Asus Chromebook leaked by retailer ahead of probable CES unveiling

CES 2017 officially kicks off on January 5 although as any seasoned veteran will attest to, product announcements typically trickle out days in advance. What recently happened with Asus and Newegg, however, appears to be more of an accident than a pre-show unveiling.

Newegg the other day accidentally listed the Asus C302CA Chromebook for sale. A follow-up to the Asus Chromebook Flip, the C302CA’s existence has been known for some time (thanks FCC filing) but this is the first time it has surfaced at retail.

As Chrome Unboxed highlights, the system features a 12.5-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) touchscreen display (300 nits) that’s powered by Intel’s Core m3-6Y30 processor (4MB cache, up to 2.20 GHz) alongside 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Buyers also get 64GB of local eMMC storage, Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, a combination audio jack, a microSD card slot and an illuminated chiclet-style keyboard.

The publication was able to place an order for the C302CA (apparently for $499) although shortly after, Newegg pulled the link. Newegg (and perhaps others) will likely put the Chromebook back up for sale in the coming days or perhaps sometime next week to coincide with CES.

Chromebooks as a category headed into the holiday season with loads of momentum although oddly enough, they didn’t seem to be promoted heavily. It’s certainly possible that most were holding out until CES to announce new models although missing that lucrative end-of-year period could be costly.