We recently got our hands on another Chromebook to play around with. This time it was the Asus Chromebook Flip C214. This isn’t a laptop, it’s a Chromebook. That’s an important distinction to make. As far as Chromebooks go, if you’ve tried one, you’ve tried them all. We have yet to see a Chromebook that has really wowed us.
Chromebooks generally come in two form factors; 2-in-1s, where the screen and keyboard are detachable and the sort that look like a rather small, regular laptop. Of the ones that look like a regular laptop, you can get some that flip over and others that break if you try that. The Asus Chromebook Flip C214 is — you might’ve seen this coming — the kind that can flip.
This flippy chap comes with varying specs. A dual- or quad-core Intel CPU, 4 or 8GB of LPDDR4 onboard RAM (meaning you can’t replace or upgrade it) and 32 or 64GB of storage. The screen doesn’t change much between different models, it’s an 11.6in 1366×768 HD touchscreen.
Those might not look like great specs on paper — because they aren’t — but in a Chromebook running ChromeOS they’ll get the job done. On that note, ChromeOS isn’t as customisable as Windows.
You’re limited to installing Android apps downloaded from the Play Store. But choose wisely, you don’t have a lot of room to store them. You’ll need to make extensive use of your GDrive to store most of your documents which means you’ll pretty always need an internet connection. That’s one of the reasons why these devices are pretty much only really geared towards students that use Google’s suite – as opposed to Microsoft 365.
Asus Chromebook Flip C214 Verdict
If your computer requirements are limited to the fact that you need to drag it along with you (and be connected to the net while doing so), then consider the Asus Chromebook Flip C214. If always being online, limited physical storage or app flexibility is a problem then look elsewhere.
This one, in particular, retails for R8,000 at the time of writing, which is slightly steep if it’s aimed at students.
