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It’s an exciting day here in the Chrome Unboxed office as our review unit of the ASUS Chromebook Flip C436 has been delivered and we’re hopping in the box to see what all we remember about the device from our time with it at CES 2020 back in January.
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While we’re not really allowed to say too much about this device in this quick hands-on as we begin prepping for our full review, I will share a few early thoughts. First up, the packaging is really nice and that’s important. Basically, outside of Google-made Chromebooks, we don’t generally get unique or thoughtful packaging. Usually, Chromebooks come in very plain, brown cardboard boxes with little in the way of design or consideration.
Chromebooks are, after all, utilitarian by their nature, so this isn’t a bad fit. However, when we see companies taking time to design packaging for their Chromebooks, it lends credence to the idea that they are beginning to take Chromebooks much more seriously as consumer electronics. If the design and aesthetic of the Flip C436 weren’t enough proof, this clean all-white packaging should help get the message across that ASUS is more invested in Chrome OS than ever before.
Inside, there are few surprises here. The Flip C436 is light, thin, and beautiful. The keyboard feels a tad tighter and a bit more shallow than I remember, but I can’t definitively say its any different than what we saw out in Vegas. All told, it feels great: clicky and quiet. The trackpad is huge, smooth as butter, and has a satisfying click. The screen looks nice and bright, the bezels are tiny, and the folding hinges are weighted perfectly. I’m looking forward to testing things like the read/write speed of the NVMe storage, the reliability of the fingerprint scanner, benefits of USI pen support, the improvements in Bluetooth, speed of the WiFi 6 connection, and the capability of the 10th-gen Intel chip under the hood.
All those things take time, but rest assured we’ll get our full review out soon, so you won’t have much longer to wait. I’m very excited to begin testing this and all the other new Chromebooks set to arrive in 2020 as the new wave of Chromebooks begins.
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