WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 I had a recent work mishap where I put my laptop on top of my car and drove away. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:08.000 It's not fully broken, but there's some cosmetic damage I'm not super happy about, and it'll 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:14.760 probably get worse over time. So ASUS sponsored this video, so I can take a look at not one, but two different Chromebooks 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:20.120 and decide if I actually need like a full-fledged laptop or if I'm okay with just a Chromebook, 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:24.320 considering all I'm doing most of the time anyway is just either pulling up a webpage 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.560 or writing some notes in a script. So let's see what we got. 00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:34.560 We're going to look at the more premium version first, the CX3402CV. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:39.760 This guy has got it all, and by all I mean it's got everything you need, like a 14-inch 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:44.160 screen, 1080p, 60Hz, you know, it's actually not too heavy either. 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:47.840 That's my other problem is the laptop they want to give me at work is like pretty heavy 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.680 compared to my old one, whereas like this is small and sleek, and actually how heavy is 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:57.600 it? 1.45 kilos, that's all, that's about three pounds, it's pretty close. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:02.800 What else is in the box though? ASUS has given me a charging brick. 00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:10.160 This thing's got about a 50 watt hour battery, so plenty of juice as long as you're not trying 00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:13.920 to make the screen super bright all the time and run it to its absolute limit. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:20.360 It should last you quite a while. ASUS is boasting up to 10 hours, I think we tested it closer to six and a half. 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:23.640 It's pretty long cable, probably about six feet, because I'm not six feet and this thing 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:27.440 goes a little further than me. I wish it was. 00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:32.080 One other main feature though, we've got one USB-C for charging, and on our other side 00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:36.520 we've got another USB-C with, looks like DP alt mode, so if you want to plug this thing 00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:42.480 into a bigger screen, that's totally valid, and then we've also got HDMI, and then a couple 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.640 of USB-A ports and a headphone mic combo jack. 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:50.640 Honestly, we'll talk about the price in a bit, but that's more IO than I get on like 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.720 my own laptop actually. Otherwise, it seems pretty bog standard, you know, you can see the cooling system in here, 00:01:56.720 --> 00:02:02.920 it actually looks like pretty accessible too. They don't have a ton of stickers and other stuff blocking all the screws. 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:06.280 I don't even think you have to take these feet off, so it actually seems pretty repairable. 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:09.720 I don't know how much you want to repair a Chromebook, but it looks like you could. 00:02:09.720 --> 00:02:16.800 Otherwise, yeah, it's pretty light. I like the look of it. It's got a little Chromebook Plus logo and the rock gray, I like the ASUS there. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:20.440 I just messed this up pretty bad, and the fingerprints aren't like hyper visible. 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:24.040 You can get your grubby hands all, you can let your kids get their grubby hands all over 00:02:24.040 --> 00:02:28.920 this thing, and it's going to be fine. Let's open it up and take a look. 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:33.600 I'll be honest, I'm not crazy about the keyboard, but this is not meant for that. 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:37.800 There are a lot of things this device is meant for, and fancy keyboard is not one of them. 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:41.960 Obviously, it's a Chromebook, so we're using Chrome OS, not Windows, but I believe this 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:46.600 is a touch screen, is it? It is! Yo, I don't like the touch screen very much. 00:02:46.600 --> 00:02:50.240 It does work. We're also missing my coveted Windows key. