Asus, one of the best Chromebook manufacturers in the world, seldom disappoints within the ChromeOS space. However, a not-so-distant venture of the Taiwanese industry giant in the name of the Asus Chromebook Vibe C55 Flip didn’t quite sit well with consumers, mainly due to its reminiscence with the Asus Chromebook Flip CM5.
However, we’ve got a hold of what seemingly appears to be a high-class upgrade—the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip. On the surface, the device is loaded with 12th-gen internals, but we’ve yet to gauge how the machine fares up in other parameters. Join us as we dissect the Chromebook Vibe CX34 and review it in depth for those looking to buy it potentially.
Let’s start with a quick look at the Chromebook’s specs sheet.
Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip’s technical specifications
- CPU: 12th generation Intel Core i5-1235U
- Display: 14″ diagonal, 16:10 WUXGA, 144Hz high-refresh, 1920 x 1200p resolution, nano-edge, touchscreen
- Graphics: Integrated UHD graphics
- Hard drive size: 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- RAM: 8 GB
- Camera: 720p HD camera with privacy toggle
- Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C,1x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card reader
- Battery: 63WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion, 7-9 hours runtime
- Charging speed: 50% in 30 minutes
- Weight: 3.97 lbs (1.80 kg)
- Price: $769
Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip in-depth review
We’ve sat down with the Vibe CX34 Flip for a fair amount of time now, and it’s safe to say that this is one of those Chromebooks you cannot go wrong with, especially in the price bracket of sub $800. Everything from the build quality and the looks to the performance and the specs is more than just impressive, allowing us to recommend the device for Chromebook fanatics across the world highly.
The metrics we’ve gathered for this review include the unit’s design, performance, and battery life, all leading up to discuss our final thoughts. Read on as we break down the major strengths and weaknesses of the Vibe CX34 Flip and help you arrive at a solid buying conclusion.
1. Design
If you think you’ve seen plenty of Asus Chromebooks already and know what to expect with the Vibe CX34 Flip, you’ve got a surprise waiting for you on that front. As far as the looks are concerned, this device looks pretty unique from its other Asus counterparts, donning an extremely smooth finish on its outer coated parts and resisting fingerprints effectively.
Speaking of the chassis, the Vibe CX34 comes with a single color scheme only—Pearl White—and looking at the device and picking it up to get a feel, it’s clear that Asus has mastered this one color configuration of the Chromebook. It shrugs off fingerprints despite being all-white is a remarkable feat.
Build quality and weight
Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip from the front
Moving on to the more integral parts of the Vibe CX34 Flip, the build quality is something to marvel at here. There’s no bending this thing whatsoever, no matter how much of a strong force you apply to get it to creak. No speck of material on the device feels cheaply made, wobbly, or insubstantial. The design strategy has been thorough with this one, and it’s easy to tell.
Even though the bottom part of the device seems to be made from plastic, the unit still holds its own as if it’s an all-aluminum build. The weight of the Vibe CX34 Flip is just under the 4-pound mark. It’s a bit of a thing to pick up, considering how it also measures about 21 millimeters in thickness.
However, this still isn’t a major dent to the overall portability exhibited by the Vibe CX34 Flip. You can slide the machine inside any backpack, which fits like a dream. Plus, when you pick it up, it feels much lighter than it should at that weight level—I wonder how Asus managed that.
Last but not least, the device is mil-spec rated, meaning that the CX34 boasts military-grade durability immediately. Take it for a walk or hold a WWE session with the unit, and the Chromebook won’t be giving in anytime soon.
Display
Another area where the Vibe CX34 fails to disappoint is its display quality, which constitutes a 14-inch FHD 144 Hz refresh rate panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The colors on the screen look fabulous, with excellent viewing angles and sharp objects. In addition, the brightness level maxes out at 400 nits, giving you plenty of room to work with.
All in all, the manufacturer has done splendidly with crafting the CX34’s display. It’s super bright and pleasurable, making it the perfect road warrior for you on those sunny days outdoors. A technical remark to put into motion here is the seamless display transition from 144 Hz to 60 Hz when you haven’t plugged the Chromebook in.
This battery-saving measure has been put in place to ensure that the device lasts longer for users on a day-to-day basis, but just in case someone would like to indulge in proper gaming, the charger will have to come into the picture then. But as far as the display goes in terms of how stand-out it is, the CX34 passes the test with flying colors.
Apart from that, expect things to go swimmingly with the 2-in-1 convertible form factor of the Chromebook at hand, making it possible to utilize various viewing modes and the added flexibility of the CX34’s fluid touchscreen display.
An extra feature to talk about here that goes in with the CX34’s touch-enabled display is its garaged stylus, making the device join the band of the very few Chromebooks that come with the feature stowed in. The pen feels fantastic and comes helpful occasionally, especially if you or your little one ever get interested in trying out Google’s Cursive app.
Keyboard
The keyboard could’ve been one of the most defining highlights of the Vibe CX34 Flip, save for one grieving annoyance that has barred us from calling it a Chromebook with one of the best keyboards out in the market. Don’t get us wrong; the component is comfortable and feels quite high-quality to type on.
Even more so, the key travel at 1.4 mm is also admirable, but the backlighting is not making a lot of sense here. The chiclet, backlit keyboard falters when it boils down to the brightness of the keycaps. The keys are barely visible in somewhat lit settings with the backlighting turned up. If you want to see them, you must crank the lighting down.
