ASUS quietly refreshed the Flip CM3 with MediaTek’s Kompanio 820 SoC

MediaTek just wrapped up the company’s annual Executive Summit at which the chipmaker shed a little more light on its strategy around a multi-tier approach to the Chromebook market. While the proverbial proof in the pudding around MediaTek’s performance claims remains to be seen, we have high hopes for the upcoming mid-range Kompanio 820 SoC and the highly-anticipated premium-level Kompanio 1200 chip. You can read more about MediaTek’s expected performance in Robby’s post here.

During the Chromebook presentation, MediaTek features the recently announced Acer Chromebook 514 and alongside it, a previously unannounced Chromebook from ASUS. This convertible was referred to as the ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3200. That struck us as a bit odd because the Flip CM3200, or CM3, has been on the market for months being released around the same time as the detachable ASUS CM3 tablet. However, during the latest episode of The Chrome Cast, I stumbled upon an updated page on ASUS’ website that confirms that there is a new Flip CM 3 in town. Just in case the original ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3 slipped under your radar, here’s Robby’s unboxing and initial impressions.

Despite having some of the best Chromebooks of 2021, the ASUS Flip CM3 was a bit of a swing and a miss. It’s not that this Chromebook is a dud. There are just too many compromises for a laptop that starts at $329 and that price only gets you 4GB of RAM and a measly 32GB of storage. The MT8183 SoC is a decent performer in the tablet space but this convertible simply lacks the horsepower or any flare that would command an MSRP North of $300. That could all change thanks to this newly discovered version of the Flip CM3.

It appears that ASUS did nothing in the way of updating the hardware on the new Flip CM3. The devices landing page just added the newer MediaTek MT8192(Kompanio 820) to the spec sheet and honestly, that may be all that this Chromebook needs to become a device that we can recommend. Early benchmarks put the mid-tier SoC ahead of Qualcomm’s current Snapdragon 7c compute chip found in devices like the Lenovo Duet 5 and HP Chromebook x2 11. MediaTek is also touting up to 110% higher gaming performance than Intel’s latest small core Jasper Lake CPUs. If accurate, those are some serious gains that could make this Chromebook a tiny terror for other devices in its segment. Here’s a quick look at the new ASUS Flip CM3.

ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3 MT8192

• MediaTek™ 8192 Processor w/Arm Mali-G57 MC5 GPU
• 12.0-inch, LCD, 1366 x 912 3:2, Glossy display, 220nits, NTSC: 50%, with stylus support
• Up-to 8GB LPDDR4X on board
• Up-to 64GB eMMC
• 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0 Type-C, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, Micro SD card reader
• Chiclet Keyboard w/1.6mm Key-travel
• 720p HD camera
• 32WHrs, 2S1P, 2-cell Li-ion battery
• 1.14 kg (2.51 lbs)
• 26.92 x 21.58 x 1.68 (10.60″ x 8.50″ x 0.66″ ~ 0.66″)
• Titan C Security Chip
• Optional Stylus and USB-C to HDMI adapter

Again, the processor is the only thing that’s new about this Chromebook and we still don’t have a price tag for the updated model. If ASUS can keep the MSRP comparable to the original Flip CM3, this Chromebook – and devices like it – could absolutely crush the budget and mid-range Chrome OS market. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait very long to find out how this Chromebook will be priced. MediaTek stated that devices could be available before the end of November. We’ll keep in close contact with our friends at MediaTek, ASUS, and, Acer and let you know as soon as we have one of these new MediaTek-powered devices in hand. Stay tuned.