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:56.200 As for the keyboard itself, it's got a okay texture to the keycaps, and we're not getting 00:02:56.200 --> 00:03:02.080 a fancy low profile mechanical keyboard or anything in this, but honestly, I actually 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:10.120 don't hate like, chiclet style laptop keyboards. I find I type on them really well, and away we go. 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:13.960 No, I made a mistake! 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.480 I was going to send a new record, I swear. 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:25.200 But honestly, yeah, it's pretty good. It's responsive, it types things just fine, and one nice thing actually is the keys are 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:29.360 nice and spaced apart, so you're not going to have that weird moment where you jam two 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.960 keys at the same time, because you've got that hyper-condensed keyboard layout. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.560 So overall, it's fine. Sounds fine, sounds like a laptop chiclet keyboard, which frankly, they have their place. 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:44.240 They're totally okay. As for the trackpad, it doesn't like it when I've got two fingers there. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.900 How's the palm rejection? Palm rejection seems like pretty good, actually. 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:53.260 As for the clicks, yeah, this seems totally okay, actually. 00:03:53.260 --> 00:04:00.700 Let's take a look at the specs, and we've got a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1334U, 12 threads. 00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:05.380 That should be a 2P core chip, so we've got 2P cores and then 8E cores, and then the 2P 00:04:05.380 --> 00:04:09.660 cores are hyper-threaded to get you 12 threads total. It says boost, a 4.6 gigahertz. 00:04:09.660 --> 00:04:15.020 This doesn't clarify that that's a boost, but that is a boost clock. There's no way this thing runs at 4.6 base. 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:20.620 But then we've got 8 gigs of RAM, and I'm only using 2 gigs of it right now. So let's open some more Chrome tabs. 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:25.660 So we've got a video playing, we've got a web page up, we've got email open, some other 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:28.820 random tabs, web GL aquariums running. 00:04:28.820 --> 00:04:33.580 How are we doing? I'm using less RAM now. I'm down to 1.5 gigs of memory. 00:04:33.580 --> 00:04:39.140 How did that happen? I don't know, but the fact is, you're not buying this to game. 00:04:39.140 --> 00:04:44.700 Let's try to play Bellattro. Okay, we've got Bellattro installed, but that's totally fine because we've got 128 gigs of 00:04:44.700 --> 00:04:49.260 UFS storage. I know this game can run on mobile, but like, hey, it's playing Bellattro. 00:04:49.260 --> 00:04:53.420 The display itself isn't terrible either. It does 250 nits, which is bright enough. 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:57.900 You're not going to really be enjoying this outside too much. But you know, how's the speakers on this thing? 00:04:57.900 --> 00:05:02.980 I guarantee you, there's not going to be any bass, but like, these are not the worst speakers 00:05:02.980 --> 00:05:04.220 I've ever heard in my life. 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:15.500 That's with it cranked. Let me check out a more realistic thing. I want to hear dialogue because you're going to be using this as like a school aid or a 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.540 work aid. So you're going to be using it to watch lectures or attend a meeting or something. 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:23.940 So I want to see what it's like when someone's talking to you. Meta launched their Meta Ray-Ban. 00:05:23.940 --> 00:05:29.380 That sounds pretty good. I can hear that. If someone's talking to me over a meeting, I can totally understand them. 00:05:29.380 --> 00:05:35.180 Let me check how the webcam is though. And the microphone as well, because I can hear them, but can they hear me? 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:39.180 This isn't half bad. It's a full HD webcam with AI enhanced audio and video. 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.420 I think this is a very reasonable meeting webcam. 00:05:42.420 --> 00:05:46.740 I don't know how good the audio is on my side because I can't hear the mic, but I hope that 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:51.020 you're using this as a good way to determine if it's a good enough microphone for you. 00:05:51.020 --> 00:05:55.100 If you're looking into buying a new Chromebook for whether that's work or school or just 00:05:55.100 --> 00:06:01.620 like walking around the house. That's what I want this one for is to like just walk around with a light laptop, super 00:06:01.620 --> 00:06:05.940 lightweight with a script on it and just like check stuff out and read things. 