Asus Taichi 21 (11-inch, Core i7-3517U Processor 1.9GHz, 4GB RAM)

More of a clever proof-of-concept than a practical product, the Asus Taichi still delivers on its basic promise, combining two displays for a unique take on the laptop/tablet/hybrid genre.

One of the most unusual Windows 8 systems seen to date is the Asus Taichi. And that's saying something, as we've already seen laptops with screens that flip, fold, rotate, slide, and separate completely from the bottom half of the clamshell. 

Available in both 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch Ultrabook-branded models, both versions of the Taichi share one notable feature: A double-sided LED-backlit IPS display. That means there is a standard clamshell laptop screen, and then a second screen pointing out from where the back of the lid would normally be. The model we tested was an Intel Core 7 version with 11.6-inch displays that costs US$1,599 (a Core i5 version is available for US$1,299).

While you can choose to use one screen or the other, you can also use both in tandem, with the outer screen acting as a secondary display, able to either duplicate or extend the interior display. That could be useful for sharing a presentation, for example, or for putting some distracting video content on the outer screen for the kids, while you're working on something productive on the interior screen. 

The actual real-world usefulness of this feature is admittedly a question mark, and nearly everyone I've shown the system to has expressed doubts about its practicality, especially with so many high-quality thin, powerful, Ultrabook-style laptops available for less. The truth is that it's probably only really useful in a handful of very specific situations, but if you happen to find yourself in one of those on a regular basis, it may feel as if Asus has been reading your mind.

(Credit: CNET)

While the dual-screen setup does indeed work as advertised, the system as a whole suffers from one nearly fatal flaw. The outer 11-inch screen is a standard Windows 8 touchscreen, but the interior screen, where you'll likely spend most of your time, is not touch-enabled. It's a hugely frustrating oversight, especially as nearly every new Windows 8 system we've seen has a touchscreen, and certainly everything in this price range.

Design

At first glance, the Asus Taichi 21 looks and feels a lot like other 11-inch Ultrabook-style laptops, with a relatively thin body, an interior tray dominated by a large touchpad, and a surface dominated by brushed metal and glass.

While the idea of having a second screen built into the back of the lid may seem like the kind of thing that would be hard to miss, when the screen is off, it's virtually invisible. The only difference between this and a laptop such as the 11-inch Asus X202E is that the back of the lid appears to be made of shiny glass. That's a look we've also seen in the original HP Spectre and the more recent Acer Aspire S7, so it's not as visually jarring as one might think.

Specifications as reviewed	Asus Taichi 21
Price as reviewed	US$1,599
Processor	1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U
Memory	4GB, 1,600MHz DDR3
Storage	256GB SSD
Chipset	Intel HM77
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 4000
Operating system	Windows 8
Dimensions (WD)	306.6 x 199.3mm
Height	17.4mm
Screen size (diagonal)	11.6-inch
System weight	1.25kg
Category	Ultraportable

That external screen is actually the nicer-looking of the two, feeling like an upscale Windows 8 touchscreen covered by edge-to-edge glass. When the lid is closed, it operates like a thick Windows 8 tablet (but a powerful Core i7 one at that). 

The interior screen, where you'll be spending most of your time, is less impressive. It's surrounded by a thick black bezel and feels a bit too small for the chassis. But the biggest problem, and the Taichi's fatal flaw, as mentioned earlier, is that this is not a touchscreen. That's right, you've got a dual-screen laptop, with one touch display and one non-touch display. 

Needless to say, this can get confusing pretty quickly. Even after several days of heavy use, I kept reaching for the main screen to scroll and swipe, a problem exacerbated by the fact that nearly every new Windows 8 laptop has a touchscreen, and the OS itself is unambiguously a pain to use without touch. 

With Intel's new rules for next-gen Ultrabooks including a touchscreen requirement, I'd bet that the next iteration of the Taichi will include dual touchscreens, and frankly, that one small change will make this a much more useful system. 

Features

You control the two screens, both of which have a 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution, via an Asus app, which is itself controlled by a button just to the right of the F12 button on the keyboard. From the Taichi control app, you can monitor free hard drive space, adjust power settings, and control what happens to the outer screen when you close the lid. More importantly, you can scroll through the four different screen modes: Interior screen only; exterior screen only; mirror image on both screens; or dual-screen mode, which treats the outer screen as an external monitor.

