If you need the versatility of a 2-in-1, but even a $500 price tag seems out of reach, the Asus Flip 12 might be for you. This $399, 11.6-inch laptop has a lightweight chassis, a snappy keyboard and comes with a pen right in the box. To get to such an aggressive price, however, Asus cuts corners with a low-res, 1366 x 768 display and a low-end Pentium processor.
The highly-portable 2.4-pound, 0.67-inch thick laptop will be available with 32, 64 or 128GB of eMMC memory and 2 or 4GB of RAM. The Flip 12 has a plethora of ports, including one USB Type-C port, two USB 3.0 connectors, HDMI-out and a microSD card reader. A fingerprint reader lets you log in using Windows Hello authentication.
Despite the VivoBook Flip 12's modest specs, the bundled pen is an active stylus that has 1024 degrees of pressure for accurate drawing and writing. Though the screen is low-resolution, it promises good color quality and wide viewing angles thanks to Asus's Splendid technology. In our brief time staring at the display, colors were relatively well saturated.
The Flip 12's keys have a solid 1.6mm of vertical travel, and felt quite comfortable during a vrief hands-on. Asus claims that the laptop lasts up to 8 hours on a charge.
When it ships in Q3, the VivoBook Flip 12 will be available in three "metal-like" colors: Shimmer Gold, Rose Gold and Star Gray.
Asus Laptop Guide
