Asus launches Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip designed for cloud gaming

Google announced a new initiative to promote cloud gaming. In the announcement made earlier today, the search engine giant unveiled new Chromebooks from Acer, Lenovo, and Asus. Asus' model is a sleek convertible designed for streaming games from cloud gaming services.

The Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip features a Tiger Lake Core i5-1135G7 with intel Xe Graphics, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD. Its 15.6-inch convertible touchscreen has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 at 144 Hz. Asus rates the display at 250 nits of peak brightness.

Despite being marketed at gamers, the Vibe CX55 Flip lacks features typically seen on most gaming laptops. For example, the keyboard has a single-level backlight rather than RGB, something present on its cousin Chromebooks from Lenovo and Acer. It also has simple stereo speakers (compared to the quad-speaker array on Lenovo's and Acer's Chromebooks) and a 720p webcam.

Port selection is well-rounded. There are a pair of USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a microSD card reader, a combo audio jack, and an HDMI 2.0 port. The Chromebook supports Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi 6. Powering everything is a 57 Wh battery, which can be charged via the included 45 W USB-C power adapter. The Chromebook can be pre-ordered for US$699.

Asus has other models in the works, including one with a Core i3-1115G4 and one with a Core i7-1165G7. Other models will increase RAM up to 16 GB and storage up to 512 GB.

The new gaming Chromebooks can stream games from services like Nvidia GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, and others. Valve is also developing a Chromebook-friendly version of Steam, though this service is still in Alpha.

Curiously, Google is pushing game streaming on Chromebooks shortly after announcing the termination of Stadia, its in-house game-streaming platform. It will be interesting to see how well (or not) the new gaming Chromebooks are received by the general public. Considering that Chromebooks are largely marketed toward the budget-minded crowd, the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip and its ilk may be a hard sell at $600-700.

The Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip can be pre-ordered from Best Buy or Amazon (link below) for $699. According to Best Buy's listing, the Chromebook will ship on Monday, October 17.

Buy the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip at Amazon.