Hoping for some new Asus Chromebooks to debut at CES 2022? Well, that didn’t happen. Or did it? Chrome Unboxed noticed that tucked inside a press release about several other products is an introduction to a new Chrome OS laptop. The Asus Chromebook Flip CX5601, part of the CX5 series, is a 16-inch convertible with 12th-gen Intel chips.
This model has many similarities to the current Asus Chromebook Flip CX5. Ther’s a large NanoEdge display, full numeric keypad, massive trackpad up to 16 GB of memory, and up to a 512 GB SSD.
Unlike the CX5, this CX5601 model gets a small size bump with a 16-inch screen that’s now a 16:10 ratio. You can configure it with up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i7. And you get WiFi 6E, a quad-speaker system, and Thunderbolt support on the USB Type-C jacks.
The 720p webcam on the older model is replaced by a 1080p sensor that can hide behind the privacy shutter. There’s no mention of a stylus on the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5601 product page now. However, it appears to me there’s a garaged stylus included on the left side of the chassis.
Simply put, this appears to be a fairly extensive upgrade, especially if the stylus is included.
The prior model supports a USI stylus but doesn’t come with one housed in the chassis. There’s no official spec list yet, so we don’t yet know which 12th-gen Intel Core processors will be inside. Some, like the Core i7 in the $979 Asus Chromebook Flip CX3 I’m testing are fanless chips that use less energy.
However, I do see air vents on the back of this new Flip CX5601, so it’s relatively safe to assume the chips use a fan, and therefore more energy.
That means they can sustain higher clocks speeds for a longer amount of time. And Asus is currently quoting up to a 10-hour battery life, which in my world means around 8 hours. That’s another indicator of a higher-powered processor. Especially when you have so much room for a battery inside a 16-inch Chromebook.
Pricing and availability are unknown at this time. At least to me. Given that the CX3 I’m testing is pretty decked out, I don’t see the Asus Chromebook Flip CX5601 coming in under $700 for a base model.
I’m assuming that’s with a Core i3, 8 GB of memory, and a 128 GB SSD drive. And if you go hog wild for one of the “up to” variations with a Core i7, 16 GB of memory, and 512 GB of local storage? I don’t even want to hazard a guess right now.
