The ASUS Chromebook Flip C434: A Convertible Chromebook with Premium Features
by Anton Shilov on April 19, 2019 4:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Asus
- Chromebook
- Convertible
- Amber Lake
- Chromebook Flip
- ChomeOS
ASUS is certainly not new to Chrome OS-based PCs. But throughout its history with Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, and other Chrome OS devices, the company has positioned them as entry level solutions. However, as Google and some of its partners are experimenting with more premium Chrome OS-powered devices, ASUS cannot stand still. To that end, the company has started to sell its Chromebook Flip C434, a premium Chrome OS 2-in-1.
In terms of construction, the Chromebook Flip C434 is built around a CNC-machined aluminum body featuring diamond-cut edges. Overall the device is fairly petite for its size; while it measures 15.7mm thick, it only weighs in at 1.45 kg. One of the key factors enabling this are the narrow 5-mm NanoEdge display bezels, which allow ASUS to fit a 14-inch Full-HD IPS touch-sensitive LCD into a very portable chassis. Meanwhile the convertible PC also incorporates the company's 360° ErgoLift hinge, which is specifically designed for these kinds of laptops.
Unlike typical Chrome OS-based computers that use Atom-derived SoCs, the Chromebook Flip C434 runs Intel’s 8th Gen "Amber Lake-Y" Core processors with two cores and Intel’s UHD 615 graphics. While Intel’s Y-series processors offer very low power consumption, they still use Intel’s latest high-performance x86 microarchitecture with all of its advantages. The SoC is paired with 4 or 16 GB of LPDDR3 memory as well as an eMMC drive, with capacities going up to 128GB.
Connectivity-wise, the ASUS Chromebook Flip C434 has a rather standard set of capabilities, including 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, two USB 3.0 Type-C ports (for data, display, and charging), a microSD card slot, and an audio jack for headsets. The PC also has a backlit keyboard with a 1.4-mm travel, an HD webcam, stereo speakers, and a microphone array.
When it comes to battery life, ASUS says that the machine will work for 10 hours on a 48 Wh battery, which does not seem especially long given the fact that the PC is powered by a low-power Intel Core processor.
So far, ASUS is only selling the entry-level configuration for the Chromebook Flip C434, which is based on the Intel Core m3-8100Y SoC and paired with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB eMMC storage. The system costs $569.99 at Amazon. Eventually, the company will also offer more power configurations with higher performance SoCs, more memory, and greater storage capacity.
| General Specifications of the ASUS Chromebook Flip C434 | ||
| C434TA | ||
| LCD | Diagonal | 14" |
| Resolution/ Color Gamut |
1920×1080 | 100% sRGB | |
| CPU Options | Intel Core i7-8500Y (2C/4T) Intel Core i5-8200Y (2C/4T) Intel Core m3-8100Y (2C/4T) |
|
| Graphics | Integrated | HD Graphics 615 (24 EUs) |
| RAM | 4 or 8 GB LPDDR3-2133 (soldered) | |
| Storage | eMMC | 32 GB 64 GB 128 GB |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi | 802.11ac (2x2) Wi-Fi |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.0 | |
| USB | 3.0 | 1 × Type-A 2 × Type-C |
| Display Outputs | 2 × USB-C | |
| Card Reader | MicroSD card reader | |
| Webcam | HD webcam | |
| Fingerprint Sensor | - | |
| Other I/O | Microphone, stereo speakers, audio jack | |
| Battery | 48 Wh | |
| Dimensions | Width | 321 mm | 12.64 inch |
| Depth | 202 mm | 7.95 inch | |
| Thickness | 15.7 mm | 0.62 inch | |
| Weight | 1.45 kilograms | 3.19 lbs | |
| Price | from $569.99 at Amazon as of press time | |
Related Reading:
- CES 2019: ASUS' Chromebook Tablet CT100 for Education
- ASUS Launches the 360º Chromebook Flip C213: 11.6-inch Apollo Lake, Starting $349
- HP Unveils Chromebook x2: A 12.3-inch 2400x1600 2-in-1 with Intel Core-Y
- Acer Announces New Chromebooks And Chromebox Devices
- Google Announces the Pixel Slate: A 12.3-Inch x86-Based Chrome OS Tablet
- Google Launches Pixelbook: 12.3” LCD, Kaby Lake, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Assistant, Stylus
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geokon - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link
Is there any chance of running something like Ubuntu on this?kgersen - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link
it can already run Linux apps.ChromeOS in 2011 = Chrome
ChromeOS in 2019 = Chrome + Android apps + Linux apps (both console & wayland/x11 apps)
niva - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link
The question is, can you wipe Chrome off the machine completely and run your choice of linux on it? Not through Crouton or some other gimmicky trick.quiksilvr - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxsckwmRhfwnotashill - Sunday, April 21, 2019 - link
There are a few ways to run normal Linux distros on ChromeOS through chroot/containers.If you want to replace ChromeOS and boot directly into a normal Linux distro, Chromebooks don't use a normal boot process so you have to flash a custom BIOS. It's possible but annoying enough that I wouldn't really recommend buying a Chromebook if this is your intended use case.
geokon - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link
Thanks. It's hard to find something equivalent that's not a Chromebook. Something with a good build quality that will last (metal and fanless) but that isn't overly powerful and expensive. I have a UX305F and it's been fantastic. I've used it for years traveling, running Ubuntu and getting some work done (yeah, compiler times are a bit slow.. but generally it's not a big deal) but it's ancient and the ports are getting finnicky and I worry it'll die any day nowniva - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link
Thanks for answering the actual question.I'd be interested in a Chromebook type device, if it didn't have such severe limitations.
HStewart - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link
`One thing I have not understand is why have some company not release a Chromebook with Qualcomm CPU, it seams to be better fit than Windows for ARM and no need to worry about x86 compatibility.KateH - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link
i don't know about Qualcomm specifically but there are definitely Chromebooks with ARM processorsSquarePeg - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link
Qualcomm won't support their SoC's for long enough to qualify as approved for Chrome OS by Google. Google's current OS support window is 6.5 years from the release of each individual platform. So (for instance) when the Gemini Lake hardware platform with optimized software stack is released to their manufacturing partners Google begins it's support countdown. This gives companies such as Acer, HP, Asus, ect half a year to bring initial products to market as Google tries to provide 6 years of auto-update support from initial platform sale date also.The way Google has this setup really sucks though. Time to market is really delayed because of Google's requirement that each new platform be built from the ground up on both hardware and software stacks. Gemini Lake was released by Intel as a hardware platform in Q4 '17 but as of Q2 '19 there is yet to be a Chome OS device released running it. Chrome OS hardware generally lags Windows hardware by 12 to 18 months.