00:06:05.940 --> 00:06:09.220 And that's it. I want like a super tablet, I guess. 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:16.380 It's pretty durable. If I drop it, I'm not super worried about it. Andrew can attest to how uncareful I am with the company laptops. 00:06:16.380 --> 00:06:20.860 The hinge should 180. Look at this. Now you can use it as like a tablet. 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:24.900 Maybe you want to use Photoshop and stylus and use it kind of like a tablet. 00:06:24.900 --> 00:06:30.820 It is optimized for creative apps, Photoshop, Express, LumaFusion and Google Workspace. 00:06:30.820 --> 00:06:36.740 And while there wasn't an Ethernet jack during the IO tour, it is Wi-Fi 6E, which is honestly 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:39.780 pretty fast. We connected to our network here, no problem. 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:42.820 We were streaming video without issues and so it should be totally fine for you. 00:06:42.820 --> 00:06:46.460 As long as your network, don't forget that you have to have a network that's also Wi-Fi 00:06:46.460 --> 00:06:54.140 6E. Otherwise, it's just going to default to whatever your slowest speed is. And you can get all this for $5.99, which is their, this is their most premium of Chromebooks 00:06:54.140 --> 00:06:58.300 and that $5.99 does come with a year of Gemini. 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:02.220 So that's like a pretty, that's what over another $100 worth of subscription savings 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:08.620 that you'd get. So overall, the value is pretty solid and I'm personally leaning towards this one just 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:13.100 because like I want to play Bellattro with the slightly better mobile CPU that's in 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:17.820 this guy. But if 600 bucks is outside of your price range, I've got kind of a treat for you because 00:07:17.820 --> 00:07:25.700 this guy, guess the price. Guess the price of what the slightly bigger one is because this is a 15 or a 16 inch screen. 00:07:25.700 --> 00:07:31.340 Like our other box by the way, basically just Chromebook, charge cable, some other random 00:07:31.340 --> 00:07:34.460 ASUS stuff. Have you guessed it yet? $30. 00:07:34.460 --> 00:07:45.060 This is this ASUS CB CX 15, 15.6 inch screen and fabric blue and it's only 160 bucks. 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:52.020 Like I honestly can't believe the day and age we live in where I'm getting a laptop that's 00:07:52.020 --> 00:07:55.340 like this big has an okay screen, like it's crazy. 00:07:55.340 --> 00:08:00.340 Now that price is a little bit too good to be true. It's technically $220 at MSRP. 00:08:00.340 --> 00:08:05.100 However, ever since this thing launched at Walmart, you can get it for $160 and we do 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.060 expect that sale to last for quite a long time. 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:16.060 What do you get for 160 bucks? Well, we get a little less than on our more premium guy, but we've got one USB-C, HDMI, 00:08:16.060 --> 00:08:21.260 always really nice to see when you're trying to hook up to a monitor and then USB-A. 00:08:21.260 --> 00:08:26.820 And we've also got a mic and headphone jack. Let's smudge this guy up, barely any smudges. 00:08:26.820 --> 00:08:32.460 I actually really like the aqua blue. Like that's one thing is I sticker bomb all my stuff because I like color and this is 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:36.020 way more up my alley in the sense that like it's a nice shiny, pretty blue. 00:08:36.020 --> 00:08:41.060 Now it is bigger. We've got a whole extra like inch and a half of screen space here. 00:08:41.060 --> 00:08:46.180 So it's going to be heavier, but it's really, you know, I can still one hand it. 00:08:46.180 --> 00:08:49.780 Get to the pizza. I'm going to guess 1600 grams. 00:08:49.780 --> 00:08:53.980 The other one was 1450. I'm so close to guess 1586. 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:59.740 So it's actually pretty light even though the screen is bigger. But this does have a significantly weaker mobile processor in it. 