If you read Taylor's review of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, you'll remember that he came away fairly impressed with the one-minute-it's-a-tablet-the-next-it's-a-laptop Honeycomb device. Today we've got a rumor that, if true, should make Taylor and any other Transformer fan as happy as a clam. According to a report from Digitimes and its "sources from notebook component makers," Asus is prepping a successor to the Transformer that may feature Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor as well as the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. Asus is said to be planning to launch he new Eee Pad Transformer in October at the earliest.

Moving on to a different tablet, Digitimes claims that Asus is planning to include a Tegra 3 core and ICS in its Padfone and sell the whole package for between $549-$799. Asus has said that it plans to release the Padfone around Christmas. Finally, the site is reporting that Asus is now the largest tablet manufacturer not named Apple after having shipped 400,000 slates in the first half of 2011.

A quad-core Tegra 3 Eee Pad Transformer with Ice Cream Sandwich sounds pretty intriguing, no? Nvidia has said in the past that it's Tegra 3 chipset could begin appearing in August and Google is currently aiming for a Q4 arrival for ICS, so this rumor could very well be legit. For the time being, though, it is still a rumor, so it'd probably be wise to keep a few grains of your favorite salt handy. Anyone think they'd be interested in a Tegra 3 Transformer powered by Ice Cream Sandwich?

Via Digitimes