ASUS Chromebook Enterprise Flip CX5, 14" Touchscreen FHD, Intel Core i5-1130G7, 256GB, 16GB, Backlit Keyboard, Wi-Fi 6, Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, Zero-Touch Enrollment, CX5400FMA-GN566T-S

This chromebook is not only beautifully built but fast and powerful. It's design does require a second mention, the thing is gorgeous, but the functionality is something to marvel at. Music is great, lots of nits for good brightness, and the screen size is wonderful. Cannot stress enough how great a purchase this is.

After just a few days, the Asus Chrome Book CX5400FM has become my all time favorite laptop! I absolutely love this rig... everything just works so well on it. The size is perfect, the screen is bright beautiful and responsive, the keyboard is one of the best I've ever typed on, and the book itself just feels so good to hold and carry or slip in a backpack. My version is the Core i3 / 8gig RAM / 128gig memory and it is PLENTY fast and capable for work tasks, gaming, streaming entertainment, and everything in between and more. I've never been a big stylus user, but now that there's one onboard I'm popping it out and using it nearly every time I flip this little beauty open. Battery life so far has been excellent and recharges pretty fast too. The speakers sound great and bluetooth is accurate and solid. Most importantly, all the features we've come to know and love with Chrome work flawlessly on this device. To the good people at Asus- Thank you for creating an awesome laptop experience... I am truly impressed and delighted with this Chrome Book. And to the good people at Amazon... thank you for the payment option and for beating your own delivery date!

This device works wonderfully in just about all the ways I hoped for - EXCEPT that it crashes constantly. Even after doing the troubleshooting tips online, it crashes multiple times a day. Not what I expect when I pay this much for a premium chromebook. Not at all what I experienced with the Pixelbook Go.

