[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nosuch:
this post has been around for a while now, so preamble has been truncated.

here is, in my view, what you should know before posting in this forum, and ideally before buying the product.

(note for noobs, TF201 = the "eee pad transformer prime" model that started shipping december 2011.)

THE ALL-METAL BACKPLATE OF THE TF201 INTERFERES WITH WIRELESS PERFORMANCE. GPS WILL NOT WORK WELL WITHOUT THE FREE GPS DONGLE ATTACHED. WIFI IS GENERALLY ACCEPTABLE BUT NOT GREAT.

by now this has been picked apart to death. GPS reception without the free GPS dongle is very poor. without the dongle, you may not be able to get a lock at all without wifi/AGPS, and forget about using it as a nav in a moving car. IF GPS IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, DO NOT BUY A TF201 UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO USE THE DONGLE. asus has already acknowledged this by removing GPS from the list of features in their product description (!). dongle-less gps is likely to function better in the transformer pad 300 and upcoming transformer pad infinity models due to plastic RF windows in the backpanels.

for the vanilla TF201, there has been a lot of investigation the GPS issue on xda, and eventually anandtech published an article that summarizes the situation well:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5285/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-gps-issue-explained

wifi reception struggles for the same reason as GPS. asus was able to mitigate this somewhat by including two wifi antennas instead of one which gives it antenna diversity. however, in some cases it may not perform as well as the original transformer, or maybe as good as some of your other portable devices. IF STRONG WIFI PERFORMANCE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, DO NOT BUY A TF201. the issue is SUPPOSED be fixed in the upcoming TF700T due to a change in the backpanel design, but we won't know how it performs until it is actually released.

WIFI AND GPS ANTENNA CONNECTIONS INSIDE THE TF201 ARE MADE WITH POGO PINS THAT ARE NOT MAKING CONTACT IN SOME UNITS. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO FIX THIS BY PINCHING THE BEZEL IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

discussion on this topic has sprawled across a few threads. if you are new to this topic then it may be easiest to get your overview here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1467964

a poll is running to help assess the effectiveness of this "solution" here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1473272

if you have this problem, it should be obvious that pinching your tf201 is at your own risk. if your wifi is clearly defective then you are probably better off RMA'ing your unit.

BLUETOOTH STREAMING MAY INTERFERE WITH YOUR WIFI PERFORMANCE.

comments on this forum are a bit mixed. there are numerous reports that streaming of bluetooth data (particularly audio streaming or file transfers) are cutting down wifi performance, sometimes dramatically. it has been noted that this issue affects at least some other devices with combined wifi/bt chipsets.

an official thread has been started by Asus to investigate this:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1443868

major discussion threads by users:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1423180

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1440187

SOME TF201 OWNERS ARE REPORTING BACKLIGHT BLEED AROUND THE EDGES.

if you have this problem and it bothers you then you can try and RMA it at place of purchase or contact asus support. there have been a good amount of reports on this so the occurrence is not to be unexpected. that said, the response you get on your RMA request will vary depending on who you contact. some users have noted that IPS bleeding is somewhat common and not unique to the transformer prime. discussion is here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1426812

it seems that this is being caused by the screws that secure the panel not being tightened properly. if you are adventurous enough to take your TF201 apart then there are reports that re-seating the screws with proper tension fixes the problem. refer to this thread for details:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1474391

THE INITIAL ANDROID 4.0 UPDATE (BUILD 9.4.2.11) CAUSES FREEZES/REBOOTS FOR SOME. BUILD 9.4.2.13 FIXED THIS, BUT INTRODUCED A NEW BATTERY DRAIN ISSUE FOR SOME OTHERS. THIS ISSUE IS RESOLVED IN THE MOST RECENT BUILDS.

bugs in nvidia's tegra3 video drivers were the cause of freezes and reboots that some experienced after making the initial ICS update (build 9.4.2.11). the official Asus thread investigating the random lockups in 9.4.2.11 is here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1449992

asus shipped new drivers with build 9.4.2.13 on 2/8/12 that fixed these issues, but a new battery drain issue was introduced that affects some others. this battery drain has been referred to as the "sleep of death" and has been discussed in these threads:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1487516

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1490240

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1495696

the most current firmware updates have resolved random freezes/reboots and sleep-of-death problems.

