked from it for a couple hours. It had a full battery when I walked away. It should have hibernated. It didnt. Maybe this is a conflict between Asus ware and the Microsoft ware.This was my first foray into the hybrid market. I learned a lot with this puppy. Just biding my time until I can justify purchasing something more reliable.Really need a portable with reliable battery, reliable charging, reliable power settings. This machine fails in all 3. This is a basic and important characteristic that is hard to find in modern electronics.
Sort byTop ratedMost recentTop ratedFilter byByUPDATE 12/30/13:My review is the number one here so I feel obligated to post an update on my recent issues with the Taichi. I still love the machine, but Asus support is just too slow for me as you'll see on my story below and also on other reviews posted here.My Taichi had been overheating and I contacted support, I also told them about a screen crack I had due to a drop (Although the crack didn't appear until a month or two after the drop), the VIP Support exclusive to Taichi was friendly, professional, you name it, they were very good, however, things started to go south when they told me I had to ship the laptop back with my own box and paying my own shipping. You see, I come from a world of thinkpads where Lenovo ships me a box, overnight, with a prepaid overnight label and returns the laptop in the same way. I figured I would deal with it, but it was certainly inconvenient and disappointing for a business laptop. So I shipped the thing, praying that my package was good enough and didn't break the laptop even more and that it actually got there on time.Two weeks went by and I called in to see how things were going, they told me that the laptop was in repair and that I could check status online, etc. Then, I start checking online daily and notice that they have a message saying "out of warranty waiting for customer response". So I call in and they tell me that because I dropped it the laptop was out of warranty. That would all be fine however, before I sent it I had explained this to support and mentioned that I had the 1 year accidental damage protection and they said all was ok. Actually, they said that if not for that they would have sent a repair person to fix the laptop at my location, so how come now they forgot about all of this?The person I spoke to finally sent me a message, I should have received, letting me know of how much I had to pay to get it fixed, etc. but then later found my accidental warranty protection and told me all would be ok and that the laptop was already being repaired under that warranty.I'm still waiting for my laptop and although it hasn't been a month, like for some other people, this is already too long for me unfortunately, sometimes we fall in love with products because they are awesome and forget about reliability and support. I've dealt with thinkpad support many times over the years and they always delight me so for my next laptop I'm certainly going back to them. I will use the Taichi again when it comes back but if it breaks again or when its end of life comes, Asus won't see me back unless I start hearing raving reviews on the support side of things.UPDATED ON 6/9/2013This is a quick update of how things have evolved with the Taichi and I guess a final feeling after five months of use.-So far I haven't had any technical issues, the laptop is holding up very well. I even dropped it on its side once and it dented the housing but the screens didn't break and all works fine. Lucky break I think, this is not a laptop you should be dropping for sure!-I'm still getting 3 to 4 hours of battery life, so I haven't seen any degradation, which is great because I'm plugged in must of the time and I was afraid of battery degradation and no way to replace it. It's only five months though, we'll have to see.-I haven't seen many software upgrades from Asus, so what was buggy is still buggy. Like the palm rejection when using the pen, that's still there, I thought I had fixed it but nah, let's not kid ourselves, I have even stopped using my pen as much because it's just not as great of a experience as I'm used to. With that said, it's good to have the pen for signing things and what not, but I wouldn't recommend it for prolonged note taking.-My gripes with the Asus management software kind of went away, no more brightness issues, etc.All my other comments remain. I still love this laptop and don't think, even to this day, that there's anything better on the market for my needs. I hope they make a new version and keep improving on this design over the years, I would certainly love to buy a new one in another couple of years with longer battery life, better digitizer and a bigger SSD.Written in January 2013-------------I ordered my Taichi just two days ago from us.ncix and they supposedly only had one in stock which I luckily got overnighted to me. They were top notch with service and went the extra mile for me by shipping the item right away and even making a special trip to UPS to make sure I got it the next day as the pick up for that day had already been done.Now onto the Taichi.Pros-It's a great laptop all around, as long as you can live with some cons.