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the Asus Chromebook plus cx54 has taken
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a very strange path to get here while we
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had hands on it in December of last year
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prior to CES in 2024 it didn't arrive at
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that show and didn't really show up at
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all for real until May at Google's
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Chromebook Showcase in New York but it
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was worth the wait in a lot of ways and
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I'm pretty excited to show you exactly
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why that is so let's get into
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it when we first saw this device I was
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super pumped that Asus was back to
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making a higher end Chromebook it's
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Sleek thin light all metal and just a
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Chromebook that feels great to hold and
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to look at sure it's kind of angular but
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it pulls it off far better than the CX9
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from a few years back and I really do
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like the overall aesthetic of the cx54
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in a lot of ways and even though the
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body of this Chromebook is really thin
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at only 1.69 cm it's really rigid too
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and there are still a ton of ports all
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along the outside I love that so much
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and it just makes life easier all around
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when you can hook up stuff and not
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really have to think too much about
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finding a port or a dongle speaking of
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those ports you get uh two USB type C's
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two type A's fulls size HDMI 2.1 Port
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micro SD card slot headphone microphone
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Jack and a Kensington lock and the USB
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type-c ports are also Thunderbolt 4 so
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you can get better multim monitor
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support and faster data transfers and
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stuff like that too but cracking this
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one open is where the magic really
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happens right up front there's a
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fantastic 8 megap pixel camera with a
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privacy shutter and under that is one of
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the best screens we've ever had on a
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Chromebook it's 14 in Quad HD 16 X10 and
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500 nits the bezels are tiny the screen
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feels large and the animations because
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of the 120 Herz refresh rate or just
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buttery smooth I just I don't have
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anything negative to say about it I love
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nearly everything about this screen but
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it's not a touchscreen and I found that
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generally doesn't bother me too much but
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I know that's a bummer for some of now
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the review unit that we have does come
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with a touchcreen but the standard model
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that you're going to find at like Best
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Buy it doesn't and that one's the one
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that's $699 and it's the one I'd
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recommend most of you go buy if you're
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interested in this Chromebook now you
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can search for and find upgraded
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versions out there in the wild but
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inventory the delivery the customer
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service have been an issue for those in
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our Chrome unbox plus Community who have
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tried to get one of those outside of a
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Best Buy so I just have a little bit of
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a hard time recommending that you go and
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buy one from like a B2B place like CDW
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and speaking of our Chrome unbox plus
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Community I wanted to take just a second
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if you're unaware of it uh to let you
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know about it um it's a place where you
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can rub shoulders and talk with other
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like-minded people who enjoy Chromebooks
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and Google products um it gives you
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access to um our site with a adree
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experience and it's only two bucks a
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month it's one of those places that I
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love hanging out I love being around the
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people that are in there I learn stuff
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from them um and we are having new
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people join every day it's a fantastic
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Community it's something that I uh think
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that you'd probably be really interested
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in if you enjoy Chromebooks and Google
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products so if you'd like to learn more
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about that uh just head over to Chrome
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jooin and you can get all the info there
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to uh become a part of chrome unbox plus
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so the screen's awesome but under that
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screen you also get a superb keyboard
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and a huge glass trackpad and a
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fingerprint scan and all of it works
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beautifully and I have basically no
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gripes with any of it except for one
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thing I hate asus's gray key caps with
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backlighting most of the time when the
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cx54 boots up the keyboard backlights
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around like 30 or 40% and that's just
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bright enough to make the key symbols
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the same kind of gray color as the key
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caps and I have to either Crank It Up to
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Max or turn it all the way off to
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actually see any of the symbols on the
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keyboard why ASU struggles to get this
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right year after year is a mystery to me
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but it's a thing again here with the
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cx54 now on the inside with the Intel
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Core 5 125 U 8 gigs of RAM and 128 gigs
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of storage you're getting all the
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performance you'd want out of a
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Chromebook plus device again there are
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upgraded models out there with more RAM
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and storage but getting them delivered
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can really be a chore for 95% of you out
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there the configuration you'll find at
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Best Buy is plenty fast with performance
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Headroom to spare and you can enjoy that
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performance for like seven eight hours
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on a charge and push maybe even closer
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to that nine or 10 hours if you can
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manage to keep that big beautiful
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display crank down just a little bit my
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only real gripes with this Chromebook
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are the speakers and one Comfort issue I
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run into quite a bit so the speakers are
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fine and sound decent but they're
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downward firing and they don't quite
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live up to what Asus has been doing in
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the speaker department on their
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Chromebooks for you know like the past 2
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or 3 years I still Marvel a lot at the
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quality of sound my wife's Asus CX5 puts
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out it's a few years old when she plays
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a video for me like they sound awesome
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the speakers on the cx54 are fine
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they're just not remarkable and that
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angular chassis I talked about at the
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beginning of the video Bears its teeth a
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bit when it's sitting in your lap
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specifically the Nubs on the back of the
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top panel as you open it that rest on
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your knees when you set it in your lap
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just kind of grind into your legs and
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the discomfort really does set in just
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about immediately trust me if you have
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your lower thighs exposed at all beware
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of longer lap sessions and if those Nubs
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don't get you the sharp edges of the top
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panel will now I will that a pair of
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jeans basically undo this entire issue
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but I've not loved it during the summer
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season and that is the Asus Chromebook
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plus cx54 it's not perfect no Chromebook
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is but it does get a lot of the equation
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right if top-notch build quality a rigid
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chassis a fantastic screen incredible
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typing experience expansive trackpad
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Mass massive Port selection fast
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internals sound like your thing I think
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it's most of our things I think $6.99 is
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frankly an incredible price for this
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Chromebook I have a few Hang-Ups yeah
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but those are minimal when you consider
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how good this device is overall and I
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think anyone paying this price for an
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experience this good that gets updates
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2034 is going to be very very happy with
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their purchase but guys that's it for
6:24
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6:25
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