After a long, 2 year wait, the original Chromebook Flip finally has a successor. The ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 is upon us, and there are a few changes here and there, but ASUS has stayed inside the lines set by the first Flip – the C100. Thanks to winfuture.de for getting some early hands-on time with the device at Computex. You can see more pics of the device there.

It seems ASUS, in branding a line of Chromebooks as ‘Flip’, has decided to use the same Flip nomenclature across all these devices.

If you are keeping score, we now have the Flip C100, Flip C101, Flip C302, and Flip C213.

We can likely let go of the notion of ever seeing ‘Flip 2’ in any marketing material. ASUS is firmly planting the Flip brand and simply rolling out different model numbers.

For the C101, we are looking at a near-similar device to the original C100. The form, bezels, build materials, screen and input methods are literally the same. You can look at my review from 2 year ago see that not much has changed.

We’ve reported on ‘Bob’ for months and it looks like this is the device we’ve speculated would come to fruition.

The big differentiators are the aluminum texture (which is like the C302), a new processor (in the form of the RK3399, which is the same processor as the Samsung Chromebook Plus), and USB-C.

Other than those things, this device stays pretty identical to its predecessor.

Could Be A Good Thing

Sure, I would have liked them to shrink those bezels and cram a bigger screen into the Flip. I’d like to see a brighter panel than the rather-dim original. Other than those things, though, I was pretty happy with the original Flip.

With an updated aesthetic finish, a much faster processor and the addition of USB-C, ASUS could have a winner on its hands.

IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT.

That part is crucial. What we are looking at is an iterative device. ASUS took a good formula and made it better in a few ways. It will surely be worth the upgrade for users of the original, but it needs the right price.

Think about it for a second. ASUS didn’t have to spend much time designing this thing. They swapped the micro-HDMI and charging ports for USB-C, ordered a different finish, and changed out the processor.

Sure, there is work involved in all those things, but far less than starting from scratch. Development costs should be very low, here.

The original Flip debuted at $279. From the looks of it, there will be 2GB and 4GB versions available, though I’m not ever excited by a 2GB device. If they can get the 4GB version down in that sub-$300 price range, they might have a chance of stealing away some of Samsung’s customers.

If the price creeps up too close to the Chromebook Plus, though, the style and additional features on the Plus may be too much to contend with.

Buy The Samsung Chromebook Plus on Amazon

Performance Should Be Great

The original Flip was a bit slow, but the new silicon on offer for the second generation should change that. While the Samsung Chromebook Pro isn’t the fastest thing on the market, it gets around fine. Considering it is pushing 4X the pixels this new Flip will be, there’s good reason to believe the ASUS Flip C101 will move along pretty quickly.

All those pixels shuttered also means better battery life when compared to its higher-res competition.

Again, if they can keep the price under control, this Chromebook could be a fantastic combo of price, performance and portability.

As we learn more about availability and price, we’ll report further. Until then, enjoy some hands-on footage from winfuture.de.

SOURCE: Chrome Story