-The keyboard is outstanding. I type a lot, all day long really, and the keyboard couldn't be better. And this coming from a Thinkpad owner of 10 years.-The touchpad is flawless, it works like a charm. I've never used a touchpad this good. I think it's pretty on par with mac touchpads, both on desktop and modern areas of Windows 8.-The build quality seems top notch and it's a gorgeous piece of hardware. Sure, you have to handle it with care because of the screen on the lid but overall it's a great build.-The 1080p Screens are top notch, the viewing angles are great, the colors look great, the text is sharp, a lot to like there.-UPDATED: The size is good for a laptop. Enough space for a great keyboard. I got good vision, but the screen on desktop is very useable at 1080p resolution. I don't have to zoom or anything, that said, I am young and have great vision. My IE browser seems to be auto zoomed in to 125% and thus I didn't have any issues reading web pages, however, after installing chrome I see that at 100% zoom you really can't browse the net, it's too small. The 125% zoom works well though, and everything in the desktop looks good.-The lid collects finger prints but you can't really see them from a far, so that's great because I was concerned about the laptop looking bad all the time due to finger prints.-It has a tablet on the lid! Sure, this is not your light and small ipad, but it works well, the colors are great and I do plan to replace my tablet and laptop with this one device.-Backlit keyboard. This is a huge pro for me and one of my requirements.-Comes with a good quality laptop sleeve, VGA and Ethernet adapter. That's $100 in accessories right there.-Comes with a one year accidental projection damage warranty, that's another added value/bonus there.Cons-UPDATED: Battery life. After some use, I seem to get from 3 to 4 hours of battery life while working full steam, typing, listening to music on headphones, backlit keyboard on, wifi and Bluetooth on and screen in medium brightness or so. If I dial things back a bit I can get past four hours just a bit, but I'm not sure how they got their five hour estimate though. For me this is fine as I'm plugged in most of the time and I may buy an external battery for long trips or meetings. Using it on and off as a tablet (and putting it to sleep when not in use with 2 second smart resume) I can get through most of the day.-UPDATED: I had some big issues with the digitizer pen at first, but I recalibrated the pen and touch input under windows settings and ever since it's working great (as intended). I no longer have lag when writing and the palm rejection is much better than before, although not quite all the way there in my opinion. Is it as good as Wacom? No, at least not in my opinion, but it does the job. One thing I'm not happy about is that it has no eraser head and the eraser button doesn't work on Microsoft's metro pdf app, there's no way to erase in this app with the pen, I can erease just fine with my Wacom pen on my thinkpad on that app. That said, the eraser button works fine on pdf annotator and onenote.-UPDATED: The Asus "management" software is a bit buggy, it seems to be fighting with Windows for authority. The main issue I see is with brightness, sometimes you set it to something and then it comes back to something else, this is due to power profiles not acting correctly I think. Also, auto brightness never ever gives you the top brightness even if you choose to get full brightness. The only way I got full brightness was by disabling auto brightness and then the brightness still changed some times on its own, mainly on tablet mode. Maybe there are two light sensors and the tablet one can't be disabled? Don't know. The screen switcher was a bit off at first but after some updates it seems to be doing fine.-UPDATED: The brightness is said to be a bit low, and it is mainly if you leave the auto brightness on, however, I find it adequate on both tablet and laptop mode, even on bright sunlight it seems adequate in my opinion.-The size for a tablet is a bit big, but if you want mainly a laptop and second a tablet then this is the best option in my opinion. I was expecting it to be lighter for some reason, as I have a HP TouchPad with a cover on and that package seems like two pounds to me, so you would think another .75 pounds wouldn't be so much, but it feels a bit heavy, that said I can live with it.