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Asus Chromebook Flip C434 has been recognized as one of the best premium Chromebooks along with Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and Google Pixelbook Go. But with the competition expanding, what keeps it ahead of its competitors? We’ll find out in this review.
PROS
CONS
Asus Chromebook Flip C436 Specifications
Asus Chromebook Flip C434 has been recognized as one of the best premium Chromebooks along with Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and Google Pixelbook Go. But with the competition expanding, what keeps it ahead of its competitors? We’ll find out in this review.
Asus Chromebook Flip C436 Price and Configurations
The Transparent Silver at $799 features an Intel Core i3-10110U (2.1GHz), Intel UHD graphics, 8GB RAM, and 128GB SSD, while the Aerogel White model is more expensive at $999. This one sports an Intel Core i5-10210U, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD.
Both models come with killer wi-fi 6, fingerprint sensor, and a Full HD 1920-by-1,080-pixel screen display.
Asus Chromebook Flip C436 Features and Benefits
Build and Design
This laptop has a sturdy and solid magnesium alloy chassis that feels premium. It has a white ivory lid that compliments the ASUS logo and silver hinges, giving it a handsome profile. Measuring 12.6 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches at 2.5 lbs, it’s one of the thinnest Chromebooks available out there.
The precise shading covering the surface and the narrow hexagonal pattern add a regal element to it. With wedge front edges, you can lift the lid with one finger and easily transform it from a laptop into a tablet mode or tent mode. The sturdy hinges hold the screen in place, so it has no flex at all.
Display
The Asus Chromebook Flip C436 sports a 14-inch 1080p display, it’s not particularly bright, but it's crisp and vivid. With a 117% sRGB color gamut, it tops Google Pixel Go's 108%, making it more vibrant. But it only comes seconds to Samsung Galaxy with 224% display cover.
With 287 screen brightness, the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 is dimmer compared to other premium Chromebooks, Google Pixel Go boasts 368 nits, while the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook has up to 357 nits screen brightness.
It’s not the only Asus model that suffers from a dim display. This issue seems common in Asus products. Hopefully, they'd level it up a bit soon.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Most Chromebooks either have a plain-looking keyboard or awful keys. The Asus Chromebook Flip C436's keyboard belongs to the first category.
Although the backlit keyboard is dull-looking, it has medium-sized keys with forceful feedback. Further, the touchpad is wide and smooth to touch. However, it's buttonless. so you have to settle for the two-finger tap to enable right-click.
Good thing, it comes with a fingerprint reader to make up for that. It’s located on the top right of the keyboard. You can use that to wake the Chromebook from sleep mode and as a great alternative to typing your password.
Performance and Graphics
In the overall performance test, the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 scored 2,699, defeating Google Pixel at 1,356. In the real computing test, though, the Intel Core i3-10110U back with 8GB RAM, and 128 SSD storage is able to handle 20 Chrome tabs with playbacks at 1080p video quality without a stutter, that is while using android apps simultaneously.
Unfortunately, with the Intel UHD graphics card, most demanding games are unplayable. But light games can have decent frame rates per second.
Chrome OS
Users can now download Android apps or Linux apps and get all the benefits on their Chromebook. However, certain apps are still not optimized, that includes Slack. It is slower in Chrome OS than in Windows, and some games look like they were shot in portrait mode.
But, you can pretty much access all Google applications such as G Suite, Google Keep, and G Driver with ease. Thus, Chrome OS remains a potential competitor of Macintosh and Windows.
Camera
The Asus Chromebook Flip C436 has a standard 720p camera that is decent enough for video conferencing. But it's a bit dim, so when the light is low, you will see noticeable noise that obscures some details. Those who want a quality image when video chatting may need to invest in an external camera.
Ports
If you buy an Asus Chromebook Flip C436, you get two USB-C ports that accommodate a Display or HDMI monitor dongle. There's also a headphone jack and MicroSD card slot.
There's no USB-A port, so you will need a dongle to connect some peripherals. The missing LTE slot can also be a letdown for students, particularly those who are often out of the wi-fi zone for an Internet connection.
Audio
The quad speakers (Harman Kardon certified speakers) are located on both sides of the laptop and they seem to get distorted when you max out the volume, so turning up the volume so high isn’t a nice idea: otherwise, you will hear a crackling sound. Just set the volume to 50% and you will hear nice and smooth audio.
Battery Life
With continuous browsing at lower screen brightness, the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 battery life lasts a maximum of 9 hours, defeating Samsung Galaxy Chromebook (5.56 hours). However, it cannot beat Google Pixel Go (11 hours).
This amount of time can be sufficient enough for some users, except those who use their device heavily.
What is the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 Good for?
With a powerful Intel Core, RAM, and SSD you could choose, the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 can handle any basic computing tasks, from web browsing, word processing, to light photo editing.
The recent update on Chrome OS enables you to install and use all the handy Android apps on it without restrictions. Besides that, you get a comfortable backlit keyboard and smooth touchpad.
This Asus Chromebook Flip C436 will best suit users looking for a portable and powerhouse laptop that can handle various computing tasks with speed and superior performance.
Asus Chromebook Flip C436: Social Proof
We've garnered feedback from other customers over the Internet to see how the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 is getting on. Here's what they have to say:
“The C436 is very fast. It opens websites very quickly, can handle high-resolution gaming, doesn't stutter with many open 1080p YouTube tabs. It gets a little warm under heavy processing load, and you can hear the fan kick in, but it's pretty innocuous.
Asus has done a great job managing power and heat here (unlike the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook). I am using it as a work from home station right now hooked up to a 27 inch monitor... I often forget I am not using my i7 Windows 10 desktop, it just flies! The new U series processor is significantly quicker than the older Y series.
Trackpad is fantastic - very smooth, fast, responsive. The C433 stutters and doesn't always capture fast swipes. The C436 never fails, it's just great. It's wider than the C434's trackpad (C433 also has the newer wider trackpad), and a pleasure to use.”- Vasiliy Zhulin
“When researching Chromebooks I found some reviewers picking on the screen brightness and keyboard. I have an ASUS C302 which has served me very well for the past 4 years. In spite of some of the online reviews, I decided to purchase this model. I'm very satisfied with it.
The screen is plenty bright enough and the keyboard is very nice to type with. I purchased an ASUS USI stylus for it and found it works very well as a drawing tablet. The fact it has 16GB RAM means I've been able to run Linux and crossover windows. This allows me to run the few specialty windows programs I need as well as some great Linux applications.”- Glen Sabatier
“I added a picture to compare it against a 13 inch MacBook air. This one is lighter and has the same foot print with a bigger screen. I actually am graduating from a 13-inch dell Chromebook, which is bigger and heavier, yet using the Asus, the keyboard and screen feel like I'm working on a larger laptop! I've been very happy using Chromebook for the ease of carrying and low maintenance.”- Chrizzee
Conclusion
With the competition for the premium Chromebooks expanding, staying on top can be a challenge. But what makes the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 ahead of its competitors is its competitive specs.
At $799- $999, you get up to 10th generation Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. Apart from that, you’ll have an incredible 1080p touch screen. It may not have a high-quality camera, but it comes with a backlit keyboard and easy to navigate touchpad.
Overall, the Asus Chromebook Flip C436 delivers high-performance without being too pricey.
