One main omission from this mannequin is a backlit keyboard, which is disappointing if you wish to use it at nighttime. Older CX34 fashions got here with a backlit keyboard, so, curiously, Asus opted to not ship one on this up to date model.
The excellent news is that, regardless of the shortage of a backlight, the keyboard is snug to make use of for lengthy durations. It has a stable quantity of journey and by no means feels onerous to kind on. If I needed to title one quibble, it’s the small measurement of the home-key ridges on the “F” and “J” keys, which make it a bit tougher to touch-type.
The trackpad is giant and spacious, although the fabric it’s manufactured from creates extra drag in your finger than I’d like. I additionally encountered one bug with the trackpad throughout testing the place it was unresponsive after waking the CX34 from sleep. This appeared to be a one-off and was remedied by a restart (a fast course of for Chromebooks), however it’s value noting.
For on a regular basis work and internet searching, the contact show on the CX34 is unbelievable. It’s a 14-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panel that appears crisp and cuts down on a good quantity of glare with a matte end. It isn’t the brightest show on the market although, and it may well battle when working open air on a sunny day.
{Photograph}: Daniel Thorp-Lancaster
Whereas the 16:9 display ratio is fairly normal for laptops, I might have preferred to see Asus go for a barely taller 16:10 show right here. The elevated vertical house on a 16:10 display is nice for the productiveness work the CX34 is focusing on. You possibly can see this in motion on rivals like Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 714.
Port choice on the CX34 is fairly good, with two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, an HDMI slot, and a typical headphone jack. The USB-C ports can cost the laptop computer with the surprisingly compact 45-watt charger Asus consists of within the field, however they can be used for DisplayPort over USB-C connections to exterior screens.
