Maximum PC - USA (2022-04)

SPECIFICATIONS

OS ChromeOS

Processor Intel Core i3-1110G4

Graphics Intel UHD Graphics

RAM 8GB LPDDR4X

Storage 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD

Display 14.0-inch 1080p LCD touchscreen

Connectivity

1x USB 3.2

Gen 1 Type-A,

2x Thunderbolt 4,

1x 3.5mm combo

audio jack, Micro

SD card reader

Battery 48WHrs 3-cell Li-ion

Size 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.6-inches

Weight 3.09lbs

8

VERDICT Asus Chromebook

Flip CX5400FM

BACKFLIP Stylish

physical design; good CPU

performance; great screen.

TUMBLE Trackpad is poor;

battery life could be better;

expensive for a Chromebook.

$700, asus.com

DESPITE BEING A relatively

high-end model, the Asus

Chromebook Flip CX5’s

$700 price tag puts it closer

to the budget space, adrift

in a market dominated by

slick MacBooks and $1,000+

gaming laptops. The Flip CX5

needs to justify its price tag

since it occupies that space

between more powerful

Windows laptops and more

affordable Chromebooks.

Out of the box, it’s off

to a strong start. While

Chromebooks have been

price-sensitive machines,

a design ethos that all too

frequently extends to the

build quality of the external

casing, the Flip CX5 feels

premium. It’s the heaviest of

the three Chromebooks on

test here and the largest too.

The blue-tinted exterior looks

great, with shiny metal hinges

that feel remarkably sturdy.

That’s a good thing

given that this is a 2-in-1,

with a gorgeous 14-inch

touchscreen. The display

is easily the brightest and

most colorful of these

Chromebooks and feels

good to use in tablet mode.

ChromeOS lends itself better

to the hybrid laptop design

than Windows 10 or 11,

automatically switching from

the conventional desktop

mode to a smartphone-esque

grid of apps when you convert

it into the tablet configuration.

The 16:9 widescreen

aspect ratio isn’t ideal for

productivity, but that’s

a matter of personal

preference. We were a little

concerned about the screen

and matte casing picking up

fingerprints, but it wasn’t

anywhere near as much of an

issue as we had expected. If

you’re particularly smudge-

phobic, there’s a slot for an

integrated stylus on the right-

hand edge of the chassis.

This isn’t anything special and

can be swapped out for any

compatible smart pen if you

prefer more control.

The keyboard is decent,

broadly comparable to any

laptop keyboard in the same

price bracket, with bright

white backlighting and a

good amount of travel for a

tactile typing sensation. The

trackpad is where the whole

setup falls down; it feels

flimsy, with too much surface

friction and an unsatisfying

click. It can be converted into

an LED-illuminated numpad

Asus Chromebook Flip CX5

at the press of a button,

though, so we’d recommend

leaving it in that mode and

using a wireless mouse (or

the touchscreen itself).

In terms of performance,

the Flip CX5 dominates

the other Chromebooks

thanks to its 11th-gen Intel

Core i3 processor, offering

solid performance in both

single-core and multi-core

workloads. There’s a table

with benchmark results

at the end of this article,

but with few tests that can

be effectively run on both

Windows and ChromeOS,

we’ve used the multi-platform

benchmark Geekbench 5

along with ‘Aquarium’, a

WebGL test that renders up to

30,000 animated fish.

Although it doesn’t have

Intel’s shiny new Iris Xe

integrated graphics, the i3-

1110G4 CPU performs well in

the WebGL test, outstripping

the Lenovo 500e and Acer

Spin 513 Chromebooks and

placing itself among the

Windows laptops we were

testing. With a bit of Linux

meddling, we were able to get

a few Steam games running

on the Flip CX5, albeit non-

graphically-demanding ones.

The speakers on the Flip

CX5 are underwhelming, and

though we’d advise using a

headset anyway, the audio

was tinny and not especially

loud. The battery is a bigger

issue; Asus suggests ‘up

to 10 hours’ of battery life,

but testing at 50 percent

brightness barely gave us six

hours of continuous use.

Overall, the Flip CX5

is the best of the three

Chromebooks we’ve looked

at here—but it’s also the

most expensive. We’re not

convinced it does enough to

justify its price tag, especially

since better performance is

available in Windows laptops

at the same cost. Despite

that, it’s a well-designed

product that effectively

demonstrates the best of

what Chromebooks can be.

rise of the chromebook

28 MAXIMU MPC APR 2022