mCover Hard Shell Case for 12.5-inch ASUS Chromebook Flip C302CA series laptop - Clear (C302CA)

Product Information

The absence of colour is noticeable when watching video on the CX34; the picture looks dull and washed out. You could argue a Windows laptop for the same money would be no better but, given the brouhaha surrounding the launch of the Chromebook Plus initiative, I expected more. Google is also offering new software features that – initially at least – will be exclusive to ChromeOS on Chromebook Plus machines. These include the ability to automatically sync your Google Drive files with your local storage for off-line use (this is available on regular Chromebooks but it isn’t enabled by default). And some extra Google Photos features like Magic Eraser. At the time of writing, however, the photo features hadn’t been rolled out to my CX34. Unless otherwise stated, Wi-Fi speeds are based on theoretical performance. Actual performance may vary. The antimicrobial treatment is tested by an independent third-party laboratory according to the ISO 22196 standard (measurement of antimicrobial activity on plastics and other non-porous surfaces), using bacterial cultures that include Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with antimicrobial activity (R) result of R > 2. R = 2 indicates a 99% reduction in bacterial activity compared to an untreated surface. The antimicrobial treatment is registered by the U.S. EPA and authorized under EU BPR.

Based on Chromium OS power Load Test. Battery performance is based on a mix of standby, web browsing and other uses. Charging time requires the battery to be at least 5% charged, with the device inactive and using the included charger. Actual battery life depends on usage, specifications, applications and environment, among other factors. The stated width of the side bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the inside edge of the case. If the case width is included, the side bezel width is 7.86 mm. The stated width of the bottom bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the visible edge of the display when the laptop is opened to 90 °. These measurements are based on the standard (without anti-glare) display configuration.

ASUS Prime AP201 MicroATX Case

In the Geekbench 5 multi-core test, it returned a score of 3,968, which is a solid score for a Chromebook, only bettered by machines running on Core i5 P-series processors. It’s streets ahead of those running on Celeron or ARM chips. The stated width of the side bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the inside edge of the case. If the case width is included, the side bezel width is 6 mm. The stated width of the bottom bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the visible edge of the display when the laptop is opened to 90 °. These measurements are based on the standard (without anti-glare) display configuration.

ASUS Chromebook CM14 is certified with ASUS WiFi Master for ChromeOS. Device certified with ASUS WiFi Master for ChromeOS feature WiFi 6 and offer enhanced WiFi stability when USB 3.2 Gen 2 interference is present, allowing users to stream smoothly when they are up to 225 meters away or more from a router.

Zenfone 9 Smart Backpack Mount

Actual battery life depends on usage, specifications, applications and environment, among other factors. Battery performance is based on a mix of standby, web browsing and other use. Charging time requires the battery to be at least 5% charged, the device to be inactive and using the included charger. Actual results may vary. ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 series laptops undergo multiple laptop quality tests but are not subject to all tests stated. On the plus side, the CX34 is pretty light at just 1.44kg and it’s reasonably compact, at 326.4 x 214.3 x 18.7mm. It also has a good selection of physical connections, with two USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports. Both those Type-C ports support DisplayPort video output and USB charging (you’ll need one to connect the dinky 45W charger to). ASUS Chromebook Plus CX34 series laptops undergo multiple laptop quality tests but are not subject to all tests stated.

The stated 5.5mm width of the side bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the inside edge of the case. The stated width of the bottom bezel is the distance between the edge of the non-active screen display area and the visible edge of the display when the laptop is opened to 90 °. Measured based on standard (not anti-glare) display configuration. LTE connectivity is optional. Nano SIM cards are sold separately and can only be used with the LTE SKU. Two colourways are available: a blue-grey affair and a white one. The latter is by far the most attractive to my eyes, although the finish on my blue-grey model proved pretty effective at not showing fingerprints.

Compared to Chromebooks running on Intel Celeron and Pentium Gold chips, the Core i3-based CX34 goes like the clappers. To be clear, its Intel Core i3-1215U is no powerhouse but with two performance cores among its six and a maximum boost speed of 4.4GHz, it’s no slouch, either. The antimicrobial treatment is tested by an independent third-party laboratory according to the ISO 22196 standard (measurement of antimicrobial activity on plastics and other non-porous surfaces), using bacterial cultures that include Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with antimicrobial activity (R) result of R > 2. R = 2 indicates a 99% reduction in bacterial activity compared to an untreated surface. The antimicrobial treatment is registered by the US EPA and authorized under EU BPR.

ASUS Chromebook Plus CM34 Flip is certified with ASUS WiFi Master for ChromeOS. Devices with this certification offer enhanced WiFi stability when a USB 3.2 Gen 2 interference is present, allowing users to stream smoothly when they are up to 225 meters away from a router. ASUS Chromebook CX1 series laptops undergo multiple laptop quality tests but are not subject to all tests stated. The testing data includes the requirements of both military-grade standards and ASUS quality tests. The connectivity of WiFi 6 band may vary according to the regulation and certification of each country/region. The CX34 comes with a 60Hz 1,920 x 1,080 IPS screen and, thanks to it only being 14in corner-to-corner, it’s nice and crisp with a 157dpi pixel density. The screen has a slightly matte finish which does a good job of keeping reflections at bay and that’s just as well because the maximum brightness of 287cd/m 2 is hardly searing.

Synthetic benchmark scores aside, the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 always felt nippy, managing to run even quite demanding tasks in Gimp, Kdenlive, Audacity and Libre Office under Linux without bogging down. This is where the 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage really come into play. It lets you use the CX34 as a real laptop if you want to. The testing regime includes the requirements of military-grade standards, and varies depending on device. MIL-STD-810 testing is conducted on selected ASUS products only. Note that the MIL-STD-810 testing helps to ensure the quality of ASUS products but does not indicate a particular fitness for military use. The test is performed under laboratory conditions. Any damage caused by attempts to replicate these test conditions would be considered accidental, and would not be covered by the standard ASUS warranty. Additional coverage is available with ASUS Premium Care. In the WebXprt 3 test, the CX34 scored 281, which is a good showing, too. The higher-spec Acer Chromebook 516GE is only just in front with 299. It’s a similar tale in our ChromeOS multitasking test, the CX34’s score of 180 lagging behind the 516GE’s 217. Besides that, the display is pretty thin gruel, with only 60.1% of the sRGB colour gamut on show. With such a dull display, measuring the Delta E variance is almost a waste of time but I did it anyway, and the number was 6.7, which isn’t great. To be fair, though, this is no worse than the similarly priced Acer Chromebook 317.