ASUS announces Transformer Book Duet hybrid running Android adn Windows

Android or Windows? Why not both! That’s the thinking behind latest hybrid tablet-laptop from ASUS that dual-boots both Android 4.1 and Windows 8.1.

Revealed at CES, the Transformer Book Duet sports a 13.3-inch 1080p multi-touch display, 4GB of RAM and an Intel Core i7 processor. In the tablet portion of the device, you’ll find a 128GB SSD, with another terabyte of traditional storage in the laptop dock itself. According to ASUS, switching between Windows and Android is a breeze and should only take around four seconds. The Transformer Book Duet is a little heavier and a little thicker than most Android tablets and Windows Ultrabooks, but at 4.1 pounds combined it still makes for a powerful, portable device.

While there’s no availability information for the Transformer Book Duet yet, ASUS has revealed a price. And it’s probably the most exciting thing about it. ASUS puts the Transformer Book Duet at just $599. Considering it’s not uncommon to see Ultrabooks priced at twice that for similar specs, on paper, the Transformer Book Duet looks like a great deal. As for how it actually performs in real life, hopefully we’ll get back to you with more on that as CES continues. ASUS has a positive track record with Transformer devices, so we’re expecting good things.