ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Tablet 32GB $481 at Expansys

OK, we know this is Expansysive, ben. But why is this a bargain?

20 off 500 and over orders, wont work with 499.99

Specs sound good but still a little to pricey for me. I'll stick with my Nook Color for a while longer.

This looks like a really nice tablet, but earlier adopters pay the premium prices. I'm waiting awhile and this will be much lower. There is a great consumer market developing for tablets right now and the prices are all starting to fall, as predicted. Don't get your panties in a bunch for the latest and greatest all at once. Patience everyone. All good things to those that wait...

I'm gonna hazard a prediction, based on how the first 2 months went with the 1st gen Transformer: specifically, I predict both hardware and software problems (nothing huge, just lots of little "is it really ready for the street?" type issues) followed by (1) dozens of angry reviews and minor revolts on user forums, and then (2) a series of rapid firmware bugfixes issued by Asus.

My point is that early adopters not only pay more, but they also get to be free (for the manufacturer) beta testers!

I should note (or at least I understand) that Prime is coming with Honeycomb, and will get updated to ICS a few weeks afterward. I'm sure that whole process will have a few bumps along the way too. I ended up getting the T1 in October, at a good price and months after the April release, and have nothing but good things to say about the device.

Wow, I wonder if the first issue will be battery life?

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/1/2601558/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review

"On our standard test with brightness set at 65 percent and power saving mode switched on, the tablet lasted six hours and five minutes exactly an hour longer than when it was set to normal mode. Still, that's an hour shorter than the original Transformer, which lasted seven hours and 27 minutes on the same standard test (the same 65 percent screen brightness setting, etc). Asus maintains that the screen brightness is the culprit here, and I tend to agree with them 65 percent brightness on the Prime is higher than on the original Transformer and most other tablets. I don't have a light meter, so I cannot measure the exact brightness equality amongst the screens."

if what nvidia ceo said is true about tegra 3 tablets going for $200-$300 in the first half of next year, i'll wait.

I know that they may not be in the same league but as Amazon sells trillions of "Fire's" these other tablet makers are gonna have to either reduce prices or truly create the iOink.

What the? Ben's filters changed the word k*ller to a knock knock joke. Too funny.

@matthew, good point, and enlightening for people who are thinking of jumping into the tablet fray. Also while this is the most powerful tablet on the market via hardware spec, at this price you are getting into IPad 2 territory. In my opinion, having access to the iOS ecosystem is more important to most people than raw power.

Eh, Apple can have their closed iOS ecosystem. I'll take the freedom of Android over the walled garden any day.

To me, the early reviews look OK. And quad core with free upgrade to ICS! That makes this is the best tablet out and it's at a (slight) discount! I think that's post worth, even though today's mythical $99 HP is more affordable.

Is it just me or does the coupon code not work? I tried it on the Champagne as listed and the 64 GB Gray model, neither of which works.

@Matthew

You missed the 2nd part:

However, there's another explanation for the shorter run time on our standard test: when I ran a video rundown using a 720p clip with brightness set at 65 percent and in power saving mode, the tablet lasted nearly two hours longer yes, it ran for nine hours and 19 minutes. (By the way, video playback was extremely smooth at that setting.) According to Nvidia, Tegra 3 is optimized for video and thus doesn't use the added cores when playing HD video. Nvidia and Asus hold that the standard Verge Battery Test script keeps all cores active (even in balanced or power saving mode), and that those test results would be representative of somebody sitting down and playing a game like ShadowGun which draws on all the cores.

Coupon code not working for me either.

@BenKat BBF changed my nickname to carrot the other day. I stopped using it when it became a swear anyway.

The coupon works at checkout, it just doesn't show until you submit. Enter it in the "Voucher" field. This is a deal because the pre-orders have sold out so quickly, even without $20 off. Amazon had to cancel some of their pre-orders:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/amazon-canceling-some-transformer-prime-pre-orders-supply-short/

Just put in my order for the 64 GB wo!