16.12.2019

When my convertible laptop was written off earlier this month due to screen breakage, I was left with a payout from the insurance company. Money in hand, I went to my local electronics retailer and walked straight past Chromebooks. Too basic, I thought. Cheap and undesirable. I was wrong.Looking at what I used my laptop for - web browsing, word processing and watching streamed media; I realised I didn't need an i7 with oodles of RAM. Most of my needs could be met with a web browser, and Office applications for mobile devices are pretty good nowadays. Enter the Asus C434 Chromebook. I was attracted by the design, positive 'chart topping' reviews online and battery life. I have not been left disappointed.Firstly,the C434 is the more premium-end of Asus' Chromebook line-up. This means you get their display with small bezels, all aluminium construction and backlit keyboard. The model below this is a blend of aluminium and plastic however very similar from a hardware perspective. Due to concerns about chassis bend when pressure was applied to the keyboard, I felt spending a little extra was worth the money for peace of mind. The C434 feels very sturdy, like a solid chunk of metal. Thanks to this it looks way more expensive than it actually is too. Using it at work and out and about, I have gained a few compliments, and people have been genuinely surprised that a Chromebook can look this good!Coming from an i7 I was very concerned about performance. I haven't bought a computer with this little RAM and CPU power since the days of Netbooks. I haven't found this to be a problem. I tried to overload the RAM with opening 25 tabs in Chrome, alongside running Word, Excel, Powerpoint, a VPN and Spotify. Yes, it slowed down a little when opening system menus, but scrolling in Chrome and opening up further tabs was smooth and perfectly usable. ChromeOS is an amazingly well optimised operating system. In fact, I am writing this review with an obscene 28 tabs open, and I'm swapping through a few of them without Spotify skipping once. This is beyond what most people would consider reasonable use, but good to know regardless.The battery life is somewhere in the region of 8-9 hours for mixed general use. Perfectly reasonable and on-par with mid-range Android tablets. The backlit keyboard doesn't appear to negatively impact this, and screen brightness can be left at a brighter level with no large detrimental effect. The 1080p screen is clear and is great for consuming media. No pixels can be seen at usual viewing distance and the backlight is more than usable for use outside without reflections becoming too distracting.In terms of ChromeOS, I have been very pleased. There was a small adjustment process as some keyboard buttons are modified or missing. A prime example of this is CAPS lock, which is search, summoning Google Assistant. This can be re-mapped in settings or (like me) you can simply press 'ALT+Search' to turn CAPS lock on or off. I barely ever use this, so I have not seen it to be a major drawback. Also there is no right press on the mouse pad, causing me a great deal of confusion at first. Right click on some Chromebooks is gesture based - simply hover over the item/word you want to right click, then tap on the touchpad using two fingers spaced apart. Reliable, yes. Convenient, no. ChromeOS on the Asus C434 supports Play Store so Android apps can be installed, and also Linux-based apps. The latter requires more technical experience. I just use Play Store as many apps are optimised for tablets and mobiles, so you're simply served the tablet user interface by default.Things aren't perfect though, and a few minor annoyances mean I cannot give this a perfect 5 stars.The keyboard is fine to type with, and is nice and quiet. The standard size means typing is intuitive but the keys feel a little mushy.The trackpad is quite bad, the worst I have used in a notebook for many years. The plastic finish means that it is not accurate, and sometimes interactions are not picked up immediately. Small movements might not be picked up initially, leading to a large reaction on the screen when the pad notices the input. This can mean inputs look a little jagged and harsh on the screen. I have adapted to this and barely notice it now, but coming from a premium notebook with a glass touchpad to this was a little jarring.The backlit keyboard had a weird mid-key LED light which can be seen through the keyboard and sometimes actually makes the keys harder to see. In low light I have sometimes turned it off. Thanks to the silver keyboard and clear keys, the backlight of the screen illuminates the keys well enough not to need to use it all the time.The built-in speakers are good but lack a little bass. My Android Tablet (S5e) has better speakers and a much smaller form factor. Left/right spacial differentiation is good without any post-processing of audio needed. Still, Asus could do better. They also opted to place the speakers on the bottom of the laptop meaning that you can sometimes obscure the speakers when using it on your lap. Side firing speakers would have been a better option.Overall, even despite my concerns with some of the design choices, I still love my Asus C434 Chromebook. It is fast, boots quickly and with ChromeOS is very secure too. It meets all my needs well and I'm left wondering how much money I've wasted on laptops over the past few years.

