Review on 🔍 ASUS Chromebook Flip C433 Review: 14-inch Touchscreen, Intel Core m3, 8GB RAM, 64GB Storage by Andrew Grant

Note: I bought this Asus Flip c436 with my own $$$. Years ago I bought my first Chromebook, Flip c302, when my son started homeschooling. I have these Loved the machine so much that When I decided to buy a Chromebook, I chose the Flip c434 in February 2020. I liked this device so much that I was sad to hold it in my hands.This is my daughter when she started school last month. But - this gave me the perfect excuse to upgrade and I bought a flip c436. A few weeks later. I don't really regret buying the flip 436 but um I'm a little disappointed to be honest I'll clear up the complaints first: 1: Screen - MUCH dimmer than the c434 It's amazing how poor this screen is on some settings, even at 100% brightness it's bright in any setting kept outdoor space unusable. I'm not talking blurry or harder to read - I mean unusable. I must say who owned both. The 434 screen is actually (by far) better in this regard. In real life, I've used both the C434 and C436 outdoors under a canopy to protect the screen from direct sunlight. I was able to set the brightness to 80% or 90% on the 434 and got a nice, comfortable picture. At 436, the screen barely worked even at 100% brightness. It's so sad that this screen can't even match that of its predecessor and it's a huge disappointment. 2: Keyboard Notations: I've read many negative reviews about the c434 keyboard and found that in my own experience, almost all keyboard legibility issues were resolved by simply turning off the keyboard backlight. NOT so with the 436. I don't know exactly how they did it, but there are certain lighting conditions where the 436's keys cannot be read. I don't know how they actually made it worse, but they did. This is an extreme disappointment considering all the negative reviews you must have seen about the previous model. 3: The USB-A port is gone. Now I need to buy a hub or key. Of the three questions, this is the smallest in my opinion. I already needed one of these to get a working HDMI output. Meh.SO There's some good news and I like a lot of it: 1: KEYS. Yes, in my humble opinion the keys (if you can read them) just feel better on my fingers. Compared to the C434's keys, the 436 is a huge improvement in feel and sound. The C434's keys have a slightly looser feel and produce an almost creaky sound. Not so with the 436 - they feel solid and are a huge improvement over the 434 when you see them. 2: caterpillar pad. Compared to the c434, the track on the c436 has been significantly improved. It's bigger and feels better. This is a significant improvement. 3: Speed. MY GOD. I've jumped on a 10th gen i5 from 16g and this thing flies (IMHO) compared to the 434 I gave Doche. Definitely improved again. On this occasion I have to mention the heat. It seems to get warmer than the 434, and there's a fan. In my past usage, I've noticed the fan most when using Zoom, but even then not always. I call it a fair trade in exchange for what I believe to be a much faster processor. Everything from cold booting to running the Linux Python IDE seems much faster. Other things. I read old reviews complaining about the poor battery life. From my very unscientific measurements, I found the battery life to be about the same as the 434. Your mileage may vary. in summary. IF the c436 cost $50 more than the 434 I would call it a fair 5 star deal for speed and range improvements. As it stands, unless you really "want" a 436. Consider another brand or stick with the older c434. Maybe one day they will find out everything. If I had to start over - I wouldn't buy 436 again, that saddens me. ASUS took a real design winner with a few bugs, added new bugs, made it faster, too expensive, ruined the screen experience, made the buttons harder to see, removed the connector. This made it a poor choice for most users and poor value for advanced users. All in my humble opinion. I'll leave this one because I can work with bugs, but to be honest it's a little disappointing. This could be my last ASUS.