-I had read on some tech sites that using a tablet with 16:9 aspect ration on portrait was a bit ridiculous, and you know what, it kind of feels weird. I guess it's something to get used to, but don't expect it to feel natural right off the bat.Subjective Items-UPDATED: No touch screen in laptop mode. To me this is a pro as the laptop screen doesn't have finger prints and it's matt which I love, I don't think I could stand a glossy screen for work all day. Also, the touchpad works so great that you may not miss touch so much in laptop mode. I can easily pinch to zoom, scroll, pull up charms, etc., all from the touchpad. You will want to touch the screen sometimes, specially after spending some time using the touch screen on the lid, but I'm happy with the way it is, another touch screen would've added more weight and a glossy screen in the front and that would've been a big issue for me.-The audio is a bit low for my taste. I had read that the audio was pretty loud, but I wouldn't consider it loud, I would consider it adequate but that's about it. I was expecting a bit more bang. That said, I listen to a lot of loud music and may be a bit deft already, so your mileage may vary.-This vs the surface pro? I went with this one because for just another $150 (vs surface with cover), I get a backlit keyboard, two screens and an adjustable screen that I can easily use in my lap, bed, couch, anywhere at the craziest angles, which I tend to do. The surface wouldn't work for me in the same way and I would've had to adjust. That said, I wanted mainly a great laptop with a nice enough tablet. I think the surface pro is a good tablet (not great due to low battery life too)and an OK laptop.-UPDATED: The keyboard lacks media buttons for pause/play/next track, etc. Those are useful while playing music. It also lacks the new windows keys that come with some keyboards for charms, search, etc. That said, it's a small keyboard and they couldn't have put everything in there. The other thing is that the function keys, F1 to F12, are primary vs the other items like brightness and volume. I prefer it the other way, but again this is subjective. I did fine a tool called KeyTweak which allows you to remap your keyboard keys however you want, and I have changed F10 through F12 for media buttons, so that problem is solved!**Lastly, this is a warning. The 128gb version, which is the one I have, only comes with 63gb of available space out of the box. This is crazy! I was expecting more like 90gb after windows, etc., but Asus has a 20gb recovery partition and a 4gb OEM partition in there, so that's pretty substantial and I plan to kill at least the recovery partition and get my space back**So the final verdict.I love it so far. Sure it has some drawbacks, but there's no perfect hybrid out there right now. I was planning to wait for second generation models but come on, life's too short to be waiting and waiting, I've been waiting long enough and this is 90% what I wanted so I'll take it and enjoy it. The battery life is the biggest limitation/con in my opinion, but I plan to buy an external battery of some sort to have around for emergencies or long meetings/seminars.To me this laptop is just AWESOME and I wouldn't buy anything else on the market over this for my own needs.
By|I went through most of the competition when selecting a hybrid and selected the Taichi as meeting all of my needs.
It has been more than a month and I am happy with my choice. Most of what can be said has been said by other reviewers, but I have one essential suggestion to add.Initially the Taichi infuriated me to no end with quirks and bugs such as the screen not flipping properly when opening the lid and the touchscreen and touchpad not recognizing some essential windows 8 gestures. It was bad enough that I considered returning the computer and waiting for the Asus transformer book, however a curious thing happened. While trying to delete the restore partition and reclaim disk space I completely borked the SSD partitions forcing me to re-install windows 8 with a retail Windows 8 Disc and reload the drivers.
I downloaded all of the latest drivers from support.asus (Use the support address because the Taichi product page support link wont have the drivers) and ever since everything works flawlessly.
This means that the Taichi is shipping with faulty outdated drivers. A complete reformat should not be necessary, but be sure to download all of the drivers and install them over the currently installed drivers.NOTE: On my Taichi without reformatting the SSD it would have been impossible to increase the size of my C partition because of an immovable 4GB system partition sitting between it and the recovery partition.
If you can get around that, you'll end up with 117GB of usable space.The Taichi isn't perfect (proprietary SSD interface, No built in SD reader, no inside touch), but I felt it worthy of 5 stars because there is nothing in the market I would trade it for.
