In addition to high powered gaming laptops and high end motherboards, Asus also used CES to launch its convertible chromebook now called the Asus Chromebook Flip C302. The 2-in-1 device measures 13.7mm thick and weighs in at just over 2.6 pounds (1.2kg).
Asus is pairing a 12.5” 1080p LED backlit LCD on the top pane with a chiclet keyboard (scissor switches with 1.4mm key travel) and 61 x 104.5mm trackpad on the bottom pane. A 360-degree hinge allows the user to flip the display all the way around so that the keys are behind the display and it can be used as a tablet (or any position in between). There is no digitizer pen but the display does support 10 point multitouch.
Port selection is actually pretty good for a portable (especially a chromebook) with two USB 3.1 Type-C (5Gbps) ports, a headset jack, and a micro SD card slot. The only thing missing that other similar class notebooks have is micro HDMI but being a chromebook it should pair up with a Chromecast should you need to share your desktop or media to the TV or larger monitor. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2. There are also two side speakers rated at 87dB.
Internally, Asus is using 6th generation Core M3 or M7 processors (there is also a Pentium 4405Y SKU) depending on your configuration Further, the Chromebook Flip comes with 4GB or 8GB of system memory and 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of solid state storage. The chromebook runs Chrome OS but it is also able to run Android apps from the Google Play Store.
Battery life from the 39Whr battery is allegedly up to 10 hours according to Asus.
The lightweight aluminum metal body Chromebook Flip has a starting price of $500 and will be available soon. Pricing on the higher end models has not yet been announced.
In all, it looks solidly built and has good specifications for a chromebook, but the pricing is going to hold a lot of people back in my opinion. Perhaps if it had an active digitizer and ran Windows I would be more interested. I am currently trying to find a replacement to my Dell XT (yes I know it is ancient haha!) and I find myself enamored by the Lenovo Yoga Book with the halo keyboard and the question if the typing experience there being the only thing that has me on the fence (I mention this because it is $549 for the Windows version and $500 with Android so is are in similar price points).
I am all for more options in this convertible space though and look forward to the reviews. If Asus’ Chromebook Flip has a great keyboard I might be persuaded!
PC Perspective's CES 2017 coverage is sponsored by NVIDIA.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at https://pcper.com/ces!
A chromebook for $500
A chromebook for $500 (starting price?!)…LOL. What happened to $199. Intel got involved and the price went up $200-300? 🙂 Clearly Intel is tired of these things stealing PC sales, so they’re trying to raise the pricing? Weren’t they $300 last year maybe $350? Arm side of course was cheaper but don’t remember pricing like this before.
I would not pay this kind of money for a chromebook. Not even if the keyboard was made of gold 😉 Well ok, maybe then…ROFL. You get the point. I thought surely this would include windows 10 & a free copy of Office for your PC or something (not that I’d go for that either)…WOW. $500 to start. How much is the end? 🙂
Chrome books for 500 CRAZY
Chrome books for 500 CRAZY just get a real laptop from Dell or Lanovo or System 76
dell, lenovo and the other
dell, lenovo and the other guys are trying to raise the average price of laptops aswell as chrome books there is no escape.
It’s not worth $500, maybe
It’s not worth $500, maybe $250 at most and not for any of that core m3 or m7 SOC crap. There is still plenty of older model core i series SKUs in the retail channels with way more processing power for less cost. So full laptops with that Windows 10 crap scrubbed off of the drive and a nice Full Linux OS build installed!
Intel’s older stocks of IvyBridge, Haswell, and Broadwell NON Ultrabook(Crap SKUs) based laptop SKUs are still in good supply in new laptop offerings from the previous years models, new and at great bargain pricing! That dual core i7 gimping for U/M series SOC SKUs is coming back to bite Intel on its A$$ and AMD’s Zen/Vega APU SKUs are coming this year to offer better compute value and less market milking from crusty old Chipzilla!
You current Linux OS laptop OEMs better be developing some Linux OS laptop SKUs with Zen/Vega APU in them, least some new market player gets the Zen/Vega APU drop on your tired Intel/Nvidia overpriced offerings and makes you obsolete!
I will never log Into any F-ing Cloud to log-on to my computer or laptop! Up Yours Redmond!
You mean up yours gogle and
You mean up yours gogle and shove your “”””free”””” spyware up where the sun dont shine. Nothing to do with “Redmond” as you said.
why would anyone even buy one
why would anyone even buy one of these. Its like you are paying for a crippled system plus spyware.
The $200 to $300 chromebooks
The $200 to $300 chromebooks don’t have a all aluminum body, 64 gig hd, Intel M3, back lite keyboard, 1920 by 1080 touch screen…I know its hard to pay that much, but I would rather spend $500 on this than $800 for a 12 inch Ipad!
Looks like they hired some
Looks like they hired some Apple people… Both Industrial design and hardware.
Are we ever gona see a
Are we ever gona see a chromebook with a SIM card slot? Is there one already that I havent heard of?
forget it, quick google
forget it, quick google search, there are
HP had one about 2 yrs ago,
HP had one about 2 yrs ago, but not sure any are still available or supported by the telcos.
Google: “hp chromebook with sim card slot”
Hmm, I remember there being a
Hmm, I remember there being a lot when Chromebooks first came out but can't think of any recent ones off hand.
It needs a number pad for
It needs a number pad for that price point.
I can use sheets on a 10 inch tablet for some light data collection
So if I am paying that money for a laptop that doubles as a tablet what are my use cases?
Content consumption, the tablet would do
Content creation, maybe it has large storage to make up for the lack of always on internet, but no numpad means it can’t do field work so well.
Make a good sales machine for fitted kitchens new carpets etc etc
Looks interesting, but Asus
Looks interesting, but Asus will have to demonstrate they can support their products for more than 1 year. How many Android OS upgrades do they guarantee to issue?
That is a Great question, I
That is a Great question, I love my Nexus 6P, just got Android 7.1.1 the other day…it is nice knowing that it will get all the new updates (mean reason for getting it), I have a 12″ Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, which I got 2 years ago and never did get any updates, still running 5.1.1!
Upgrade of Chrome OS and
Upgrade of Chrome OS and Android container is solely maintained by google. So Asus don’t have to worry about that. Unlike android phones, almost all of the currently supported chrome OS devices are runnig Chrome v56 on stable channel now.
Asus would issue adapted OS
Asus would issue adapted OS upgrades for something like this, not Google directly.
This is exactly what I have
This is exactly what I have been looking for. A new Chromebook and an android tablet. But if life has taught me anything, it is that the version I really want is version 2 or V3.
This is version 3 of the Flip
This is version 3 of the Flip series…lol