Although I’ve been a huge fan of the Google Chromebook homepage for a long time and the sorting / buying tool they’ve built there, I don’t step in to see things very often. Sure, it’s a beautiful site with all sorts of great font options, elegant animations and a thoughtful presentation of why you should consider a Chromebook, but I’ve seen it several times so far. Your Chromebook selector is well-made and useful, but it generally doesn’t display unheard-of devices, and there isn’t a ton of information for a Chromebook addict like me to harvest from him.
Still, I end up on the site once in a while and just click to see how Google is presenting the OS and hardware ecosystem that I spend most of my days talking about. And yesterday, I came across some very interesting information that I’m really not used to finding on Google’s ranking tool for new Chromebook buyers.
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ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 and CM5
While CES 2021 was strange, there was a fair amount of news about Chromebooks that came from the virtual show, and in our world, there was nothing more exciting than ASUS’s big announcement of 3 new Chromebooks that we expected before the end of June. The ASUS CX9, Flip CX5 and Flip CM5 have all been launched and they all have interesting pieces for their history. For the advanced user, there is the monster CX9 with all the bells and whistles, while the Flip CX5 offers users a more reasonable 15.6 inch convertible and a black on white paint that is to die for. The Flip CM5 is the most modest of the group, with much of the Flip CX5 and AMD’s external hardware inside.
While browsing the Chromebook selector yesterday, I found the ASUS Flip CX5 and Flip CM5 on the Google website and I was even more surprised by the fact that in fact, they listed MSRP prices! A big question mark around these two devices was the price when we finished our CES coverage. In the listings on Google’s website, we can now see the details not only of the price, but also of what these settings will come from inside.
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For the Flip CX5, there are two versions listed. The first is what I think is the sweet spot: 11th generation Core i3, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for $ 549. There is a second configuration for $ 799, and that brings things up for the Core 11th generation i5, 16 GB of RAM and the same 128 GB of storage. Assuming the construction of this Chromebook is solid, these are very competitive prices from ASUS which, in general, tends to be a little expensive with its pricing structures.
On the Flip CM5 side, there are three lists. For $ 499 you get Ryzen 3, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. For $ 549, you keep Ryzen 3, but it increases to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. For $ 599 you keep the 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage and move on to Ryzen 5. Again, if the rest of this Chromebook is carefully assembled, these internal components are quite promising at these prices.
Remember that there are other configurations that are likely to hit the market and these listings are not the only options that consumers will have. However, Google listing some price options tells us that not only are we close to launching these new ASUS Chromebooks, but we can also feel quite confident about where prices will fall. Also keep in mind that these are MSRP listings and devices like these are constantly on sale in places like Best Buy, Amazon and Walmart, so you will probably be able to get any of them for less than what we are seeing when they arrive. We will be keeping an eye on things and hope to see an official launch in the very near future for the ASUS Flip CX5 and CM5.
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