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Jon Brodkin - Jun 4, 2012 4:08 pm UTC

Asus’s line of Transformer devices has shown the world what Android can do in a PC that doubles as a touchscreen tablet. But for those who want a full PC operating system in their laptop/tablet hybrids, Asus is now showing off a forthcoming line of Windows 8 Transformers with Intel’s Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors, NVIDIA graphics, 4GB of RAM, SSD storage, and a detachable touchscreen.

Announced today at Computex in Taiwan, the Asus Transformer Book will come in 11.6, 13, and 14-inch screens with a resolution of 1920x1080, and a range of Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors, according to ExtremeTech. Asus showed off some prototype hardware, Engadget notes, but details such as the exact NVIDIA graphics card to be used, as well as pricing and availability, are yet to be revealed.

The release preview of Windows 8 was unveiled by Microsoft last week, with a final version expected around October. Besides Asus, Acer, and Toshiba are unveiling Windows 8 tablets this week.

Extremetech said the prototype from Asus is not without problems. “The tablet is positively riddled with air vents,” the site notes, while raising questions about the battery life for a device with such powerful hardware.

Asus had a busy day, also revealing a new Windows 8 tablet based on ARM processors. While Asus’s new tablet/laptop hybrids are Windows 8-only, Asus will continue supporting Android with an 18.4-inch desktop PC that dual boots both Windows 8 and Google’s mobile OS, according to Engadget. We'd think a Windows 8/Android dual-boot would be more useful in a handheld tablet, but with Computex just getting started, there should be many more devices on the way.

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