2 of 2 
Verdict
Not without flaws, but as a professional tablet suited to graphical work it has a certain appeal
Review Date: 8 Apr 2011
Reviewed By: David Bayon
Price when reviewed: £833 (£1,000 inc VAT)
Overall Rating
Features & Design
Value for Money
Performance
The Asus Eee Slate EP121 is not designed to take on the iPad. It’s important to get that out of the way immediately, because it’s an unfair comparison made by pretty much everyone we've shown it to. This Windows 7 tablet is aimed far more at professionals than those looking for their daily hit of Angry Birds.
The internals give that away immediately. Rather than crawling along on Atom power, the Eee Slate has a 1.3GHz Core i5-470UM processor – a low-voltage part that, while not quite as full-fat as it sounds, offers vastly more power than other popular tablets. Along with 4GB of DDR3, it completed our real-world benchmarks with an overall score of 0.39, and managed some excellent scores in our Media tests: it proved nearly three times faster than the AMD Brazos chip in the Acer Iconia W500.
That makes video and photo editing, along with all manner of other graphical work, a realistic option, as we proved by comfortably editing a 1080p video in Sony Vegas Pro 10. Sure, once you’re done creating, it won’t blitz through the encoding as fast as a workstation laptop, despite its 64GB of flash storage, but then most workstation laptops don’t have the Eee Slate’s touchscreen and digitiser pen.
Open a flap on the top-right edge and out it pops, allowing you to scrawl and tap your way around interfaces that a finger prod just wouldn’t be able to navigate. This single addition gets you past all of the usual problems we have with Windows 7 on touch devices, such as the list menus and the tiny window controls. We’re not going to pretend the Eee Slate turns Windows into iOS or Android, but on a screen this large it’s certainly usable, particularly if you up the DPI to 125%.
What it can do that those rival OSs can’t is run full Windows applications. To this end Asus has bundled the Eee Slate with a rebranded Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard, as well as a folding leather case with two rear flaps that prop the screen at comfortable angles, in a similar fashion to an iPad case.
The internals give that away immediately. Rather than crawling along on Atom power, the Eee Slate has a 1.3GHz Core i5-470UM processor – a low-voltage part that, while not quite as full-fat as it sounds, offers vastly more power than other popular tablets. Along with 4GB of DDR3, it completed our real-world benchmarks with an overall score of 0.39, and managed some excellent scores in our Media tests: it proved nearly three times faster than the AMD Brazos chip in the Acer Iconia W500.
That makes video and photo editing, along with all manner of other graphical work, a realistic option, as we proved by comfortably editing a 1080p video in Sony Vegas Pro 10. Sure, once you’re done creating, it won’t blitz through the encoding as fast as a workstation laptop, despite its 64GB of flash storage, but then most workstation laptops don’t have the Eee Slate’s touchscreen and digitiser pen.
Open a flap on the top-right edge and out it pops, allowing you to scrawl and tap your way around interfaces that a finger prod just wouldn’t be able to navigate. This single addition gets you past all of the usual problems we have with Windows 7 on touch devices, such as the list menus and the tiny window controls. We’re not going to pretend the Eee Slate turns Windows into iOS or Android, but on a screen this large it’s certainly usable, particularly if you up the DPI to 125%.
What it can do that those rival OSs can’t is run full Windows applications. To this end Asus has bundled the Eee Slate with a rebranded Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard, as well as a folding leather case with two rear flaps that prop the screen at comfortable angles, in a similar fashion to an iPad case.
User comments
Incorrect Specs Listed
This machine does include an SD/XC card reader. The specs incorrectly list it as absent.By pelleg10 on 8 Apr 2011
"ultimately it’s held back by Windows’ lacklustre touch experience"
I think this depends on what you think touch is there for. The quote rather seems to me like telling the Phoenicians - this writing business will never catch on - it's nothing like as satisfying as smearing your thumbs in the mud.
Unless and until we get screen that cope with both accurate screen based writing (presumably stylus based) and rough gestures, we'll be left with 2 radically different GUIs
By AdrianB on 8 Apr 2011
How an artist work
"...the other question is whether graphics professionals wouldn’t be better served by pairing an Apple Macbook Pro 13 with a Wacom graphics tablet..."This is a common misunderstanding. Using a pen/stylus is only really good when you can draw on the same surface as your actual drawing. Using a wacom tablet (unless its a Cintiq) is better than a mouse but can never compare to pen and paper. The Eee Slate can.
By dasse on 11 Apr 2011
I like......
.......but does anyone know if you can bosh Ubuntu on this? I don't mind a bit of effort being required *goes off to research the net*By Waderider on 11 Apr 2011
No
I was hoping that this review would be a good review, but, right at the end it all fell apart with that one comment, "held back by Windows’ lacklustre touch experience."here is a guide to ensure the fans stay nice and quiet:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/ep121-slate/39778-
ep121-out-box-tweak-clean-services-applications.ht
ml
P.s. I managed to clean install, setup drivers and applications, get onto the domain and do the usual browsing with... my little pinky. As far as I see it, if you can browse on the web and play Plants vs Zombies/Angry birds via touch, it's a valid touch device.
Oh well.
By rhythm on 11 Apr 2011
There are many tweaks you can make to Windows 7 to make it more touch friendly. You can also do much to improve startup time and battery life by removing unnecessary software, disabling some services and turning off the power hungry Aero UI effects.
However, Pen Input is far more useful than you seem to give it credit. It is lack of pen input that marks the iPad out as a toy rather than a useful tool.
Windows 7's handwriting recognition is excellent and the ability to handwrite notes and drawings in Office applications is a real boon for many people. Busy managers love being able to scribble on Word documents and email them direct from a tablet PC. It is so much easier for them than having to type.
Try running OneNote on a slate PC and taking it to a meeting. You get to handwrite your notes, just like on paper, but later you can click a couple of buttons and your handwritten notes are transformed into typewritten text to be transferred to emails or formal minutes.
Handwriting is also searchable so your quick scribbles can be found easily later.
Touch is good but we don't write with our fingers. We write with pens.
Simon Jones
By Simon_Jones_RWC on 19 Apr 2011
Simon, I agree with you. We've had many an argument over this in the office, and I seem to be in the minority in thinking the pen really does make it a viable tablet - albeit in a totally different category to the current crop. My conclusion was originally more positive but the group consensus won out. That's democracy for you!
David
By DavidBayon on 19 Apr 2011
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