There are no shortages of great Chromebooks when you’re shopping in the “mid-range” category. On a good day, you can get a premium, Comet Lake device for under $600 and that has changed the way that we look at flagship Chromebooks. With the debut of the $629 Acer Chromebook Spin 713, our expectations of what to expect from a high-end Chrome OS device has caused us to toss out the idea that you need to spend a thousand dollars to get the best of what’s around. As a matter of fact, we were so impressed with the mid-range market of 2020 that we made a video about it.
Rise of the Mid-Range Chromebook
On the latest episode of The Chrome Cast – due out later today – we spoke at length about our excitement surrounding the ultra-premium Chromebooks that debuted at CES 2020. Unfortunately, devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and the ASUS Chromebook Flip C436 quickly lost their luster when more affordable and equally as capable devices hit the market. It’s not that these premium Chromebooks aren’t great, but when you drop a grand on a laptop you have certain expectations. The Samsung and the ASUS simply fell short of the hype.
That said, I know that many consumers want a device based heavily on the design and aesthetic and that’s why many still opted to pick up the eye-catching Galaxy Chromebook or the ASUS C436 with its mesmerizing iridescent Aerogel White chassis. That’s totally okay because at the end of the day, it’s your money and you should get what you like. Thankfully, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook has enjoyed some hefty discounts over the past couple of months. Even now, you can pick up the sleek, ultra-premium convertible and take $200 off of the $999 MSRP. The ASUS Chromebook Flip C436? Eh, not so much.
Best Buy has offered a discount on ASUS’ flagship device but the savings is barely $50 and that’s not enough, in my opinion, to make this Chromebook a true value. Today, however, the Flip C436 is on sale at Amazon and you can knock $100 off either the Core i3 8GB/128GB model or the beast Core i5, 16GB/128GB version and that makes puts this Chromebook a lot closer to the value to features ratio that we like to see. The lesser model normally retails for $799 and while it is a Core i3 compared to the Spin 713’s Core i5, you do get the addition of a fingerprint scanner. Performance-wise, the average consumer won’t notice a difference between the two CPUs so long as you’re getting the 8GB of RAM. As far as overall value is concerned, the Acer still gets our vote but for those who simply love the look of the ASUS and that’s what they want, this is the best deal to date on the Chromebook Flip C436. Check out both models over at The Chrome Shop.
