CES 2019: ASUS Debuts First Chrome OS Tablet In New EDU Chromebook Lineup

As we anticipated, ASUS has launched a new Chromebook lineup just days before CES 2019 in Las Vegas. While there isn’t a true flagship in the mix, the rumored Chrome OS tablet from ASUS is and it joins three new Gemini Lake Chromebooks (the first to market) to round off their latest educational offerings

ASUS CT100 Chrome OS Tablet

First, ASUS’ first Chrome OS tablet. This one had our hopes up that we’d finally see a Qualcomm device in the flesh. I am sorry to disappoint but it looks like the CT100 “Chrometab” will be powered by the same OP1 hexa-core chipset found in the Acer Chromebook Tab 10. That’s not a bad thing but don’t expect this to be the Chrome OS tablet of the future.

With a 9.7″ QXGA display, 4GB RAM and 32GB of storage, you can expect that the ASUS CT100 will look, feel and perform nearly identically to Acer’s tablet.

The CT100 is equipped with a single USB-C port and comes in just over 10mm thick. Again, pick up the Acer Tab 10, cover the logo and you’ve got the ASUS CT100. ASUS says that their new tablet is wrapped in a “rubberized” chassis that can withstand a 100cm drop. You know, because kids.

ike the Acer Tab 10, the ASUS CT100 comes equipped with a garaged stylus for note-taking, doodling and drawing. From the looks of it, it may offer a tad more ruggedness than the Acer but we’ll have to see it in the flesh next week in Vegas.

ASUS Chromebook C204/C214

Successors to the C202 and C213, ASUS’ latest 11.6″ rugged devices bring small changes that could bring major improvements to the 180-degree and convertible Chromebooks. The biggest of which being, the new processors.

Both the C204 and C214 will come with the dual-core N4000 Gemini Lake chips from Intel that boast significant gains over their Apollo Lake predecessors. Additionally, the C214 will offer a quad-core option with the N4100 Intel processor.

The other big refinement is the world-facing camera placement. According to ASUS:

We’ve also adjusted the placement of the world-view camera based on feedback from C213 users. The new location in the bottom right corner of the palm rest is better suited for video calls and recording when the laptop is in tablet mode.

ASUS, Press Release

Apart from that, the C214 also has an optional stylus that can be garaged in the device when not in use. All-in-all, these updates may seem minimal. However, if ASUS can keep the price-point down, they stand to take a big bite out of the current EDU Chromebook market.

ASUS Chromebook C403

Most likely geared towards older students and even teachers, the ASUS Chromebook C403 brings the same internals as the C204 and wraps it in a 14″ HD chassis that touts the same ruggedness as its counterparts. Spill- resistant keyboard, reinforced chassis and a rubberized exterior are designed to withstand the daily abuse of the classroom.

We expect to get our hands on some or all of these next week when we head to CES and if we’re lucky, ASUS still has an ace or two up their sleeves. I’m still holding out hope that they have a Kaby Lake Chromebook ready to unveil but, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Source: ASUS via Android Police