Asus' Vivo RT is the second model in the company's Microsoft-based hybrid line-up and it shares many similarities with both the regular Asus Vivo (Windows 8) and Asus' earlier Transformer Android hybrid models.
The most immediate similarity is the detachable keyboard dock and thin aluminium outer shell. The device is much the same size as the Transformer Prime, owing to the same display size of 10.1-inches.
It's noticeably smaller than the Vivo Tab, its Windows 8 counterpart, and in our hands-on with that device we commented about how well-balanced that model was despite its size and weight, making it very easy to handle – something we've also mentioned about the Transformer series.
That carries true here as well, the Vivo RT is even more portable than its bigger brother.
And it's a very sturdy device to boot, with Asus' usual high standard of build quality and good choice of materials. You won't get a squeak or a flex out of the chassis.
Aside from the size there's very little difference in the exterior design from the regular Vivo Tab, which means you get a very plain back panel, aside from the Asus logo and a broad strip of contrasting textured rubber at the top.
The keyboard is equally well-built and the trackpad functions like a real laptop equivalent. Meanwhile the keys have a satisfying solidity to them with good feedback.
The most fundamental difference between the Vivo RT and the Vivo Tab is the specific version of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.
Instead of Windows 8 proper, the Vivo RT uses Windows RT, a version built specially for ARM-based processor architecture and with more of a leaning towards the tablet side of the family tree rather than laptop use.
What this means for the end user is a reliance on either built-in applications or those purchased or downloaded specifically through Microsoft's Windows Store.
Unlike devices running the full-fat build of Windows 8 there's no chance of installing existing PC software from other sources, whether that's a USB stick or a download from a third party site. It simply won't work.
This may or may not be an issue for you depending on how you plan to use the device.
We had a quick go with Windows RT but, as with Windows 8 on the Vivo Tab, the lack of an internet connection meant many of the apps were effectively closed off to us, so there wasn't much we could really get to grips with.
General navigation is as straightforward as it is on Windows Phone – a smoothly scrolling continuous field of app Live Tiles which you can browse, read updates from and tap to go into a full-screen app.
Being ARM processor-based, the Vivo RT uses an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core chip clocked at 1.5GHz, with 2GB of single-channel RAM, 40 nanometre (nm) semiconductors and a ULP GeForce graphics processing unit (GPU).
Although things operated reasonably well on the whole the performance wasn't quite as good as the Vivo Tab's Intel chip, but then, it's nowhere near as powerful so that's to be expected.
For a dedicated tablet role with some light computing and productivity duties this should stand up quite well.
Performance is easily on a par with Android-toting equivalents such as Asus' own Transformer range.
The Vivo RT's display is a 10.1-inch IPS LCD panel with a 1366x768 pixel resolution, pushing out a pixel density of around 155 pixels-per-inch.
It should deliver sharper image quality than the regular Vivo Tab, though not by much. We'd say the displays are broadly comparable in terms of colour, contrast, brightness and clarity.
The slate sports 32GB of onboard storage capability, plus expandable storage for SD cards, a USB port on the dock, Wi-Fi, NFC, MicroHDMI, Wacom stylus support and batteries in both the tablet itself and the dock, for a combined power of 6760mAh and around eight hours of mixed use, according to Asus.
Asus' Vivo RT is a comprehensive Windows RT-based offering with plenty of positive points, but it is most certainly a 'lite' model compared to the normal Vivo Tab, which would be our preference.
It is, essentially, the Transformer Prime running Windows RT, which means it's immediately more useful in terms of basic laptop functionality and productivity.
But, make no mistake, just like the Transformer Prime and pretty much any other Windows RT hybrid you care to mention, this is most definitely a tablet with a keyboard rather than a true part-laptop, part-tablet hybrid device.
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