Asus, you know it’s a good thing to help customers distinguish between your products, right? For example, the 15 inch Chromebook Flip CX5 is also referred to as CX5500, or Chromebook C536 depending on your market. Now there is a new version, the CX5400 … which Asus is also referring to CX5. This despite the fact that they are very different designs: the 4 in the name indicates that it is a 14-inch convertible Chromebook, which is not very useful if you Google “Asus CX5”.

The Chromebook Flip CX5-CX5400 (sticking out the tongue, right?) Uses a 14-inch 1080p LED display, with touch input and stylus support; the stylus is stored in a dedicated bay. Under the hood is a surprisingly robust 11th-gen Core i7 processor, accompanied by the impressive Xe integrated graphics system (slower, cheaper options may be available at some point). Buyers will be able to choose between 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage, with a similar choice between 8 and 16GB of RAM. It includes the usual bells and whistles, as well as Wi-Fi 6.

Ports include two USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 for data, power, and video, plus a standard USB-A for older accessories, a MicroSD card slot, and a headphone jack. The 720p webcam isn’t amazing, but it does come with a hardware privacy shutter. The most appealing thing about the Cx5400, at least to me, is the chassis. The all-metal construction has a pale blue sheen that’s smooth as hell, although the form factor is something we’ve seen before. Asus doesn’t say what the metal is, but since the machine weighs just 1.4kg (just under 3.1 pounds), it’s almost certainly some kind of aluminum alloy.

According to Asus’ official storefront, the Core i7 / 512GB / 16GB version of the Chromebook CX5-5400 (again, the 14-inch version, which is different from other CX5s) will cost $ 1,050 when it is released “soon.” . Hopefully some of the other versions will come with a little less sticker shock.