Google Stadia isn’t officially dead yet, but the end is near: the game streaming service will shut down for good in a few weeks, on January 18.
It’s a bad time for Asus, which has just unveiled the Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip: a Google-powered gaming device that was originally intended to carry the Stadia brand, and still features a white body with keys. Bright orange accented WASDs that are a dead match for the old Stadia visuals.
Luckily Asus had just enough time to adjust to the cancellation of Stadia, announced in September 2022, and has instead teamed up with Nvidia to offer three free months of its GeForce Now streaming service to anyone who picks up the CX34 Flip.
Asus
So what exactly makes it a gaming Chromebook? Unsurprisingly for a ChromeOS device, it’s not about pure power, but with up to 12e-gen Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM, it’s no slouch in this department.
It’ll help that breeze through most Android games accessible on ChromeOS through the Play Store, not to mention emulated titles, but for the most part this is a laptop designed primarily for cloud gaming.
That means the focus is more on the display, which, with a 144Hz refresh rate and 9ms response rate, would be fast for any laptop, let alone a Chromebook.
Support for Wi-Fi 6E should help provide smooth networking as long as your router is up to the task, although unfortunately there’s no option for a 5G model. Asus admits it considered a 5G version, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the extra cost or hassle of dealing with various telecom companies around the world.
A four-zone RGB-lit keyboard with anti-ghosting technology adds to the laptop’s gaming credentials, with a free gaming mouse also set to be built-in for shoppers.
Asus
Of course, few people will buy a Chromebook just for gaming, even in the age of streaming, so Asus says it’s made sure it’s suitable for other things too. As the name suggests, this is a convertible laptop with a 360 degree hinge, and also packs an included stylus with a dedicated slot in the body.
Throw in around 10 hours of battery life, up to 512GB of storage, and a suite of ports, including HDMI and a microSD slot, and you’ve got a fully-featured Chromebook that just shipped with a glowing keyboard. and the perfect gifts for playing on the go.
What we don’t yet know is exactly how much the CX34 Flip will cost, or when it’ll be available – but don’t expect to get your hands on it until the Stadia servers shut down for good this month.