By|Nice try, interesting concept, etc. Just not worth the pain in the neck. Waste of money. Was not a fun introduction to the hybrid/convertible market. Big mistake. I wrote a very positive review and wanted to like it last year, but it just got worse and worse after about the 4th month of owning it and using it.First of all mine is now sitting in a shelf in my closet. I will sell it to you for $100.After 1 year of using this thing and taking care of it, here is my experience:It was fun at first, but also very buggy from the start. For example auto screen brightness has never worked.Update to windows 8.1 was a disaster, went back to 8, and never bothered again.Battery is pathetic, and my charging port is also bad like an Achilles heal. I spent $150 repairing this at local shop (warranty won't cover this, bastards), but it still sucks. Gotta position the charger tip a certain wa in the port in order to make good contact and charge.Mirror mode hasn't worked for a few months. Not interested in sending in back to Asus for repair, because they hold onto it for a couple weeks, and this is my work laptop.Laptop performance is generally unreliable. The display sometimes gets stuck upside down. Switching between tablet screen and laptop screen is buggy, quirky, unreliable. And also embarrassing if you are doing it in front of people because it usually fails to switch smoothly and reliably. Just extremely buggy.The port on the left side broke after 6 months. That is the serial port adaptor. So that leaves me with two USB ports and a mini HDMI port. The one thing this baby does well is adapt to multiple monitors. I have to use a USB hub and various j5 graphic adaptors, but it works well, and that is the only reason I still use this thing at work.I never use the tablet screen because it is to buggy to be functional for work tasks.The back lit keyboard is nice, but it is buggy too. Sometimes it fluctuates from dim to bright and bright to dim for no reason.Another huge frustration, and this is common for me with Asus laptops, is that I can't get the power options to work consistently. The power options seem to reset, for example in terms of what closing the lod does or when to hibernate. This week I walked from it for a couple hours. It had a full battery when I walked away. It should have hibernated. It didnt. Maybe this is a conflict between Asus ware and the Microsoft ware.This was my first foray into the hybrid market. I learned a lot with this puppy. Just biding my time until I can justify purchasing something more reliable.Really need a portable with reliable battery, reliable charging, reliable power settings. This machine fails in all 3. This is a basic and important characteristic that is hard to find in modern electronics.
By|I purchased this machine in March, 2015 and I love the dual display and have not had any issues with the hardware. I upgraded to windows 8.1 and here is where I had a lot of problems with the dual screens not switching correctly. However, it seems ASUS and Microsoft have this worked out and ASUS provides the correct display drivers on their support website. Also, I believe the current windows 8.1 upgrade package now contains updated drivers that work correctly. This machine is blazing fast and I'm glad I updated to windows 8.1 even though it took a lot of hours to figure out the driver issues.I did discover that once I installed Office 360 and a few other programs that I now don't have much storage space left but I just use a USB or OneDrive if needed. If your wanting a laptop solution for home office or to keep a lot of personal files, then this is not the laptop for you. Get one with a hard drive rather than just a SSD. I have to admit, the price is great considering it's power. I use mine both like an iPad and a laptop which is great and I absolutely love it. Microsoft's store still needs a lot of work but it's getting their.Here are my recommendations for this machine: If your not familiar with Start8, you should download the free trial since the Start button has been removed from windows 8/8.1 and this handy little utility restores this feature. Reset your power settings to shutdown when the power button is pushed since the boot up only take a few seconds. Also, the sleep mode sometimes causes issues with the dual display functionality. If your brave, go ahead and upgrade to 8.1 but take the link from the ASUS support website for the Taichi 21. If you have trouble with the dual display working correct, download the bios update and display driver updates as they resolve these issues
By|I had bought two of these, one for myself and one for my inlaws.. It comes well packed in a great box. The Taichi is very stylish and looks great. Setting it up was very easy and it boots up and shuts down in seconds. There was one issue to note: The auto rotate on the tablet side can sometimes turn off. I had to call ASUS Taichi support, which is free and 24/7 dedicated to this product which is great. If this happens to your notebook just access the display settings (resolution page) from the tablet side and check the auto rotate button on. This setting is not available from the notebook side which makes can make this a nightmare if you don't figure this out. Two ASUS tech reps did not know what to do, the third did. This means keep calling until you find a good rep. Now I can kick back and watch movies on the tablet side and crunch out work in the day time on the notebook side. Loving it so far.
