Just like that, in the span of a week, we have gone from no 12th Gen Alder Lake Chromebooks to four premium devices that are available for purchase. HP’s ultra-premium Elite Dragonfly isn’t shipping yet but you can place your order and get in line to grab the most luxurious Chromebook ever created. (My opinion). This week, we also saw Lenovo quietly release the clamshell ThinkPad C14 for just over $1,000 and Acer dropped a bomb with the early debut of the impressively-priced Chromebook Spin 714.
Today, out of nowhere, Best Buy has listed another highly-anticipated 12th Gen Intel Chromebook that was announced back in January at CES 2022. The ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5(CX5601) features powerful 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPUs, a 16:10, 16″ touchscreen, Thunderbolt 4, and just about everything else you could want in a premium ChromeOS device. It appears that the standard consumer model is now available from Best Buy and it is priced at a very impressive $649. For reference, Acer’s new Flip 714 comes in at $729.
That said, this version of the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 comes with the Core i3 CPU so you won’t get those beefy Iris Xe graphics but rest assured, it’s still a powerhouse. Matched with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, this Chromebook will handle resource-heavy tasks with ease. The only drawback is that you likely won’t be about to run Steam on ChromeOS because Google is currently limiting that to Core i5 and Core i7 devices. Here’s a quick look at the specs.
ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5601 key specs
- ChromeOS
- 12th Gen Intel Core i3-1215U
- 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C support display / power delivery
- 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 supports display/power delivery
- 1x HDMI 1.4
- 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
- Micro SD 4.0 card reader
- 1080p FHD camera with privacy shutter
- Built-in 4-way stereo speakers
- Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5.2
- 4.74 pounds
- Backlit keyboard
At $649, this premium, large-screen Chromebook will definitely be a hot seller. One thing to note is that Best Buy’s listing says that the keyboard is not backlit. ASUS’ landing page, however, says nothing about that feature being optional. I’d wager a guess that this model does have backlit keys but will see if we can confirm that. If you order the ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5, let us know in the comments if the keys are illuminated or not. You can find the all-new ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5601 over at Best Buy via the link below. Also, it looks like the ASUS is only available for in-store purchase or ship-to-store so you can’t get it shipped directly to you. Sorry.