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:03.700 But hey, the value is there because this thing is still going to do most of what that could 00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:07.900 do. And I will say I actually kind of like this keyboard a bit more just because it's more 00:09:07.900 --> 00:09:11.420 in line with what I'm used to because I tend to use Windows laptops, but we've got this 00:09:11.420 --> 00:09:16.820 little Google button here, which is basically the Windows button. I've also got nice function and an alt layout here. 00:09:16.820 --> 00:09:23.580 It's like right now, at least just based on the keyboards. I strongly prefer this one just because it's got like a numpad and we've got that Google 00:09:23.580 --> 00:09:27.580 button. The other one, like I said, you're getting a little less because you're paying for a 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:32.460 lot less, but you're still getting Wi-Fi six, 128 gigs of storage, I want to say. 00:09:32.460 --> 00:09:39.540 And this one, we're getting a slightly smaller battery. It's advertised as 3550 milliamp hours, but we are getting a much more entry level CPU 00:09:39.540 --> 00:09:46.460 with a cellar on N4500. This is a two thread ship running at like 2.8 gigahertz and we're only getting four 00:09:46.460 --> 00:09:49.580 gigs of memory. So significantly less memory as well. 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:53.420 However, if you're doing a lot less, you don't need as much. So like let's bring up. 00:09:53.420 --> 00:09:59.340 Okay. We've got a YouTube webpage up. We're going to have the same like docs thing where I have a document up and like don't 00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:04.860 get me wrong. There's definitely a bit more of a delay as I'm navigating just like Chrome tabs and 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:10.140 whatnot and opening to Google docs. But the reality is this is like, it's still totally usable. 00:10:10.140 --> 00:10:13.900 None of these are delays that upset me or anything like that. 00:10:13.900 --> 00:10:18.020 And as for the display, perfectly serviceable again, I mean, don't get me wrong. 00:10:18.020 --> 00:10:22.980 I'm just watching some 1080p video on a 15, 16 inch screen, but it looks pretty good and 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:26.300 it's getting bright enough. Like we're talking about a workhorse here. 00:10:26.300 --> 00:10:30.540 And when you've got like a workhorse that needs to plow a field, you just want it to 00:10:30.540 --> 00:10:39.060 do that thing and do it well. Let's check out the speakers really quick. 00:10:39.060 --> 00:10:42.940 That's enough crab rave, but that's about what I'd expect honestly. I'm pretty impressed. 00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:46.380 And so you're going to be probably watching a lot of YouTube on this thing and just using 00:10:46.380 --> 00:10:53.260 like AI to summarize stuff for you. And that's great because it comes with three months, Google one AI premium as well as YouTube 00:10:53.260 --> 00:10:57.460 premium. Even at the 220 price, I think that's still a decent price. 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.860 But man, if you can get this thing for 160, I think that's a steal. 00:11:00.860 --> 00:11:04.540 And I mean, it's honestly still pretty solid. We didn't even check out the webcam yet. 00:11:04.540 --> 00:11:11.100 Let's take a look and see how good the webcam is. One nice thing that I love to see on laptops because even at home, I keep like a sticky 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:14.860 note over my webcam. It's got a physical privacy shutter. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:18.940 Boom, there it goes. Pretty decent quality overall. I think it's totally usable. 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:22.500 I don't know how the microphone is because again, I'm recording this into the laptop. 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:26.860 So I'm going to have to play it back to actually know how good the quality is, but I'm sure 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:31.660 it's fine. And the top of the physical shutter for the webcam, it's got a Titan C security chip from 00:11:31.660 --> 00:11:36.260 Google just for that little bit of added peace of mind. And you know what else gives you some added peace of mind? 00:11:36.260 --> 00:11:43.340 Just how durable this thing is. They're saying it's military grade and that, you know, it can withstand tumbles and fumbles 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.980 and drops. I bet you it's fine. Look at this. 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:53.420 Boom. It's great. As much as I love the value town that you're reaching with this guy, I probably lean towards 00:11:53.420 --> 00:11:59.540 a CX34. I mean, 600 bucks is definitely a higher price to pay, but you know, it's a little bit more 00:11:59.540 --> 00:12:06.260 premium too. So pick whatever you like the most. Feel free to check out either of those or a few of ASUS's other Chromebook models, which 00:12:06.260 --> 00:12:11.460 we'll have linked in the description below. Thanks again, ASUS, for sponsoring this video and thanks for watching ShortCircuit. 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:15.660 I'm Ploof. These are Chromebooks and this video is over.