By|I have had the TaiChi for a couple days now and have to say it is everything I was looking for in an ultra-hybrid and am very satisfied with my purchase. I am the demographic that this form factor appeals to the most as I work for a large corporation, travel quite a bit, give presentations often, and like to play games at times. My goal with the TaiChi is to replace my HP EliteBook and my Asus EP121 tablet plus accessories when I travel. I won’t go into specifics on the features as it has been covered very well by other reviewers but what is really nice for me is the power this device has, and the ability to put it into tablet mode and angle the screen for the perfect profile to use a touch device.I am also planning on getting a USB with “Windows to Go” so I can have the best of both my work and play worlds. The idea is that I can leave my work PC behind and still have access to corporate resources when I need to without having to have my personal machine managed by corporate IT. This way they can be assured that I am not a danger to the network and I don’t have to have VPN and the bloat of other IT processes slowing down my user experience. If you are thinking about going this route, make sure the USB you purchase is certified for Windows to Go, I will update when I have it all running.The duel screens work very well and PowerPoint presentation mode works as you would expect with the two screens. The TaiChi comes with a micro HDMI to VGA adapter so I am good there, but I would also recommend getting a micro HDMI cable or adapter as well if you are giving a lot of presentations and need to be able to connect to various setups.The only nitpicks I see to this experience has been:1. Battery life – While it is not the same as my Kindle HD Fire I also understand that I have an Intel i7 processor and can run any PC software I own. I travel with my Kindle so it is not a big deal for me on airplanes and I am fine for power at work and hotels. I of course always want it to last longer!2. Windows logo – I wish there was an option to turn down the brightness of the Windows logo that also acts as the home button for Windows 8. When I watch a movie in a darker room, or potentially in a darkened aircraft it is annoying as it can be right in my face with the unit lid screen facing me. It should dim it like the screen based on the ambient light.3. Screen cleaning – I am always wiping down my screen but understand that it is a touch device for oily handed creatures.4. Windows shortcut keys for moving apps between monitors does not seem to work, but maybe it is me.Overall I would recommend this device for anyone that does a lot of travel and has to bring a lot of junk to support both your work and play worlds!
By|This is a product that is convenient for people who want something "decent" for having something to use while on travel to work. This is not a system for high processing or gaming. If you are looking for a gaming system you're going to want 2.6-3.+ CPU with minimum of 8GB of RAM. This is an excellent working machine not gaming. Coming from a powerful machine (i7 2700K @3.5GhZ (stock), 16GB DDR3, 250GB SSD, GTX760 (SLI), or even a good machine (i5 2.66Ghz, 8GB DDR3, Geforce M420, 7200RPM HDD), this is a pretty big step down.PROS: This definitely has a lot of neat items many of them things you don't need. The graphics on the tablet (top part) are really smooth to the point of eye candy. The inner monitor (for laptop functionality) is just average and somewhat dull.They give you a soft protection case where you can keep it (somewhat) safe. Just make sure you have the tablet (top) facing the back otherwise you will expose the glass.The monitor swap. Since this has a monitor on the top and the inside, you can press the square blue yin-yang like key (next to print screen) to use it for (1) laptop, (2) tablet, (3) shared view/mirror (where both parties see the same thing), (4) dual monitor (which theoretically allows two people to use the monitors independently. The last one I have not been able to get to work.CONS: The first issue that I IMMEDIATELY had issues with is the mouse pad buttons. The two mouse buttons on the touchpad are only broken up by 1 line drawn on the pad. You have to hit it exactly right (lower left and right corners) for it to respond effectively. The CORE issue for me was that upgrading to Windows 8.1 killed the tablet feature - dead. There is a fix - see below!******WINDOWS RELATED****** This was the second thing I particularly when it wanted me to run the update. This was what made me give it 3 stars instead of 4 (since it came with Windows). I had to restore the system 3 times (hard reset and hold down the F9 key until it shows the options to recover. You can RESET the whole thing (and lose all of your data) or "Refresh" and reset the applications but KEEP all your data. I had to do it 3 times because at each time, it kept freezing on "failure to update, reverting back" error.The Processing power is not what I am used to so it's average. I have the i5 @1.7Ghz and 4GB RAM (built in - not replaceable) and from someone who is used to the specs listed above), this seems quite slow.The default audio is terrible for someone who is an audiophile. The speakers are mediocre at best. There is no bass, it gets to sound a little tinny when you crank the volume to the max on some songs and it just lacks the power that even my Droid4 has! The hardware just doesn't have the amp to provide that sound you really want. So if you are trying to play a video presentation, the sound quality detracts significantly from the overall video you are watching. You have to use the MAXXAudio program (comes with the Ubook) to make the sound worthwhile from the speakers. The problem ultimately is that the amp of the hardware is lacking. Using a good amp (headset or speakers) provides a really rich