[Asus Transformer TF700] HoushaSen:
You are correct in sense that tweaks compromise the other aspect. But that is how electronics work in general to certain degree. Basically, you have bottleneck. Shift the bottleneck. Things runs smoother.

Example 1: A5x vs. Tegra 3

When you look at overall processing power by Geekbench, the Tegra 3 is 2x better than new iPad. However, if you look at GPU new iPad is 5x better. Even your Galaxy Note 10.1 does not have graphical processing power of the iPad 2 (not even new iPad). But do you argue to say you notice difference? Probably not. Simply because nothings really pushes things to its limit in real life even the great graphic games.

So here, I am trying to say benchmark number is not as simple as compare one number and say one is superior to other in daily performance.

Example 2: PS3 vs. Xbox 360

PS3 has only half the memory as Xbox360. Initially, there were tons of reviews, comparisons argued that despite Cell Processor power, PS3 is inferior to the 360 for graphical processing mainly because of memory. If you look straight at memory it is true that PS3 is half the 360, but how does it perform in real life?

The developers who are more dedicated ended up making games exclusive to PS3 utilizing Cell architecture. So year to year basically, the best graphic game awards went to PS3 games rather than Xbox 360.

Personally, the difference is so subtle despite the 2x difference in memory, which you would think critical portion such as in the console gaming as you constantly processing data writing/reading much more than anything else.

So my point is if you create a severe bottleneck and that is indeed where things usually operates then you will notice the performance issue in day to day use. However, if you can shift the bottleneck around by software design/kernel/os and when done correctly, it should be sufficient enough to make day to day performance issue improvement or perhaps even to complete resolution (you just want notice it as it doesn't go to the extreme).

Your logic seems to me is looking at number to number and say it is worse here, therefore, day to day use is bad. It's just not that simple. You simply don't operate things at its maximum all the time. Certain operations are more common than the others. Who really knows if RL Benchmark, Androbench, Quadrant, AnTuTu or whichever benchmark reflects the most day to day use performance. Plus, here we are assuming I/O is the major difference between Galaxy Note 10.1 and Infinity's performance, which may well be true but there are also other factors. Such as Samsung has better developers than ASUS. I am certain they have tweaked stock browser because their stock browser was better than most other 3rd party browser; whereas, with ASUS third party browser is better.

I personally have not used Zeus ROM (or any custom rom). Have you used Zeus on Infinity? If so, then you know better than I do and I take your experience. But if not, I would go with other people's comment on this forum, who stating Zeus improves the overall performance significantly. And simply as part, it has better improved overall RL benchmark score, quadrant score etc. Again, noone knows which benchmark really reflects real life experience the most.

Plus I believe you are referring to http://www.anandtech.com/show/6073/the-google-nexus-7-review/6, which talks about nexus 7 I/O performance issue. Again, I don't own one, never had so this is simply my assumption but if people are satisfied with Nexus 7's I/O performance without/with tweaks then it clearly speaks the number is not only thing, doesn't it? The original Nexus 7 had essentially near identical I/O performance as infinity. (see http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...hmark-11-modern-devices-compared-in-13-tests/)

So if it is truly working fine now, then despite different model of nand between nexus 7 and infinity, we cannot deny nor confirm the potential of Infinity IO can improve as good as Nexus 7 by software changes. In fact, I no longer see frequent ANR that I used to see with my original 2 units of Infinity, which was almost daily to once in every other day.

Please don't take me wrong, I like your approach of trying to be objective but only thing is your comment sometimes sounds like Galaxy Note 10.1 is the best tablet out there, and discards Infinity, TF300 etc, and doing such on these forums seem a bit pointless. Because we can do similar on Galaxy Note 10.1 if we want such as Tegra Zone games, Playstation Mobile Games support, higher resolution screen difference etc.

By the way,the below is the table from early august TF700 Antutu benchmark comparison from Japan.

According to this, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oq0BmNMnuc, Galaxy Note 10.1 (for Barry) has I/O score of 786 at 5:29. My infinity without custom rom or any change in build prop, (only turned off bloatware) has 525. So not as good as Note but compatible to android tablet from last year including Xoom, Sony Tablet S. So perhaps it may be true statement that ASUS did not used the best I/O, but they did not use junk either. They may just ended up not updating the internal storage instead they went for screen, the best Tegra 3 chip and some improved RAM. Just as Galaxy Note 10.1 did not cheap out on screen but rather felt other aspect of improvement was more important for them.

Now Infinity is much more stable than before (for me) even though I am on stock with bloatware turned off, I am good with Infinity and personally feel I made right choice choosing over Note (I had for 3 weeks) simply because no matter how much I wait Note will never get FHD; whereas, Infinity can improve its I/O issue to certain degree and the certain degree may simply be enough for me to not notice difference in day to day use. Even without the improvement, I still choose Infinity simply because the difference in performance is not enough to compensate screen resolution difference, which was not the case when I had infinity 1 month ago when I had ANR almost daily. But one thing I truly hope for infinity to improve at this point is its browser speed. I really miss Galaxy Note's browser speed. :)

Essentially, I think I/O issue will only improve from here on simply because why would they make an update to make things to get worse? (which may happen inadvertently but surely not by intention). Your statement is correct by looking at simply a numbers, it will never get to perfect otherwise, why would people continue to invent new hardware? What most people interested here is though not really numbers but rather how day to day performance changes/improves. And again, I believe custom ROM users voice and experience. So things should improve if ASUS do it right, which is another matter... :)