Asus Transformer Book Duet: Windows & Android Together Again for the First Time

There are many geeks and some regular mobile device users who like to be multi-platform, or platform agnostic, seeking to enjoy the best of what all mobile OS providers offer. Typically that means lugging around multiple devices, or making a choice of which one to carry out the door. There have been attempts at creating dual booting or dual operating systems before, but they’ve never really captured most consumers’ attention.  Asus is one of the companies that has traveled down this two lane highway before with the Transformer Book Trio and the Transformer AiO that offered solutions for having Windows and Android on the same device. Although both of those solutions had limitations that made the marriage less than compatible.

At CES 2014, Asus is announcing that it is taking one voice away from the Trio with the Transformer Book Duet 3500. Unlike the Trio, which only allowed you to run Android when the Tablet was detached, the Transformer Book Duet 3500 lets you run either Windows 8.1 or Android 4.2 in any mode. Asus says the Duet is the first quad mode, dual OS laptop, which might argue for the name to be more along the lines of quartet if you want to get picky.

The Transformer Book Duet features the familiar Asus detachable components, but this time around both the Windows and the Android OS are powered by one 4th generation Intel Haswell processor. (Core i3 up to Core i7).  Pressing one button switches you between Windows 8.1 or Android 4.2. The keyboard dock comes equipped with up to 1TB in disk space and USB, Ethernet and HDMI connections.

You’ll be looking at choices in the specs mentioned above, but also with display resolutions for the 13.3 inch screen. There is a 1366 x 768 variant an a full 1080p variant as well. Prices, depending on your configuration will start at $599. Asus expects to be shipping in the US at the end of the second quarter.

Based on the video, the Transformer Book Duet 3500 looks to be ready for the Internet as the guy settling in for the evening looks to be enjoying pictures about his cat.