sound. This apparently came with Bang & Olufson hardware but they don't seem like it.It's also much heavier than I expected. When it comes in the box it weighs 5lbs and loses 2lbs somehow when it's out of the box. But even with that it's still slightly heavy. I was hoping this wouldn't be so heavy especially seeing as I'm carrying this all over the place.RECOMMENDATIONS AND OTHER THOUGHTS:**FOR THE WINDOWS 8.1 UPDATE ISSUE*** I would recommend you first put all of your documents onto the computer. Then you will want to turn on system restore. You will want to also put all of your installation files for the various programs (word, media player, etc) on the computer BEFORE you install incase you also have to "refresh." Organize everything you want to install and then install them. THEN (very important here), create a system restore point.As a work around for the touchpad issue, I would recommend you get a small bluetooth mouse. It seems to be the best way to use the desktop environment. Just make sure you replace the AAA battery on the mouse first.The Stylus they provide is ONLY for the tablet. The two buttons do nothing but increase and decrease the sensitivity.****************************************************** TABLET DISABLED BY WINDOWS 8.1 UPDATE ******************************************************This took me 2 days to fix (including 2 different tech support guys. When you update to Windows 8.1, the tablet side (top) doesn't work. There is a core fix but I recommend you do the complete update:Get and install the following using the "GLOBAL" link option:- ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities Version V1.0.0030:
http://support.asus....KPackage_Win8_64_VER100030.zip- Intel INF Update Driver Version V9.3.0.1021 http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&s=475&m=TAICHI21&os=36&ft=23&f_name=Chipset_Intel_Win8_64_Z9301021.zip#Chipset_Intel_Win8_64_Z9301021.zip- Intel Graphics Driver Version V9.17.10.2857: http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&s=475&m=TAICHI21&os=36&ft=1&f_name=VGA_Intel_Taichi_Win7_64_Win8_64_Z.zip#VGA_Intel_Taichi_Win7_64_Win8_64_Z.zip- ASUS Close Lid Version V1.1.8: http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&s=475&m=TAICHI21&os=36&ft=14&f_name=CloseLid_Win8_64_VER118.zip#CloseLid_Win8_64_VER118.zipWhen you install it, you may have a later version of one (or two of) these items. Don't worry. You don't have to uninstall anything. Just install these files right over. This is just to have the latest stuff.***THE REAL FIX****FLASHING THE BIOS:(download all "GLOBAL"You first need this BIOS utility to actually install the bios update: http://support.asus....p#WinFlash_Win8_64_VER2420.zip.Get this bios version: http://support.asus....1AAS205.zip#TAICHI21AAS205.zip (you have to unzip this one file)Read this instruction: Here is the link http://support.asus....anguage=en&no=1802&t=0.*Though the instructions say hit F2 then F9, don't worry about that. I tried it, nothing happened. It went straight to Windows and worked.
By|SO MUCH TO LOVE:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I bought this computer after much research, seeing as this is the best ultrabook/touch screen windows 8 computer on the market. The hardware is amazing. I love the 1080p screens. I love the large mouse pad. I love the backlight, chicklet keyboard. I love the inclusion of two USB 3.0 points. And I especially love the great audio coming out of this small package.SO MUCH THAT ANNOYS ME:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. The two screens are recognized by Windows 8 as a main screen and a secondary monitor. This means that there is no easy built in way to adjust the brightness of the touch screen with Windows 8. The built in adjustments only work for your primary screen.2. Additionally, my ASUS smart gesture driver keeps randomly failing. I've reinstalled it multiple times. I've tried reinstalling Windows. But every other day, the driver just randomly quits out and I love my two finger gestures and those crucial Windows 8 swipes.3. The glass on the touch screen feels to flexible. Writing for hours a day in classes, I can feel the glass deform under my palm when writing and it really worries me. I previously owned a Fujitsu Lifebook tablet for 4 years and the glass touch screen was much more solid and just felt more reliable.4. The two screens packed into a thin lid make the computer unbalanced, and fatigue the hinge too easily. After a brief period of desktop only use, the hinge barely held the set position. The heavy screens always wanted to slip further back.SO MUCH THAT I HATE:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. A had to return a Taichi because the touch screen kept registering false taps in the top right corner. This was stupidly frustrating since it messed up my gesture password and would randomly close programs. Imagine browsing the internet when randomly 10 blank tabs open. Having to return a Taichi for this reason just makes me question the outside glass surface even more.2. I had to return my second Taichi because the battery kept losing life. After two weeks of use the battery wouldnt charge beyond 89%. The charger's LED indicator never went green. Windows would always say "89% charged, and not charging" even though it was plugged in. I'm sure this will just get worse until the battery is completely dead. The Taichi doesn't have stellar battery life to begin with, but issues like these are inexcusable.IN CONCLUSION-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Overall there is much to love. Physically, this computer is one of the very best to launch with Windows 8. Unfortunately, this line of ultrabooks seem to be plagued by issues. The time and effort I've spent setting up and trouble shooting two malfunctioning laptops has really hurt my opinion on ASUS PCs.
