Windows convertible laptops have nothing on the Asus Chromebook Flip CM5 (starts at $499.99; $599.99 as tested). Not many Chromebooks have HDMI ports, obliging you to fuss with a USB-C DisplayPort dongle to connect an external monitor, but the Asus has one. And hardly any Chromebooks have handy Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys—you have to team the menu and Alt keys with the cursor arrows—but the Flip CM5’s backlit keyboard includes them. Like all 15.6-inch convertibles, the Asus is too heavy and unwieldy for comfort in tablet mode, but it’s a perky, well-equipped, and affordable option for going online and Google Workspace productivity.
AMD Inside
Our review unit (model CM5500FDA-IS588T) is a $599.99 Costco configuration with AMD’s quad-core, 2.1GHz Ryzen 5 3500C processor, 8GB of memory, and a 128GB NVMe solid-state drive. Amazon and Newegg offer a $100-cheaper economy model with a dual-core Ryzen 3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC flash storage. Both have Wi-Fi 6 and a 15.6-inch touch screen with full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) resolution.
The Flip CM5 has an aluminum lid and plastic bottom, styled in a nearly black hue Asus calls Mineral Gray. It measures 0.73 by 14.1 by 9.5 inches and weighs 4.3 pounds, about the same as the last 15.6-inch Chromebook convertible we tested, the now-discontinued Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 from May 2019. Trimmer 14-inch 2-in-1’s like the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 and HP Chromebook x360 14c are easier to handle (3.6 pounds each).
Medium-thin bezels surround the screen (the company cites an 81% screen-to-body ratio), with a webcam centered above and a small chrome Asus logo below to match the one on the lid. Two hinges let you fold the display back into easel, tent, or tablet modes; Asus says the CM5 has the ErgoLift hinge design also seen on its Windows laptops, but the screen doesn’t raise the keyboard into a slanted typing angle until it’s tilted quite far back. The display wobbles slightly when tapped in laptop mode, but there’s little flex if you grasp its corners or press the keyboard deck.
On the left side are a USB 3.2 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, an audio jack, a volume rocker, and the power button. At right are another USB-C port, the HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. The compact power adapter plugs into either USB-C port. The WASD keys are outlined in orange as on some gaming laptops, though this Chromebook isn’t one—a few Android pastimes like Plants Vs. Zombies or Bubble Witch 3 are all it’s likely to see.
A-Plus Keyboard, F-Minus Camera
I’ve already mentioned the keyboard’s welcome addition of small Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys above the numeric keypad, as well as its bright backlight. It has a comfortably brisk typing feel with good travel. The large, buttonless touchpad glides and taps smoothly and takes just the right amount of pressure for a quiet click.
The 1080p IPS screen is rated at only 250 nits of brightness when we usually demand 300 and hope for 400, but it looked bright enough in my testing, with white instead of dingy backgrounds and decent contrast. Colors are crisp and well saturated and fine details looked sharp. Unlike smaller-screened Chromebooks, the Flip CM5 is set by default to its native resolution, but the Settings app lets you choose a lower “looks like” or scaled resolution such as 1,280 by 720 if you want larger icons and screen elements.
Speaking of 1,280 by 720, that’s the usual resolution of generic laptop webcams. The Flip’s is no exception, but it’s so crummy it takes half a star off the system’s overall rating—I’m used to soft-focus or slightly fuzzy or noisy images, but it’s much worse than that, so blurred you won’t recognize yourself. Both the Camera and Duo apps looked just terrible. Unfortunately, the webcam has no sliding privacy shutter so you can’t disable it.
Bottom-mounted speakers pump out relatively loud, slightly hollow or echoing sound; there’s not much bass but highs and midtones are clear and you can make out overlapping tracks. Like other Chromebooks, the Asus comes with assorted offers including 12 months of Google One 100GB cloud storage and three months of YouTube Premium, Canva, and Stadia Pro.
Performance Testing: At the Head of the Chromebook Class
For our benchmark charts, I compared the Asus Chromebook Flip CM5 to two 14-inch convertibles, the abovementioned HP Chromebook x360 14c and Acer Chromebook Spin 514, which respectively have an Intel Core i3 and the same optimized-for-Chromebooks AMD Ryzen 5 3500C processor as the Asus.
A 13.5-inch, Core i5-powered convertible, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, is our Editors’ Choice title holder in the consumer category. Since I wanted to include another 15.6-inch system, I gave the last slot to the HP Chromebook 15, though that Core i3 laptop is a conventional clamshell instead of a 2-in-1.
The first objective benchmarks we use are Principled Technologies’ venerable CrXPRT (a suite of simulated Chrome OS productivity apps) and more recent WebXPRT 3 (a browser-based test of HTML and JavaScript throughput).
The CrXPRT results were a four-way tie with the big HP trailing, but there was slightly more separation between the contenders in WebXPRT 3, with the Asus posting thoroughly honorable scores in both tests. That was in line with its subjective performance, which didn’t slow or stutter even with numerous browser tabs open and a couple of videos playing. (See more about how we test laptops.)
JetStream 2 is another performance test that combines 64 JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmarks to measure a browser’s (in this case, the default Chrome’s) suitability for advanced web applications.
Another four-abreast finish in this benchmark. We’ve never seen a Chromebook that can keep pace with the fastest Windows gaming laptops or mobile workstations, but they’re more about online work and everyday apps than demanding video editing or 3D rendering, especially at this low price point.
Finally, to test a laptop’s battery life, we loop a 720p video file with screen brightness set at 50%, audio volume at 100%, and Wi-Fi disabled until the system quits. If the Chromebook’s internal storage isn’t big enough to hold the video, we play it from an external SSD plugged into a USB-C port.
As a desktop replacement, the CM5 is more likely to be plugged in than a frequent flier’s notebook or ultraportable, so its eight and a half hours of video playback isn’t a deal-breaker, though it isn’t especially impressive. It’ll certainly get you through a few classes on campus or a Google Slides presentation at a client’s office.
A Lot of Productivity for Six C’s
We’re not wild about 15.6-inch convertibles because they’re heavy and awkward in tablet mode, but the Asus Chromebook Flip CF5 is a well-built, full-sized laptop with good performance and solid presentation skills. Except for its bulk and its weak webcam, it’s one of the nicest Chromebooks we’ve tested and an impressive value.
