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Power isn't everything. Or so we're told. But when it comes to a mobile device you could be forgiven for seeking out the device with the fastest processor and most memory in the hope that it will provide the best user experience.
In an effort to shed a little subjectivity on the subject of power über alles we've chosen to take Asus' new Eee Pad Transformer Prime, a tablet that offers up more muscle than your average office workstation, and compare it with the sedate class that is Apple's iPad 2.
Form & Build
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime - ?, ?, 8.3mm, 586g
Apple iPad 2 - 241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8 mm, 607g
The iPad 2, with its distinct minimalist design, thick bezel and thin form factor is a wonderful device to pick up and use – and it's not half-bad to look at either. Though one gripe would be that it isn't the 'grippiest' of devices to hold if you're pottering about.
Asus' Eee Pad Transformer Prime shares an almost identical bezel with the iPad 2 and is arguably just as good looking as its inspiration, but it also shares Apple's drawbacks with a shiny back plate that's just great for dropping your new device on the floor.
Winner - Draw
Camera
Apple's iPad 2 isn't overly blessed in the photographic department. The device features a front facing VGA camera for FaceTime use and a 0.7-megapixel rear-facing, or primary, camera for everything else.
The primary camera produces snaps of a kind of quality you would expect from a 0.7-megapixel camera, which is to say largely disappointing, but it does capture video at 720P, and the results there are much more pleasing.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime features an 8-megapixel primary shooter, which has an LED flash and autofocus, that produces some nice images in ideal light. The device also captures video in full 1080P and offers a secondary 1.2-megapixel camera for video calling.
Overall the Transformer Prime is, we think, the best tablet on the market in terms of photographic prowess, so it easily despatches the lacklustre iPad 2 in this round.
Winner - Asus Eee Transformer Prime
Software
Where the iPad 2 really comes into its own is its operating system. The device runs on iOS5 and the software makes basic hardware into a nearly indispensable gadget.
Web browsing is fast and immersive, the in-built apps for email, organisation and messaging are so easy to use it's frightening and the platform benefits from a wealth of apps in the Apple App Store, many of which are designed with the iPad 2 specifically in mind.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime runs on version 3.2 of Google's Android platform, otherwise known as Honeycomb and, for the most part, the software is fast, fun and easy to use.
Honeycomb has been tweaked by the boffins at Google to run perfectly on tablet devices and it shows. The new UI, with persistent notifications bar and holographic visuals is nice too look at and easy to use and the new core apps for the OS are equally well thought out.
On top of the core software you also get a vast amount of apps available courtesy of the Android Market, but where the software begins to wane is with its lack of specific apps.
It's all well and good buying and installing a great app, but if it has been designed with a 3.7-inch smartphone screen in mind you really aren't going to get the most out of it.
Things are developing on that front, with new tablet-centric apps making it into the Android Market every day but even with that improvement Android on a tablet just won't be as slick and fun to use as iOS. Sorry, Google.
Winner - Apple iPad 2
Display
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime boasts a 10.1-inch Super IPS+ LCD screen that operates at a resolution of 1280x800 and features a pixel density of 149PPI.
The screen is fronted with Corning's Gorilla Glass to protect it from light scrapes and knocks and, on the whole, it performs excellently.
Colours are bright, blacks are deep and the screen responds well to the touch.
The iPad 2 features an LED-backlit IPS TFT screen that operates at a resolution of 768 x 1024 and offers a pixel density of 132PPI.
The screen is a solid performer all-round with nice viewing angles, rich colours and a protective coating to rival the Gorilla Glass of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime.
The only real way of separating these devices in the screen stakes is with pixel density and even then the difference is minimal and certainly not enough to laud one over the other.
Winner - Draw
Power
Without wanting to come across all Jeremy Clarkson: the Asus Eee Transformer Prime is a monster.
It features a quad-core 1.3GHz CPU which chews jobs up without pausing for breath and the ULP GeForce GPU does pretty much the same for all things visual.
The device benefits from 1GB RAM too, which makes apps open in a flash and allows multi-tasking to flow nicely.
It comes in 32GB and 64GB flavours, as well as supporting MicroSD cards up to 32GB in capacity.
In comparison the Apple iPad 2 looks a little stunted. Its 1GHz dual-core CPU is a good chip but when held-up against the architecture on display in the Transformer Prime it looks positively stone-aged, despite doing a decent enough job of keeping the tablet ticking over nicely.
The PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU is a good performer which is vastly benefitted by Apple's impressive game catalogue. The GPU handles its job well though and we certainly can't complain. How well it will cope with tomorrow's games remains to be seen though.
The iPad 2 comes with 512MB RAM and 16, 32 & 64GB of on-board storage and, as you all probably know by now, doesn't have any external expansion support – Apple likes to make sure we all get our content where it feels we're supposed to, rather than enjoying our own choices.
Winner - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime
Asus' Eee Pad Transformer Prime takes the win!
The device is fast, powerful and does virtually everything you could ask of it, though it falls flat with a lack of specific app support. That gripe aside the device is really a stunning piece of kit and if you're looking for the fastest tablet on the planet, look no further.
Purists won't be swayed by the Transformer Prime's hardware though. They will keep coming back to Apple's iPad 2, not because it's the fastest, or the most advanced, but because it's easy to use and pretty to behold.
So does this victory for Asus really count for anything?
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