By|This is a great little convertible but if I had to do it again, I would choose a single screen device.Because it has two screens, the drivers are not reliable or fast switching from laptop to tablet mode on the fly.
Occasionally I'll reboot if for example, the multi-touch feature is not working in laptop mode or there is no touch interface active in the tablet mode.
It is supposed to switch automatically when opening or closing the device. Sometimes it does not switch at all and you have to use the special screen mode key on the keyboard to select inner, outer or both screens, or toggle the lock switch if tablet mode is not working.Sometimes I wish it could do tent mode but the single screen mode with the device open is locked to sit like a backwards laptop, and tent mode would be upside down. I have had it work in tent mode before but that was because the drivers failed to switch occasionally. Usually it just turns on the laptop screen and turns off the tablet screen the minute you crack it open.In tablet mode, it does automatically re orient if not locked based on gravitational position, but sometimes it does not.The battery life is more like that of a typical laptop. You are lucky to get 3-4 hours out of it. The charging time can take more than a couple of hours, contrary to what some have suggested (30 minutes).I did have some intermittent problems with the touch screen digitizer and almost sent it back until I realized there would be a restocking fee (not an Amazon seller). Once in a while when powered on it acts as if a ghost is touching the upper right corner but it can be corrected by suspending and starting, and happens rarely now. I'll claim warranty if it gets worse.The Micro VGA connector/adapter is too similar to the micro HDMI. If you have bad eyes, be careful not to try to plug the micro HDMI cable into the VGA (left side) connector or you will damage it, I assume part of the system board.The 128GB solid state drive is almost half used up by the OS and ASUS utilities.There is no SD or micro SD adapter. If you want more storage you'll have to use a clunkier USB drive, although it does have two high speed USB 3.0 ports.It sometimes seems a little slow with a few things open, and probably because of all the ASUS bloatware, but I should have considered an i7 model with 8GB of RAM.On the plus side, it is light sleek and amazingly thin for a clam shell.The dual screen can be useful for presenting PowerPoint
or other material in mirror or extended mode,
but I'd practice and iron out possible issues before taking it to a customer site.I did upgrade to 8.1 and it had no issues, but I will attempt to update all ASUS drivers to see if some of the other issues can be improved.All in all, I'm happy with the purchase, and people who see it really think it's pretty cool, but I would consider a single screen device with a longer battery life I had to buy again. Maybe the next generation will be better.
By|I absolutely love this little computer. People have a giant hate on for them because the inner screen is not a touch screen...
I came from Windows 7 to this which has windows 8. It wasn't a big deal for me at all.
Every person that has seen mine or used it has thought it was the coolest laptop/tablet ever.
I agree with them!
My work requires me to generate reports and often I have to meet with clients to go over the reports.
I can turn on both screens and they can sit across the table from me and view the tablet (outer)
Or I can keep the kids busy with a movie on the outer screen while I do work on the laptop screen.
I enjoy it so much that this purchase is actually a backup...
It will sit in the box until my current one craps out.
Only bad thing is Asus totally dropped this line. Discontinued the laptop as well as any future driver/firmware updates.
Will not work with windows 10 as well. Do not do that upgrade. If you update it from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 get ready to put google to use because yoir going to have to do a little fiddling to get it all working properly after.
That being said I still love it and when my current one and my backup both fail years from now,
I'll probably try and track down another one unless another company creates something similar. The two screens...
It's such a great idea I was sad that it didn't catch on.
I would give it 5 stars... Heck I'd give it 6 stars...
Except for the fact that Asus dropped their support for this little mighty machine.
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