6.11.2019

I have just replaced my Windows Surface 3 with the Asus C434 Chromebook. So here’s how my first two weeks have gone making the switch. The Surface was not being used for anything heavy duty – mainly to remote control my Windows desktop back in the office, browsing, Netflix and simple Microsoft Office stuff with Word, Excel and OneNote. In order to put off reading glasses a little while longer, I needed a bigger screen and also the Surface was taking a while to boot up - only about a minute but when you are on the move…The screen is the same shape (aspect ratio) as most desktop monitors including mine so it works well using the full screen for remote control.It has similar sharpness and viewing angle to the Surface screen which was very good although the C434’s is not quite as bright but OK. Which is fine for work but not quite so good for movies. Also the sound is not that loud but fine if there is no background noise.The real surprise is how snappy the C434 is. Because it has a long battery life, I can leave it on standby the whole day and it is ready to roll before I have even opened out the screen. It connects within a couple of seconds to Wifi and runs a remote control session almost as if you are at the desktop itself even on a mobile 4G connection via my Samsung S8. With the Surface I was often seeing lag to a point it was too frustrating to use. Needless to say, browsing with Chrome on a Chromebook is super quick – again most noticeable on a mobile connection.There seem to be complaints about the touchpad but it seems fine to me. However, I use a Bluetooth mouse so I am probably the wrong person to give an opinion on that. Keyboards may be subjective and the C434 is OK to me but I prefer the feel of the Surface and a proper desktop keyboard.Here are some of the less good things that I have found when switching to Chrome OS.1. There are plenty of Android apps but they appear to be optimised for phones or tablets. This means they may require touch input in some places and don’t work with a mouse/touchpad. Other things like hotkeys and mouse friendly menus are also not as polished as their Windows counterparts.2. Android apps appear to be buggier than their Windows equivalents. For example, remote control AnyDesk displays the top half of the screen lightly shaded but still perfectly useable. The mapping of the keyboard to a US layout less so. The cursor in OneNote is not always shown and this makes the app unusable. (Funnily, it works a treat on my Samsung Android phone). Sometimes the mouse disappears for some apps but re-appears if I hit a cursor key or cycle between apps. I would like to point out that Netflix seems to work fine. Well, as fine as it does on my other devices.3. There are different actions for right click and scroll on the Chromebook touchpad using two fingers which take a little getting used to.4. Chrome OS doesn’t do “windows” as well as Windows and appears best switching between apps full screen. This makes sense on a phone but it would be nice if it was slicker when you have a 1080 resolution screen.If like me, you use your laptop as a gateway to your Windows desktop, then this Chromebook works really well. If you need it just for browsing and email then it is also excellent but I personally would have gone for a smaller cheaper Chromebook as the C434 is too heavy and bulky to carry around like a book (unlike the Surface). It does feel like a premium product though.

