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11th Gen Tiger Lake Chromebooks are turning up more frequently these days but there is one device, in particular, that has me salivating. The ASUS Chromebook CX9 was announced alongside the already-released Chromebook CX5 and CM5 but the ultra-premium business-minded clamshell quietly disappeared from ASUS’ website. Every day, I poke around the web to see if anyone has listed this Chromebook because, honestly, I want it! This Chromebook offers up the 11th Gen Core i7 Tiger Lake CPU from Intel, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of NVMe storage and wraps that hardware in an ultra-light 2.5-pound chassis with a 400 nit display with optional touch. Oh, did I mention that it has an integrated numeric keypad in the touchpad? Well, it does. There’s literally nothing that I don’t love about this device except the fact that I can’t buy it.
The CX9 has been listed on the German ASUS store for a little while now but here in the states, even the landing page for the Chromebook was taken down for reasons unknown. Anyway, enough about my plight. Today, I am very excited to report that the ASUS store here in the U.S. has officially listed the ASUS Chromebook CX9 and I am more excited than ever before. Why? Well, the Core i7 model is on there and the price is lower than we ever expected it to be. Two models are available. I’ll get to the details on those in just a second. First, just look at this Chromebook, and hopefully, you’ll see why I’m chomping at the bit to get my hands on it.
Ok, moving on. The two models to arrive first include what I presume to be the entry-level version that still comes with a Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Honestly, this model will be more than powerful enough for most users and the only real drawback is that it lacks a touchscreen. For me, that’s not an issue. I don’t use the touchscreen on the devices I have now. That said, the top-tier model doubles the RAM, adds the Core i7 with Iris Xe G7 graphics and a whopping 512GB of NVMe storage. On top of that, it gets an upgrade to a 400 nit touch display. (Don’t worry. The base model is still 400 nits so you won’t lose that crispy display.)
The Core i3 version comes in at $749.99 which may seem a tad high compared to convertibles like the Acer Spin 713 that are already in this space but the ASUS brings a new level of class to the premium Chromebook space and I think this price tag is very reasonable. The monster Core i7 model will retail for $1149.99 and that’s something to get very excited about, in my humble opinion. When you look at devices like the 10th Gen Dell 7410 Chromebook that retails for nearly $2,000 with lesser specs, the ASUS CX9 looks like a killer deal. I have some more thoughts on that and I’ll share those with you tomorrow. For now, you can find the ASUS Chromebook CX9 at the link below. Before you ask, yes, we will be getting one of these very soon and you can bet that I’ll be putting through the paces to see if it lives up to my expectations. Both models are listed as “coming soon” and I sincerely hope that means tomorrow-ish.
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