Asus Chromebook Flip with convertible touchscreen coming this spring




Google has announced perhaps the most interesting, versatile iteration of its Chromebook stable yet; the Asus Chromebook Flip.


It has a 10.1-inch IPS display - smaller than most Chromebooks, which tend to measure upwards of 11.6 inches - with a resolution of 1366 x 768.


The Chromebook Flip adopts a Lenovo Yoga-like form factor, thanks to the 360-degree hinge. It also has an on-board accelerometer allowing users to easily switch into tablet mode.


The Flip is also considerably more attractive than many of its Chrome OS stablemates, thanks to an all-metal, chassis. It's slim and light at under 2lbs and promises 10-hours of battery life.


It has an SD card slot, a HDMI port and volume buttons. Inside there’s 4GB of RAM and a Rockchip 3288 SoC, just like the Asus Chromebit, also announced on Tuesday. Elsewhere, there’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a 720p webcam, a card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, a headphone jack and HDMI out.


The Asus Chromebook Flip will arrive this spring for $250, which is becoming the sweetspot for Chrome OS laptops. However, Google is prepared to go lower, as evidenced by Tuesday's launch of the most affordable Chromebooks yet.


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The firm revealed practically identical $149 devices from Haier and Hisense, containing the same power-efficient Rockchip 3288 processor as the Flip and Chromebit.


Haier Chromebook 11


The Haier Chromebook 11 (above) has an 11.6-inch display, 2GB of RAM and up to 10 hours of battery life. There’s also a Haier Chromebook 11E, which has a removable battery. Finally, the Hisense Chromebook has the same 11.6-inch display, 8.5 hours of battery life and 2GB RAM.


Both devices offer 16GB of storage, two USB 2.0 ports a HDMI out, a uSD card reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They’re available in the US from today, with a roll-out elsewhere this spring.