8.5.2019

So, let me start this review by saying I have worked in IT for a number of years, and have used a number of different makes and models of devices on all manner of operating systems over the years. I've got a large screen (17 inch) Windows 10 laptop which I have been using as my primary device, and a Samsung S8 phone that i get on really well with, but i wanted something bigger and better than a phone for use on the couch, portable and lightwieght for travelling and media and after looking at a number of reviews and trialing friends devices i chose this one.I still use my Windows 10 laptop for full Office Suite when i need it, and a few other applications, but on the whole this is now my main device.For web browsing, Android Store apps like Netflix (which allows offline downloads), Android games, Google Docs and Office Online, Youtube, Spotify etc this lovely bit of kit from Asus fits the bill.This is a slim, lightweight device, in a lovely polished chrome design. It has a full sized keyboard which is nice to type on, and has a handy backlight. The screen is a perfect size at 12.5 inches, I'm not a fan of the smaller more common 11.6 inch size machines. It feels sturdy enough, although I'm not planning on dropping it! The rotating screen is handy if you want to use it as a tablet, or turn it into a tent stand to watch a movie or something similar. The speakers are good enough for what you'd expect, obviously you'll need to use some headphone if you want a good quality sound. There is a standard 3.5mm headphone port and it supports bluetooth for external devices. There is a USB - C port on each side for charging, or for peripherals and there is a micro sd card slot if you need to add some storage for media or photos and documents. I've not yet fully tested the battery, but it seems to be good, I'm not convinced about claims that I'ev read about 10 - 12 hours of use, but i suspect i'll get 6 - 8 hours.The Chrome OS is refreshing, simple to use, and is intuitive once you've used it a couple of times. It will take some getting some used to for people who are not used to using non Windows devices, but anyone who has an Android phone will pick it up quickly. I've been holding off on using Chromebooks until Android apps were available, which they now are, although the store is not identical to the mobile one, for example no Amazon Prime Video app.All in all I'm very pleased with it so far as the device i'll use most for internet, shopping, apps and games that are better on a bigger screen than a phone or with a keyboard. Great for media and watching Netflix (or Sky Sports when there is an argument about the TV). If this is going to be your only device you need to make sure that you're not going to need anything that needs to be installed such as iTunes, Visual Studio, full Microsoft Office etc, otherwise you'll need to stick with Windows, Apple or Linux I'm afraid.

1.12.2017

Not many premium Chromebooks out there for serious ChromeOS users. The top of the range Google Pixelbook is just too expensive at £1000 and so I opted for this machine after much research. The positives are the beautiful build which opens out smoothly without any obvious kinks. The keyboard feels wonderful and the track pad is smooth. The game changer with this Chromebook over other cheaper models is the touchscreen. With the Google Play Store now available in stable mode the Chromebook compatible apps are becoming available thick and fast and without the touchscreen a lot of them simply wouldn't work. There currently is no point buying a Chromebook without touchscreen and currently the only high performance Chromebook with this feature is this one.

12.4.2020

I was looking to buy a new tablet, but the tablet market isn't as keen as it used to be - which got me thinking about buying a Chromebook to play with. Working in IT, I've always been curious about Chromebooks, but up until now wasn't ready to take the plunge.Having looked at the various Chromebooks available for between £400 and £500 I decided to go for the Asus C433, and I wasn't disappointed. For me, its not going to fully replace my Windows 10 laptop, but that was never my intention. It's the perfect replacement for my tablet (albeit costing more than I'd have spent on a tablet), and it's portability and ease of use means I expect to use the Win10 laptop a lot less.The flip screen works brilliantly,

17.10.2019

Coming from a 3:2 aspect ratio Pixelbook I was unsure about using Chrome OS with a 16:9 ratio but I am glad I did. The screen on this unit is only slightly less tall than the Pixelbook and you can see almost as much height in documents and webpages as Pixelbook but you can fit two windows side by side to maximize productivity. I commonly have a Docs page open beside a webpage and the split screen setup allows me type into one what I read from the other. The screen is wide enough to fit the document andnl webpage full width. It's a really useful feature. You can't argue that used in single window mode you do have space either side that is not used but in terms of Docs this is taken up with the Tasks and Explore/

7.3.2018

Alright, i don't know if i should write a review here as i didn't buy this chromebook from amazon, but i needed to let the buyers know exactly what they are getting.As far as chromebooks go, outside of the pixel book this is by far the best on the market right now.Although a year old now, things move slower in this space so the specs are still pretty much right on the money.The screen is great, if a little glossy. The touch functionality is a great bonus especially as you have android right out of the box, and the keyboard is a dream, in one word exemplary.I bought mine used, but the only thing used was the fact that the box had been opened.The reason I didn't get it brand new was because i just couldn't justify the price.This isn't a just released computer,

12.5.2019

After having the device for one week I can safely say this is one of the best Chromebooks if not notebooks I have ever used. If you're new to Chromebooks some of the advantages are the instant power on and the almost endless battery life and seamless updates. Speaking of battery life I am easily seeing upwards of 8 hours out of this device with a mix of web browsing, media (Youtube, Netflix, and downloaded content), and document writing.In terms of build quality, the Chromebook is well designed with the screen being the flagship part while only 1080p the scaling feature and the tiny bezels make this seem almost as good as my MacBook Pro 2018.