This is going to be a detailed review to make up for the deficit of online reviews I was able to find prior to my own purchase. If you want a summary, skip to the end. :-)I've been in tech since the '80s. I'm fluent in Windows, OSX, and Linux operating systems and I've been both frustrated and successful with each of those, at various points and to varying degrees. Windows is an ever-increasing, convoluted mess that I tolerated (till Windows 11). OSX is solid and stable but feels like a rigid/restrictive money grab by Apple, hardware-wise. I also feel OSX has been moving backward since 2017, to such a degree that even a “Hackintosh” is no longer worth the effort. Linux (how I love and hate thee)... just can't quite get its act together: too many distros and not enough of a user base for the level of standardization/functionality I'm looking for. In the meantime, I've patiently observed the development of ChromeOS: it's a Linux... backed by Google. Similar, in many ways, to the development of OSX -- a BSD Unix backed by Apple. ChromeOS also has the advantage of compatibility with Android (another Google, Linux-based project). Until recently, ChomeOS has been something of an underachiever: relegated primarily to the world of education and media consumption. Until recently.So there I was, sick of Windows and not interested in OSX nor a traditional Linux distro... and in the market for a couple of new portable computing devices (my wife and I each got one). To make matters more daunting, I wanted something that would do EVERYTHING WELL: laptop, tablet, productivity (office content, virtual machines, and coding), light gaming, media consumption, graphic design, light 3d modeling, and... yes... active stylus support. It's a big ask. But, for the first time ever, not impossible thanks to the maturation of ChromeOS and USI. By the way, USI is the Universal Stylus Initiative and is just what it sounds like. But more on that later.Enter the Asus CX5400 (i7 Iris Xe, 16GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD). It's overkill for most users and if you don't know the architectural difference between an i5 and i7, you can probably save yourself a few dollars and grab the i5 (though I'd still suggest the 16GB of RAM – it's just nice to have the headroom).If you try to find Chromebook reviews online, most are NOT going to be for the higher-end models. Almost all the reviews I found prior to my purchase were for the i3s and under (and not something I was even going to consider for what I needed). This review is specifically for the CX5400 i7 version.Speed: Let's start with the obvious. While there is nothing bleeding-edge about any single component of the Asus CX5400, ChromeOS is a lightweight operating system initially built to run on very modest hardware. So running it on an i7 (even a low-voltage version like the Intel i7-1160G7) with 16GB RAM is pretty overkill – unless you plan to run multiple virtual machines, AAA games, or some other such activity. The Iris Xe graphics (available with both the i5 and i7) adds substantial graphics processing, but again... it isn't going to run AAA gaming titles. I like it for the smooth 2d graphics performance for design and light gaming. It also manages to keep up with the included USI 1.0 stylus. The SSD is a tad small for my tastes (512GB) but it's a PCIe SSD, so apps and VMs (and programs run within the VMs) are very snappy. In possible defense of the smaller SSD, there's also room for a MicroSD card, which I like.Screen: The screen is standard HD (1080p) with 100% sRGB color gamut. This means the color accuracy is pretty decent in the event you want to use the device for art or editing photos. Some people might complain about the non-4kness. But at 14" I think 1080p is perfect. Additionally, the Iris Xe doesn't have to work as hard to keep up and there's less drain on the battery. So no complaints there. The screen brightness maxes out at 300 nits. I prefer a little more -- 350+ nits -- but this is plenty for indoor use. The only time the brightness would matter to most people would be if they wanted to run it outside in direct sunlight, in which case the glossy screen reflections might overwhelm the screen brightness. I haven't tried this yet, so I can't really speak to whether or not it's an issue. The screen also maintains a 60Hz refresh rate. This doesn't bother me since I don't use my CX5400 for high-end gaming. I have a different rig for that so 60Hz is fine. Incidentally, I went with the 14” CX5400 over the 15” CX5500 because 15” just seems a bit too bulky for a tablet. Having played with the CX5400 for just over a week, I am confident I made the right choice in that regard.Battery life: The use of a 1080p 60Hz screen, in addition to a low-wattage Intel processor makes sense here and allows for a respectable battery life. My CX5400 has no trouble keeping up with 8 hours of moderate use, but I've drained it in as little as 4 hours modeling fairly complex 3d objects as a stress test. The battery also charges relatively quickly – I’d say within an hour or so. My only complaint in the power department has to do with the shortish cord on the charger brick. An extra 3-5 feet of cord would have made me MUCH happier. Another option for Asus would have been to make the cord detachable from the brick, which would allow the user to buy their own USB-C cable (though that could prove problematic in other ways). But an extension cord adequately addresses the issue so... meh.Haptics/build quality: I was a tad anxious about this prior to my purchase. Sure, Asus has a decent reputation with regard to build quality… but It’s only a $1000 laptop. The CX5400 delivers. The case is rigid with no hint of cheapness. The screen hinges are flexible but not loose and the screen doesn’t shake while typing. Folding the screen back into tablet mode is smooth with no binding and I don’t feel like the hinges are likely to fail any time soon. The keys on the keyboard are standard-sized chiclet keys with reasonable travel (1.4mm) and no discernable wobble. They are also backlit at a level that makes them not too bright but still visible in low light. The lighting between the keys is not perfectly uniform and could stand to be a tad brighter, particularly because the keys are light gray instead of the standard black. At certain light levels, the back-lighting almost matches the color of the keys, making them more difficult to read. It doesn't slow down my typing though, so I'm not too bothered by it. The touchpad is of adequate size and has a slight bead-blasted texture which I like. Some reviewers have commented that something about the touchpad can seem ever so slightly tacky – minimally noticeable when making small, precise movements. My wife and I both noticed it but did not feel it was intrusive. I don’t know if it’s a by-product of the material or some kind of coating that could be removed.UPDATE ON TRACKPAD:After a few weeks of use and a couple ChromeOS updates, I feel like the trackpad behavior has changed. Previously the trackpad finger tracking felt mostly smooth, though occasionally jumpy with smaller, precise finger movements. Over the last 3-4 weeks, I have noticed an increase in the jumpiness of the tracking, such that I am more often over-shooting intended pointer movements. This is not a problem with trackpad settings, as those have not changed. Additionally, I have attempted to ajust those settings to address the problem, with no success. I have also dived into CROSH (the ChromeOS terminal) to manually adjust acceleration and threshold settings manually. Sadly, this functionality (xset m) is no longer present in CROSH -- at least not on the CX5400. I'm hoping a ChromeOS update will fix the problem, since I do not suspect hardware to be the point of failure here. However, the problem is annoying enough that I have removed a star from my review. Could I use a mouse? Sure. But I shouldn't have to. And that's not the issue here.Multimedia and I/O: Pretty standard fare for a device of this sort: there’s one USB-A (3.2 spec) port, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports that support display/power, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, a 720p front-facing camera, and a Micro SD card reader. You charge the CX5400 via either of the two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports (both will work). Obviously, you’ll need a USB hub if you have more than a couple of wired peripherals. The speakers sound… decent enough. The reviews I read gushed about them, but I’m kind of a snob in that regard and use a USB DAC (AudioQuest Dragonfly Red) with decent speakers (AudioEngine 5) or my Vifa Helsinki for Bluetooth on the go. I haven’t tested transfer speeds on the MicroSD and I haven’t tested the wired, analog audio quality. The camera has a sliding shutter for privacy, which I like. I wish it was 1080p60, but whatever. It works.Stylus: The included stylus is a USI 1.0 spec pen. I love that it’s housed inside the laptop. It’s a tad small and the shape could be better – perhaps a bit more round. There are also no buttons or built-in eraser functionality. But it works. Really well, in fact. And as a lefty, the active stylus palm rejection is critical for me. That said, the apps you use are going to significantly impact your user experience. I downloaded at least six different apps before I found the features and low pen latency I was looking for (I love Concepts for art, and Squid for taking notes). The short battery life (around 45 minutes) was a little off-putting, at first. But it only takes 20 seconds to recharge. So… I can’t really complain too much. The USI spec is brilliant and still in a fledgling state. I expect great things as it matures and becomes more widely implemented/supported. To make things even better, you can purchase other USI styluses, tailored with features to meet your individual preferences, offering even greater utility.Software: This is where things get… subjective. First things first: most of the utility offered by any operating system is tied to the software you can run in that environment. So if you’re heavily invested in specific software, I suggest checking to see if ChromeOS supports your needs. And if not, figure out what your alternatives are. Fortunately, ChromeOS is no slouch here and you have plenty of apps to choose from. To make things even sweeter, most Android apps are also supported. And if that’s not good enough for you, ChromeOS comes with native support for a Linux virtual machine that allows for a solid command line terminal, programs like Blender 3D, and various IDEs. As for stability… so far, everything has worked exactly as it should and I haven’t experienced any crashes or antics.Summary/TLDR: It’s a $1000 laptop/tablet with an i7 Iris Xe, 16GB of RAM, solid build quality, a viable operating system, and an active stylus that fits inside the chassis. Over the last 40 years, I’ve purchased tens of thousands of dollars of tech. The i7 CX5400 is one of the more impressive little devices I’ve ever owned. So… mostly (aside from current trackpad issues), yes.

There are lots of chrome os tablets and laptops in the $300 range that have i3 processors and 4GB of RAM that I would regard as underpowered and maddening to have to deal with. My wife was given such a device by the school where she teaches so I had the chance to check that out.And so I paid up for this. But the price just dropped $50, one week after I bought it. Thanks Amazon. The ASUS website calls this an "ASUS Chromebook Enterprise Flip CX5 (CX5400, 11th Gen Intel)" and there's a user manual there if you look. If you register it, copying the serial number off the back of the unit is a nightmare -too small to read.While Chrome OS is quirky in my opinion, I have enjoyed using this device so far. Videos stream on it quite well. Networking seems responsive and adequate. My unit is totally quiet. The battery life seems very impressive. In casual use it could last for days.So far, I'm not sorry I bought it.