(Credit: CNET)

A favorite parlor game at our office has been inventing scenarios where the dual-screen Taichi would be useful. These include sharing a video or presentation without flipping your entire laptop around to show someone; playing media content on one side while you work on another; or maybe an excellent dual-screen version of the classic game Battleship.

There are definitely a handful of promising scenarios, but I'm not sure how many potential Taichi owners encounter these specific situations on a regular basis. All that said, the dual screens work as advertised, and it's an impressive tech demo, if nothing else. 

	Asus Taichi 21	Average for category (ultraportable)
Video	Micro-HDMI, mini-VGA	HDMI or DisplayPort
Audio	Stereo speakers, combo headphone/microphone jack	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	2 USB 3.0	2 USB 3.0, SD card reader
Networking	Ethernet (via dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	Ethernet (via dongle), 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband
Optical drive	None	None

Fortunately, the input tools provided help make up for the lack of an interior touchscreen. The island-style, flat-top keyboard is similar to what you'd find on most ultraportable laptops, with keys that are large enough for comfortable typing, and especially large Shift, Enter, and Tab keys. The touchpad is of the large, button-less, clickpad style that's become popular in the past year or so. For an 11-inch laptop, it's a good size, and multitouch gestures, such as two-finger scrolling, worked well. 

But, as a touchscreen substitute for navigating Windows 8, even an excellent touchpad is second-best, if only because the Windows 8 UI requires a lot of counter-intuitive edge and corner swiping to work. 

Even for an ultraportable laptop, the Taichi is light on ports and connections. The usual SD card slot is missing, and any kind of video output will require a dongle to connect, as will an Ethernet cable. The system is self-contained enough for casual use, but no one wants to be stuck carrying around a bag full of adapter cables just in case.

Performance and battery life

Besides the Core i7/256GB SSD version we tested, a less-expensive version of the Taichi 21 is also available. That drops the CPU down to the Core i5 and the SSD down to 128GB, which is a pretty standard setup for a US$700-to-US$1,000 Ultrabook. That lower-end model is still US$1,299, but it does include two 1,920 x 1,080-pixel screens.

(Credit: CNET)

In our CNET Labs performance tests, the Core i7 in our test unit worked as expected, turning in faster scores than Core i5 and Atom Windows 8 hybrids, and matching up well against other recent Core i7 systems. In heavy anecdotal use, speed and performance was never a problem, even with both screens running at once with multiple windows open on each. 

Multimedia Multitasking test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Asus Taichi 21

413 

Acer Aspire S7-391-9886

487 

Dell XPS 12

517 

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

589 

HP Envy x2

2367 

Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Acer Aspire S7-391-9886

170 

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

188 

Dell XPS 12

199 

Asus Taichi 21

257 

HP Envy x2

992 

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Acer Aspire S7-391-9886

109 

Asus Taichi 21

110 

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

127 

Dell XPS 12

148 

HP Envy x2

718 

Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

HP Envy x2

452 

Acer Aspire S7-391-9886

386 

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

330 

Dell XPS 12

283 

Asus Taichi 21

277 

As one might expect from an experimental system such as this, battery life was not its strong suit. Using only the interior screen, the Taichi ran our video playback battery drain test for four hours and 37 minutes, putting it one to two hours behind other current Core i7 laptops. With the test running on both screens simultaneously, the system ran for three hours and 11 minutes, which seems reasonably impressive.

Conclusion

The Asus Taichi 21 is fun, inventive, and a great conversation starter. It's also likely more clever than practical for many, and has a bit of a novelty feel--but that's true of many of the new breed of Windows 8 laptop/tablet hybrids, as PC makers struggle to find forms that will appeal to consumers. The marketplace will ultimately decide which designs move forward. 

If you're interested in a dual-screen Taichi, however, we suggest waiting for the next generation of hardware (if there is one), which will likely have dual touchscreens instead of this model's mix of touch and non-touch.

Service and support

Asus includes a one-year international warranty for the Tachi 21. The company also provides support for issues related to the operating system or its bundled software via phone and online. BIOS and driver updates are available on its Web site.

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations
Asus Taichi 21
Windows 8 Pro (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB SanDisk SSD
Dell XPS 12
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 32MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB LITEONIT SSD
Acer Aspire S7-391-9886
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 128MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 256GB Intel SSD
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13
Windows 8 (64-bit); 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 3317U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600MHz; 32MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 128GB Samsung SSD
HP Envy x2
Windows 8 (32-bit); 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760; 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 747MB (Total) Intel GMA; 64GB SSD