ASUS Transformer Pad 300 Review

Test Methodology: In all of our test vehicles for the following benchmarks, we ran each tablet at its performance optimized settings where available, with the exception of the Transformer Prime, which was tested with Normal and Balanced power profile settings, and the Transformer Pad 300, which was tested at Performance and Balanced power profile settings. Normal mode on the Transformer Pad 300 offers the full performance of its NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor (plus a .1GHz goose on core 1), whereas Balanced mode compromises performance a bit to conserve power, capping the CPU at 1.2GHz max frequency. Beyond that, each tablet was also connected to a wall power source to ensure full performance. Here's a quick spec rundown for each tablet tested.

• Asus Transformer Pad 300 - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.2GHz Quad-Core (+ fifth companion core)
• Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.3GHz Quad-Core (+ fifth companion core)
• Asus Eee Pad Transformer - NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz Dual-Core
• Apple iPad 2 - Apple A5 Dual-Core
• Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet - NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz Dual-Core
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz Dual-Core
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus - 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos Dual Core

In the following tests, we take a look at how the Transformer Pad 300 compares to other tablets by running a few common benchmarks that are currently available in the Android Marketplace. The first two tests are general purpose computing type benchmarks.

CPU Performance Testing Android CPU Testing

Unfortunately, the Transformer Pad 300 fell behind the Transformer Prime in Linpack, though it bested the rest of the field. The difference between the two Transformers isn’t large, but the Transformer Pad 300 is certainly taking a backseat here. Note that because of difference between Linpack for Android versus Linpack for iOS, we had to omit the iPad 2 from our test results.

Web Browser Performance Testing Android Browser Testing

The above two tests are browser-based benchmarks designed to determine a target device's performance with respect to Javascript processing and HTML rendering. Righware's Browser Mark specifically looks at browser performance, whereas SunSpider solely looks at Javascript. In general, these are lightly threaded workloads.

In the Rightware test, the Transformer Pad 300 in Balanced mode delivered a disappointing score, near the bottom of the pack. It’s especially disappointing as it’s one of only two Tegra 3-based tablets in our reference bank. In Performance mode, however, the tablet turned in the second-best score in the field, taking a backseat only to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus.

SunSpider shows again the difference in performance between the Transformer Pad 300’s Balanced and Performance modes--and possibly the weakness of its Balanced mode overall. The tablet came in with a worse score in Balanced mode than the Transformer Prime; the difference isn’t large, but technically the newer tablet should offer at least a nominal performance boost. In Performance mode, on the other hand, the Transformer Pad 300 delivered a strong score, which was bested only (though significantly) by the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus.