Meet the World's First Quad-Core Tablet: The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Taiwanese computer maker Asus introduced its new Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wednesday, the first tablet to utilize a quadruple core. The Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset, which itself was unveiled only a day earlier, is said to offer up to three times the graphics performance of its predecessor, the Tegra 2, and a 60 percent lower rate of power consumption.

In addition to its supercharged processor, the 10.1-inch Prime will offer a 8.3mm (.33 inch)-thin silhouette that weighs in at a scant 586 grams, or 1.29 pounds. The Super IPS+ 1280×800 display is protected under Gorilla Glass and has a 278-degree viewing angle. The prime also offers 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of shooting 1080p video, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and a microSD slot.

The Prime will come preinstalled with Android 3.2 (Gingerbread) when it ships this December, but Asus has promised an upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) by the end of the year. The Prime costs $499 for a 32GB version and $599 for the 64GB model, with an optional keyboard attachment that costs $149.