Did you catch my article last week on an “in development” Asus Chromebook built on the Copano board? That’s where I first outlined the use of lower-powered 11th-gen Intel Core processors known as Tiger Lake UP4. Well, it’s a safe bet that the Copano board and Core i7 is inside the new Asus Chromebook Flip CX5400, which is coming soon for $1049.99
So there are a few unique aspects to this upcoming convertible Chromebook.
That Intel Core i7-1160G7 inside is one of them. Partially that’s due so few Chromebooks with a Core i7 and partially because it appears the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5400 is fanless I don’t see any vents in the images.
I wonder how the thermals will be handled in this case. Remember the fan-free Core i5 Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and its issues due to heat?
The difference is here is that Tiger Lake UP4 architecture keeps the chipset at a lower voltage; these are more like mobile processors than laptop CPUs in that regard. Hopefully, the lack of a fan won’t be an issue.
With the Tiger Lake UP4 processor, the chip voltage can be set very low. Or at least lower than a standard Core i7 found in today’s laptops.
You sacrifice some clock speed although some Turbo boosting is available. I suspect you won’t enjoy that boost for long though since that will heat up the chip. The device will likely scale back and throttle performance.
Secondly, this Chromebook has a 14-inch display. That’s not out of the ordinary, per se. But this is part of the CX5 lineup for Asus and the initial model had a 15.6-inch display.
I didn’t expect a smaller screen option but maybe I missed something in the Asus announcements from CES 2021.
Based on the chipset, likely lack of fan, and the full specs, this is the first time I’ve considered replacing my 16 GB Acer Chromebook Spin 13. Take a look at these specs to see why:
- Intel® Core™ i7-1160G7 Processor 2.1 GHz (12M Cache, up to 4.4 GHz, 4 cores)
- 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and 16GB RAM, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.0
- 14-inch Touchscreen Full HD 1920×1080 NanoEdge Display with Garaged USI Stylus
- 360-degree hinge: flip the touchscreen display to tent, stand, and tablet mode
- 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 supports display & power delivery, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A (Gen 1)
- Micro SD Card reader plus an illuminated keyboard
- Built-in array-speakers powered by Harman Kardon at only 3.10 lb
Asus claims up to 10 hours of runtime on this new Chromebook and even with a more power sipping Core i7, I can understand why. I’d be happy with a full 8 hours, personally.
