Tested: Asus Chromebox Based On Haswell Core i3

MojoKid writes "The Asus Chromebox is a tiny palm-sized machine similar in form and footprint to Intel's line of NUC (Next Unit of Computing) mini PCs. One of the higher-end Asus Chromebox variants coming to market employs Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core series processor architecture with Integrated HD 4400 graphics. The machine is packed with fair number of connectivity options including four USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports, HDMI and DisplayPort output, a microSD Flash card slot, 802.11n dual-band WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0. It also sports a 1.7GHz dual-core Core i3-4010U processor with Hyper-Threading for four logical processing threads and 4GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory. Finally, the onboard 16GB SSD storage might be appear a bit meager, but it's backed up by 100GB of Google Drive cloud storage for 2 years. In testing, the device proved to be capable in some quick and dirty browser-based benchmarks. For the class of device and use case that the Chromebox caters to, Google has covered most of what folks look for with the Chrome OS. There's basic office productivity apps, video and media streaming apps, and even a few games that you might care to fire up. The Asus Chromebox handles all of these usage types with ease and it's also barely audible while consuming only about 18 Watts under load."

Comments

Awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

Can I install Windows 8.1 on this so I can get rid of the Google ad/spy ware?

Re:Awesome!

[Ken_g6]

Maybe, but in that case you could simply get a NUC instead.

On one hand, an equivalent NUC is cheaper at $290.

On the other hand, the ASUS comes with a (small) SSD, RAM, and "a custom wireless ASUS Chrome keyboard and mouse that are collectively valued at $49." The NUC comes with none of those. Together those probably cost more than the $80 difference in price.

On the other hand, you could get a last-generation NUC with an i3 for $180.

On the other hand, there's a lower-end ASUS Chromebox, with a Celeron, RAM, and an SSD, also for $180. (No keyboard/mouse with this one.)

On the other hand, I'm running out of hands!

Re:Worthless

[oodaloop]

Yeah, this computer is completely unsuited for my needs as a bitcoin mining supercomputer, so no one should buy one.

Unless, of course, you have different needs than mine.

Re:16GB SSD storage is enough for Linux

[mrchaotica]

With some (all?) Chromebooks -- and I would expect a Chromebox to be the same -- you can just enable "developer mode" and chroot. See this article for more details.