Early hands-on impressions with the ASUS Detachable Chromebook CM3 are very positive

While we are expecting the arrival of the upcoming ASUS Chromebook Detachable CM3 in the very near future, it turns out other markets aren’t having to wait quite as long. In fact, over in Japan, one of our Patreon members already had his shiny, new ASUS CM3 delivered and has spent a bit of time with the device. This isn’t a store model or something hooked up to a tether on a shelf: this is a retail unit that was delivered to his home. And, after using it for a short time, he has some pretty good stuff to say about the new tablet from ASUS.

My latest Chrome device just arrived. Looks very good. A clean, solid build. The 2-way stand is great, with the same uninspiring grey cloth of the Duet. It’s maybe a bit smaller than an iPad, but a tad heavier.

The keyboard has a surprising amount of travel and, when fully attached to the device, has a nice and quite-steady typing angle. The screen is bright and has fairly good viewing angles. Touch is a bit draggy on the finger, but maybe that’s because it’s new.

The speakers are on the side at the top and are loud, if a bit tinny. The stylus is firmly inserted into the slot, so maybe best not to trim your nails too closely! With Keep, palm rejection seems to work well and there is very little delay when changing colors, pen type, etc. The stylus is flat so maybe not what you want to use for too long, but it’s great to have it there for when it’s needed.

First impression, all over very nice. A fingerprint scanner would make it, though. Looking forward to giving it a proper work over.

via Chrome Unboxed Patreon (thanks, Steven L.)

As you can see, Steven’s first impressions of the device are quite good. A big part of the upgrade from the Lenovo Duet is the keyboard. With wider keys, better spacing, and a magnetized attachment to both the bottom and front of the device, the rigidity of the keyboard seems to be far superior to Chromebook tablets we’ve had in the past. With the improved keys and enhanced ergonomics, this slightly-larger tablet will be much easier to actually work on.

It’s also good to hear that the screen appears bright and has good viewing angles. Frankly, I would expect nothing less in any tablet device at this point. With the Duet setting a high bar for affordable Chromebook tablets in the screen department, no manufacturer can afford showing up with a dim, dark screen. It is also very good to hear that the included, stowable stylus works well as is expected from USI at this point.

Again, none of these things are surprising, but they are very nice to hear. As we get more excited about this tablet and knowing that it will command a tad higher pricing than the Duet it is following, reports like these help quell fears that ASUS is simply showing up late with a Duet clone. Instead, it does seem that ASUS has put together an overall better take on the low-end Chrome OS tablet, and we can’t wait to get our hands on one to see what the experience ends up feeling like. After all, another MediaTek MT8183 tablet is already on the way, so ASUS needs to get this one out there while the door is open.