SOME EARLY TF201 UNITS DID NOT REGISTER SERIAL NUMBERS CORRECTLY AND WERE UNABLE TO UPDATE TO ICS.

an official thread has been started by Asus to investigate the "Serial Number Not Found" error:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1447760

... and the dev community has produced a potential fix for that problem:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1474356

THE MICROSD CARD SLOT DESIGN IS PRONE TO ACCIDENTALLY EJECTING YOUR CARD. YOU MAY LOSE IT IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL.

the slot isn't deep enough to cover the whole card. you may want to think twice about planning to use a card as permanent memory expansion. if you place the tablet down on its edge the card can pop out and get lost. discussion about options to secure it are here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1436546

SOME POWER CHARGERS OVERHEAT AND STOP WORKING. THIS CAN USUALLY BE FIXED BY LETTING IT COOL DOWN OR PUTTING IT IN THE FREEZER.

the TF201 uses the same charger as the original transformer (TF101), and as a result both products have had significant occurrences of this flaw. you will find many threads on both forums about this. if your charger stops working (but the tablet remains otherwise functional, in particular you should verify it can still communicate with a computer via USB) then let the charger cool down and try again. if it still doesn't work then you may want to try enclosing the charger in a ziploc bag and putting it in a freezer for >15 minutes. a few sample threads on this issue are here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1422312

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1480178

a smaller number of users have reported a variety of other charger problems caused by what appears to be cheap construction. generally speaking, those that were able to recover their chargers did so by wiggling/adjusting the connections to the USB cable or between the two charger halves.

A HIGHER-END VARIANT OF THE TRANSFORMER PRIME (TF700T) WAS ANNOUNCED AT CES IN JANUARY. THIS MODEL DOES NOT REPLACE THE ORIGINAL MODEL (TF201). THE TWO WILL BE SOLD SIDE BY SIDE.

the new TF700T model has a higher resolution screen (1920x1200), a slightly upgraded front camera (2MP vs. 1.3MP) and a redesigned backpanel to address the issues with wifi and GPS. this new model is pissing a lot of people off because they view this as a "fix" for the wireless reception "design flaw" in the TF201. if you bought a TF201 and feel that way, sorry, go try and return your TF201 or buy a TF300. we don't need more posts about how horrendous asus is at launching products.

if you want to speculate on the new model, here is a big thread on the subject:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1436127

RUMORS STARTED CIRCULATING AFTER THE TF700T ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THE TF201 WOULD BE DISCONTINUED - THESE WERE FALSE. this has already been publicly stated by asus:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=21357170&postcount=9

further, common sense confirms that this would be insane, largely due to the next point:

HISTORY INDICATES THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUY A TF700T UNTIL Q3.

after the TF700T was announced, a lot of people talked about returning their TF201s or cancelling their pre-orders to wait for the TF700T. this is your choice, but i would highly recommend you consider the storied history that asus has bringing these products to market. talk about the transformer prime (without the name) started circulating in Q2 of 2011, with various industry discussion pointing to a tegra3 version of the transformer that would be thinner to be released in Q3. the TF201 signed on to be the first tegra3 product to launch and the CEO of nvidia started telling everyone that the first tegra3 product would be available in september. as september got closer, asus started to acknowledge a new product coming but suggested it wouldn't hit market until october. the TF201 was finally announced in november but didn't actually ship until the end of december, and those shipments were extremely limited quantities. the TF201 then remained sold out almost everywhere in the US and had minimal distribution in global markets during the first few months.

this is relevant because here we go again with a new asus tablet and they are saying it will be released in "Q2". i can't predict the future, but if their history is worth ANYTHING you should not expect to actually have this product in your hands until Q3. HD tablet screens are NOT ready for mass production yet as yields are too low, this is a very well-circulated fact if you follow industry news. every manufacturer would love to release products with these new screens but they are all waiting for the process issues to be worked out. a bunch of other HD tablets were announced at CES and are all getting vague ship dates in Q2. none of these are going to get released until the yields are high enough to make them profitable. and even then we will have to account for asus' horrible track record of botching every aspect of a tablet release possible.

the bottom line is, if you want to wait for the TF700T, go ahead, but be prepared for the possibility of not having it in your hands until Q3. for those of you that want a new tablet NOW, consensus is still very much that this is the best you'll get.

if you've made it this far then you should know one last thing:

A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THEIR TRANSFORMER PRIMES.

it might not seem that way after reading all of the caveats above and scanning this forum, but it's true. if you want to bring some balance to your perspective on this product, take a look at the "positive" tprime thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1409910