18.2.2018

Great little device. Boots up in seconds, fast recharge. This is one of the gadgets that runs Android apps as standard (but with a 12.5 inch screen, I tend to run the browser versions of most things). I had a problem running the Google Play Movies app, so use the browser version instead. Don't know if that is a specific problem that I experienced or something affecting this device in general.Take the time to learn the trackpad commands etc., you will get so much more out of this gadget. The old criticism of Chromebooks (can't use it offline) is moot now, as offline functionality has been added. I find Google's suite of applications (Docs, Sheets) are simple to use; they're close enough to Word and Excel,

5.2.2018

An amazing little piece of technology. It is fast and versatile with a lot of useful features. The fully-rotatable screen is even handier than I could have ever imagined. It is extremely lightweight and portable and the touch screen is very nice. It has a nice, small light-up keyboard that can be dimmed or brightened instantly using keyboard commands. The mousepad is fine with different finger gestures achieving various things. It has a good battery life and charges very quickly.Obviously, there is no disk drive and the physical memory of the device is limited. This is completely redeemed by the 100gb of free google drive space; allowing all of your files to be saved in the cloud instantaneously.

17.4.2019

The screen is great - sharp, bright and with good contrast - very comfortable to use outside on a bright sunlit day. Don’t believe one of the previous reviews criticising the keyboard and the trackpad. I do a lot of writing for a living and I am finding keyboard really comfortable over long periods - precise and responsive. The trackpad is OK - smooth and accurate - but not exceptional. The touch screen has about the right level of sensitivity for me when reaching out to it in laptop mode (haven’t used the machine much in tablet mode yet). The only very slight caveat is that it gets a bit ‘laggy’ switching between windows when you have a lot of them open - by a lot mean 8-10 - but even then it’s still perfectly usable.

5.10.2017

Firstly, the build quality is superb, the photos don't do it justice it is very thin and not heavy at all. The metal build is fantastic something you won't see on a Windows laptop at this price point. The bezels on the screen are very thin for a chromebook and the lid closes very flush to the main body, very professional, my ideal form factor.The typing expierence is the best I have come across on a laptop this size, the keys are well spaced apart and have a good amount of travel, the backlight in the keyboard is a total game changer and really sets it off. Same goes for the track pad, smooth and responsive. One thing to get used to is the lack of a physical right click,

13.3.2017

This piece of kit is pure class.I've been looking extensively for a sturdy, reliable, fast and premium Chromebook for quite some time to run my business off, and this is definitely the best of the bunch at this price point. The key requirements for me are speed, portability, battery life, typing experience, and build quality. This ticks every box and outperforms all other available Chromebooks within this price point in my opinion. The touch screen and the 2 in 1 flippable form factor are just icing on the cake, and will absolutely be useful for Android App usage on these machines (which will soon have a stable version of the Google Play Store available).The biggest competitor, of course,

2.10.2019

Never had a Chromebook before, but many laptops PC's, currently a Surface laptop. Just getting to grips with the new Chromebook., so these are my initial impressions. I agree with many reviewers - the build quality is excellent, probably better then the Surface. It should be because it costs just over £500.00, but I think that price is justified on build quality. I am fortunate in that I have both devices. but if I had to choose one - no contest the Surface wins, but it is much more expensive than the Chromebook. The Surface is much more versatile than the Chromebook, and although some users have changed to a Chromebook as their main digital device, personally I would not.

7.11.2019

I am incredibly pleased with this device. Having owned a cheaper chromebook in the past, this model shows just how excellent the chromebook system can be when given the right hardware to power it. I have had the product for about 8 months now and purchased it at £399.The build quality is excellent. The aluminium (I think) case is a significant step up from some of the cheaper chromebooks I have had in the past. The keyboard is excellent and is really comfortable to type on for extended periods of time. The screen is a good quality and produces clear and bright 1080p images. The trackpad is also very user friendly and precise. Finally, the USB type C charger is also great, with both sides having an input.

Asus Chromebook Flip C302 - Reviews

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