ASUS has announced two latest additions to its Chrome OS ecosystem. They are two ASUS Chromebook CM14 laptops (standard and Flip) that arrive in a portable and convertible format.
Chromebooks are the great alternative to what comes from Windows and macOS. They were the PCs that grew the most in sales when the confinements due to the COVID pandemic forced the acquisition of infrastructure for teleworking, online study and leisure at home and there is a good offer for all computing tasks, including those that focus on games.
ASUS Chromebook CM14s are intended for general computing use. They are powered by a processor ARM Kompanio 520 from MediaTek, indicating that they are heading to the entry-level range of Chromebooks. With eight processing cores and a dual-core graphics engine, it should offer enough performance to run productivity tools, Internet browsing, and multimedia entertainment.
As is the norm in the Taiwanese manufacturer, its design and finishes are well cared for. The screens are 14 inches diagonal and the portable model can be opened up to 180 degrees. The ‘Flip’ convertible model adds a multi-touch panelhinges to fold the screen up to 360 degrees and a stylus for drawing and note-taking that stores conveniently in the same body of the convertible.
To say that the chassis of these laptops meet the standard of MIL-STD 810H resistor military-grade and ASUS puts them through pressure, shock and drop tests. The keyboard has a spill-resistant design and along with the touchpad and palm rest areas have an antimicrobial treatment. To enhance privacy, they have a built-in physical shutter to quickly cover the webcam when not in use.
They support Wi-Fi 6 for wireless Internet connection and include an offer to access free for one year to the Google One cloud storage service. Pre-install the latest version of Chrome OS, a system that continues to stand out for its simplicity, ease of use, administration or security, but which in recent years has added a new graphical environment accelerated by hardware name “Aura”, which include the components used in other systems such as Windows or macOS.
As for the applications, it includes those of Chrome OS, those of Android for its support to Google Play, those of Linux and even games with the advance that the arrival of the Steam platform has brought. No pricing has been provided for these ASUS Chromebook CM14s, but they should be pretty cheap.