This appears to be a major issue with Chromebooks with a grey-colored keyboard. A near-identical backlighting issue remains in other cases, such as how we put forward a similar gripe with the Asus Chromebook Flip C436. To come back on the flip side, though, the keyboard supports RGB lighting, so that’s a plus in scenarios where the lighting is dim.
Moreover, the WASD keys are color-blocked, like the aforementioned Asus Chromebook Flip CM5. If you’re already trying out the Material You theme design on ChromeOS, you’ll be glad that the CX34 Flip’s keyboard’s lighting will adapt to the colors on display, offering perfect synergy.
Trackpad
Unlike the Vibe CX34 Flip keyboard, there are simply no hassles with the trackpad of the Chromebook. It’s highly responsive, wide, and comfortable to work with regularly. It’s made of spill-resistant material, and that part about anti-fingerprints persists with the trackpad.
That’s why you won’t worry about getting any oil smudges or grease on the touchpad of the Chromebook, but make sure it doesn’t have to come to that, and you’re regularly wiping the unit (and your fingers).
Ports
The port selection of the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX4 Flip
The port selection for the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip has been relatively generous. It sports a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port for your legacy peripherals, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports for lightning-fast connectivity, an HDMI 2.1 port for hooking up the device to other displays or external monitors, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card reader as well for storage expansion.
We keep saying this, though, that as long as you can get a high-quality USB-C hub for your Chromebook, the native port selection won’t matter as much to you. However, it is a delight that the device in question already boasts remarkable I/O, which most users will be happy with.
Speakers
The Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip is going in our list of Chromebooks with the best speakers when we push out an updated version of the write-up because its speakers are that good. The premium-grade Harman Kardon speakers are loud, clear, and more than suitable for different scenarios.
Whether you’re playing something like PUBG or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on the Vibe CX34 or enjoying a hit release on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, the speakers are going to accompany you in your enjoyment, even to the point where the need for external Bluetooth speakers will become unnecessary.
Webcam
We’ll be honest—as high-quality as the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip truly is, its webcam is below average. The 720p camera mounted at the top of the screen amounts to a substandard experience and is barely passable for holding Meet conferences or Zoom calls. A 1080p resolution webcam would’ve been more excellent, we must admit.
We presume one will have to approach the route of the external webcam if using a camera is that much necessary to them. Otherwise, prepare yourself to put up with a washed-up user experience. But if it’s worth something to you, the camera has a privacy toggle that keeps it from spying on you when you’re not watching.
2. Performance
The Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip may suffer a couple of downsides up until now, but all that tends to disappear once you spend a couple of hours with the Chromebook putting it through its paces. Get this thing in your head—the device in question is one of the fastest ones out there, compromising not a single bit in terms of performance.
That means no glitches, messy hiccups, freezing, crashing, or anything else. The base model of the Chromebook comes with commendable internals, encompassing a 12th gen Intel Core i3-1215U processor, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB NVMe storage. Moreover, it features integrated UHD graphics for smoother animations and performance quality.
Whether you decide to run a dozen different Android apps or perhaps take on the various challenges of the Crostini Linux terminal on the Vibe CX34 Flip, you’ll find that virtually nothing slows this beast down. Outside of that, Asus vouches for the device for cloud gaming, running the likes of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered without breaking a sweat, not to mention other titles, such as Fortnite.
You should also know that the network protocol of the Chromebook boasts Wi-Fi 6E, which is currently the next-gen standard for Wi-Fi 6. Alongside this future-proof functionality, the device has Bluetooth 5.3 for faster and stronger connectivity to your peripherals, such as Bluetooth headphones.
There are just no complaints in the performance department from Asus’ front-runner, and here’s a solid guess that you’ll feel the same way once you get your hands on it.
Configurations
Unlike the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, Asus decided to make a bunch of configurations for the CX34 Chromebook. You’re already aware of the base model, which, too, has a lot of power under the hood, but the major step up from that stage is a variant that involves an Intel Core i5-1235U 1.3 GHz processor.
Additionally, there’s one configuration with an Intel Core i7-1255U 1.7 GHz processor, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD. This model also has Intel Iris X graphics to unlock and tame a heightened sense of cloud gaming.
For more details on the various configurations of the Vibe CX34 Flip, check out its official listing page on Asus’ official website.
3. Battery life
Sporting a 63WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion battery, the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip can last somewhere in the range of 7-9 hours on a full charge. These are not the best figures the usual run of Chromebooks can push out, but you’ll have to settle for it nonetheless.
On the bright side, though, the device charges up pretty fast; it can get juiced up to about 50% in 30 minutes. Furthermore, if you wish to enjoy the Chromebook’s 144 Hz screen for most of the time you’re using it, you might want to keep it plugged in. Make sure not to go overboard with the latter, though.
4. Final thoughts
Putting things into clear perspective, the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip is a device that falls within the high-end spectrum of ChromeOS. It’s loaded with a fair number of features that feel justified, given its $769 pricing. Still, no one should easily ignore the downsides associated with any device before purchasing without assessing their use case first.
For starters, folks who’d prefer a Chromebook with a top-quality webcam will likely want to avoid the CX34 Flip. The same goes for those who want an ultra-portable 2-in-1 device like the Lenovo Duet 5 Chromebook. With that said, if you feel all right spending north of $700 on a cloud gaming-oriented Chromebook, the Vibe CX34 is an easily likable venture that looks, feels, and operates magnificently.
