ASUS's competitor to the Lenovo Chromebook Duet looks finally breaks cover

ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000
ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000 (Image credit: Android Central)

What you need to know

  • The unreleased new ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000 has a live listing on German retailer Saturn.
  • The tablet's full specs are listed, including a MediaTek 8183 processor and 128GB of storage.
  • The delivery dates listed aren't until July, so we're still months from being able to get the physical device.
  • One oddity in the listing: there are product renders with two different magnetic kickstands: one landscape and one vertical.

Source: Chrome Unboxed (Image credit: Source: Chrome Unboxed)

As I've mentioned several times in the last year, the state of Chrome OS tablets right now is pretty sparse. You have the compact, affordable Lenovo Chromebook Duet, which has won not only a spot on Best Chromebooks but mine and my coworkers' hearts as well, or you have a smattering of three-year-old Chrome OS tablets that are either discontinued, underpowered, or both.

We'd heard rumors of another Chrome OS tablet on the horizon, and it's finally been outed by Saturn, a German electronics retailer. This live listing shows the full renders and specs for the yet-to-be-released ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000, and while it's not entirely groundbreaking, there are a few things to take note of here:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
CategoryASUS Chromebook FFlip CM3000
ProcessorMediaTek MT8183
Memory4GB RAM
Storage128GB eMMC storage
Display10.5-inch touchscreen1920×1200px (16:10), 320 nits
ConnectivityWi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2
Battery27Wh
IncludedGaraged USI penDetachable keyboard (pogo pin)magnetic kickstand
Dimensions255mm x 167mm x 8mm
Weight1.16 lbs

The MediaTek MT8183 has shown up in over a dozen Chromebooks and while it's not uber-powerful, it's enough to get the job done, and the 128GB of storage is very nice to see considering that, like the Lenovo Duet, there doesn't appear to be a microSD slot on this tablet, just an audio combo jack and a single USB-C port. The ASUS is packing a garaged USI stylus, which the Duet lacked and will be very useful to those of us who like to doodle or take handwritten notes on our Chrome tablets.

Source: Chrome Unboxed

One curiosity from this listing: there are two kickstands shown for the ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000. One of these kickstands is the obvious landscape kickstand for using with the detachable keyboard, but the other is a vertical kickstand, which we can tell due to seeing the pogo pins for the keyboard and the camera rotated from the landscape kickstand. As someone who does a lot of reading on her Duet with it vertical, the idea that ASUS is including both of these in the box is almost too good to hope for. That said, considering that we use tablets for video calls more and more often these days, the extra few dollars to include both kickstands doesn't sound too crazy to offer a truly all-in-one experience.

Source: Chrome Unboxed (Image credit: Source: Chrome Unboxed)

Speaking of dollars, the listing here is in euros and almost certainly isn't an accurate representation of the price, since 449 euros would be roughly $540 and way, way too high for a MediaTek Chrome OS tablet. I'd bet ASUS releases the Chromebook Flip CM3000 closer to $350-$400 this summer. That'll put it a little more expensive than the Duet, but with the garaged USI pen and the extra kickstand, I think ASUS can easily swing that.

Saturn listed the delivery dates as being in July and that would be the time to release a swanky new Chrome OS tablet amid the back-to-school frenzy. As soon as we can possibly get our hands on one, you know we'll put it through the paces and see how it compares to our darling the Lenovo Chromebook Duet.

Ara Wagoner

Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.