Powerful machine at a great price point

ASUS Flip 15.6 Inch Review

Written by

Walter G.

Published on

September 10 2014

Modified on

January 03 2018

Filed under

gadgets

I just picked up the ASUS 15.6 Inch Flip 2 in 1 from Amazon because I needed to replace a slightly outdated Asus machine that I picked up about 3 years ago. The past 3 laptops that I've had have been ASUS, and they have run fantastically well for years and years. I only keep buying them when I feel like I've grown up enough where I require more power. But I still have my 2GB Ultra Light ASUS laptop from 6 years ago that runs incredibly well. However, I picked up the ASUS Flip at a good price point, and 2 days later was happily surprised to see the price had shot up by 150$. It currently goes for $799.99 on Amazon but I have seen the price fluctuate downwards a few times.

?

The ASUS Flip seems to be Asus's solution to their slightly more expensive Taichi line, which is also a laptop/tablet hybrid, however that model took a more unique approach by having 2 screens, one in the standard place and one on top of the lid. While the two screen model added some new variations in usage, such as multiple users at a time, it also had a higher price point and more noticeably the battery life suffered. The ASUS Flip is the solution to those that can do without the Taichi line. I've spent about 1 month with this laptop so far, and after getting those pesky Windows updates out of the way, I was able to see what it could do.

Performance

This particular model has 8GB of DDR3L SDRAM and an Intel i5 4210U 1.7GHz processor, with a Turbo Boost speed of 2.7GHz. It also has 1TB of storage, which let's be honest is more than enough for 90% of the things that most people do on their computers. I have a 64GB SSD drive on an old laptop, and still have 40GB free after years. So plenty of RAM, a descent processor, and more storage space than you will you use up. So far so good.

I normally push my laptops pretty hard on a day to day basis, since at any one time I'm working on research for a blog post which means dozens of browser tabs open at any one time, or on any one of my websites, and I usually have multiple IDE's and Sql tools open at any one time as well. It's not the most lighting fast machine in the world, but it's fast enough that I don't lose my place in work. There is very little delay in loading applications, however that could be because it's a new machine and maybe after some months of usage I'll begin to see the slowdown. So maybe I'll do a "3 Months With The ASUS Flip" post at some point to see how it's kept up.

I'm not a hardcore PC gamer by any means, but I on occasion will jump on Steam and pick up a game that the entire interwebs is playing, and while my previous laptops have not had the best of times running these games, this one seems to play them all without a hitch. Minecraft for example runs pretty smooth on it, with fancy graphics on, clouds and relatively large distances viewable. You won't be playing the newest games with the highest of frame rates,that's for sure, but you'll be able to play them at least. Again, at that price point it's hard to find a laptop with a dedicated graphics card.

Display

The ASUS Flip has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and a 15.6 inch FHD touchscreen display. Very crisp screen overall. The touchscreen is responsive, enough so that I would say writing on it in tablet form would not be a problem. The display does orient itself depending on how you are holding the laptop, which is pretty cool. So regardless of how you are standing it, whether in stand mode or vertically in your hand, it will always be ready to work. The problems with touchscreens of course is that they are fingerprint magnets. Say goodbye to that vivid screen if you plan to use it in tablet form alot. Glare is a problem, like many other machines so I can't complain too much. I compensate by having a larger external monitor with anti glare capabilities. But overall, it's like many other displays that you've probably come across.

Graphics

The ASUS Flip comes with integrated Intel UMA graphics, which I don't really know too much about. From what I've read it makes use of the system's RAM as video memory. Obviously it has nothing on a dedicated graphics card, but for the price point I'm not complaining too much. It can play plenty of PC games, though at a reasonable display settings. So far I've installed a few games from Steam and Minecraft on it, and it can already play them at much higher settings than some of my previous laptops.

Form Factor

The standout feature on this laptop is definitely it's 360 degree rotatable screen. The ASUS Flip has a full 360 swivel screen that can take the laptop from canvas to tablet and back to laptop. While many laptops boast just one or two viewing angles, this one covers the gamut and gives you all of them. It's a very very thin laptop, coming in at .90 inches, mainly due to it's lack of a media drive, which I for one am fine with. This also accounts for it's slightly lower weight, coming in a bit above a MacBook Pro at 5lbs.

While most laptops split the ports 40-50 on both the left and right sides, the Flip has mainly proprietary buttons on the left side such as the power button, volume control, and a Windows key button, which brings you back to the Metro UI view mainly helpful when in tablet mode or whenever you're in a mode where the keyboard is not visible. The right side boasts the usual ports, such as 1 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0, ethernet, power, and card slot, etc.

Cons

I'll try not to nitpick on small insignificant things here, but these few things kind of bugged me.

1. At 5lbs, tablet mode isn't as versatile as you'd want it to be. Great for presentations or for some quick field work, but this is not a tablet by any means.
2. With 8GB or RAM and an i5 processor, it would of been great to see a small SSD, maybe 128GB, put in instead of a slower 1TB RPM drive. It kind of leaves a sour taste to an overall fantastic machine.

Pros

Way more pros than cons on this one.

1. While not a tablet, it pretty much fits any other configuration with its 0 to 360 degree swivel mechanism. It can lay completely flat on your table, be a regular laptop, a temporary tablet, or a stand.
2. Brushed hairline aluminum finish looks very stylish and prevents any smudges whatsoever on the body.
3. Plenty of storage, albeit a bit slower in that department.
4. 1920 x 1080 resolution for that price point. I looked for a while for a laptop coming in under 700$, and this was one of maybe 2 that came with 1920 x 1080 resolution.
5. Comes with a good price point if you can get it. I've found it on Amazon several times for below the suggested retail value, but that usually changes a day later.

Final Thoughts

In the end I was looking for a machine that can handle my day to day operations, which include developing .NET websites, working on Android apps, working on Windows 8 applications, database work, Netflix (of course), tons of browser tabs, and occasional gaming, and so far the ASUS Flip has managed to keep up without a hiccup. It's a great looking machine with more than enough power for the business oriented or day to day student. It's not a gaming machine by any means, but it will attempt it. But like I said I've only tried it on a few smaller scale games. The 360 degree swivel mechanism is very convenient to have. The weight is acceptably low, given the specs on it.

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