So I jumped the gun a bit last night in thinking that the BlueStacks Windows 8 integration was all that ASUS had meant with their cryptic teasers. Earlier today ASUS took the wraps off the ASUS Transformer AiO which is both a full Windows 8 all-in-one touchscreen desktop and a somewhat massive 18.4-inch Android tablet running Android 4.0.
What exactly does this look like in action? Well you can check out the video from The Verge below for a quick peek at the system both in its dock as a Windows 8 desktop and then undocked in all of its gigantic Android 4.0 glory.
The AiO isn't quite ready yet, and while it currently seems to immediately switch to Android when undocked, that is actually supposed to require the push of a button as it can function remotely around the house as a wireless display for the Windows 8 PC, but that is dependent on the base station being in range.
The docking base features multiple USB 3.0 ports, ethernet and an optical drive. The screen is LED backlit and supports up to 10-point multitouch.
If ASUS was offering this dual-boot functionality in some of the Windows 8 tablets that they showed off today, which look identical to the Transformer Prime hardware if you haven't seen them, I would probably be throwing my money at them already.
Now I'm not in the market for a desktop so that doesn't help the cause, but I'm not sure I see the appeal here. What's the use case for an 18.4-inch Android tablet in your mind? Mildly portable media center and gaming rig once you pair it with a controller? Lay it on the coffee table for some Android board game fun?
Let us know what you think of the ASUS Transformer AiO in the comments, and if you have any clever ideas for uses, we are all ears.
