Slashdot Mirror
Google Unveils the Chromebit: an HDMI Chromebook Dongle
An anonymous reader writes: Today Google unveiled a new device: the Chromebit. It's a small compute stick that contains the Rockchip 3288 processor, 2GB RAM, and 16GB of storage — much like a low-end Chromebook. It connects to a TV or monitor through an HDMI port. (It also has a USB port for power and plugging in peripherals.) Google says the Chromebit is their solution for turning any display into a computer, and it will cost under $100. Google also announced a couple of new Chromebooks as well. Haier and Hisense models will cost $150, and an ASUS model with a rotating display will cost $250.
If it does not do transcoding, what is the advantage regarding a smartphone plus a Chromecast? Or a Smartphone plus an HDMI dongle? I still fail to see the advantage of ChromeOs.
Well I personally have no use cases for something like this, but thinking about the economic low end I see this as a win. There are a lot more HDMI capable TV's than there are PC's, so if they can create a good input device / internet solution, I'd consider this a win. The problem is that inputs will most likely be non-ideal and internet's expensive (unless you're 'sharing' a neighbors connection). I wish em' luck finding new ways of getting computing resources into the hands of everyone though.
Bye!
If I was spending the money, I'd want a more 'real' PC on a stick such as the MeegoPad T01 Mini PC for Window 8.1... Similar stats and price..
Tho, cheaper still is a Winbook tw700 for $60.00 with legal win8.1(I'd pay double if it ran XP), hdmi, full size usb, and more.. Use it as such, just more bulky behind the TV.
...dongle.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Still too expensive and too weak. You can get an HP Stream 7 32GB for $80 + $10 USB OTG card reader/full size USB/MHL HDMI adapter and have a full Windows 8.1/10 tablet & PC.
Remember kids, just like all other dates, April 1st comes to Australia earlier than to most other countries - almost a whole day earlier than the U.S.
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
Go on Aliexpress and search for "Android Mini PC" and you will find tons of these. These specs are fairly standard for that price. $100 for 2G/16G with hardware H.265 4k decoding.
Id rather have Android than ChromeOs.
Nope, it's legit: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2015/03/more-chromebooks-for-everyone.html
>Rockchip
GPL Lawsuit incoming 3.. 2...
Will it be able to access my Windows NAS (which coincidentally would be maybe 3 inches from the stick) to stream movies and/or music? Looking at WDTV now (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/), but it's lack of Netflix is disturbing.
It's more convenient to plug in a dongle and be done than to plug in a dongle, connect a smartphone, and then hope your application works with the Chromecast. A real hdmi connection will outperform the Chromecast screencasting by a couple orders of magnitude. Since it's Chromebook-like hardware, it'll run Ubuntu or other Linux - the same OS running on everything from desktops and radios to super computers. Programs can be written in any language. It has full remote management capability (ssh etc.) so you can set it up and everything from your desktop, using the same methods you use to manage servers over a network, unlike a smartphone.
I have one use-case right away. We want to hang a monitor or TV on the wall as a kind of digital bulletin board that has constant updates. This device would be perfect. We COULD use a smartphone and a dongle, but just a dongle (no smartphone needed) makes it simpler, and running Linux on the dongle means it's more powerful and flexible- I can program it in Perl, C, Ruby, or PHP rather than being forced to write an Android app in Java.
You forgot phablet. Maybe we'll get phongle in there too at some point.
My table has eight cores (MediaTek MT6592), that's twice as good. Also it was $75 and had a 3G modem and 7" LCD (colorfly g708). To give you a sense of how much people are overcharging for a dongle. My tablet is only 1.4 Ghz, but that chip apparently is available as 2.0 GHz if you can deal with the thermal issues.
I think I'll wait for something Tegra X1 based though, that chip screams on GPU performance. And in clamshell or settop the thermals aren't quite as limiting to such a beastly chip. (there is a CUDA dev kit for it, you could prototype your next super computer on a few Tegras, neat!)
HP released the Stream 11 for $200 and matched the lowest of the Chromebooks. They have a 7" tablet for $100.
ChromeOS is nice and all, but there are some applications that only run on Windows (even video players and whatnot).
Use a Pi. For the same price you can have four and construct a video wall.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
At "sub $100" what is it's advantage over a $35 Rasberry pi 2?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
If it also replaces chromecast by accepting screencasts from Android devices, then I'm in. I was going to buy a Razer Forge, but that was supposed to be out already and it isn't, so I guess Razer just sucks eggs like usual
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
At this point, why have both? Could you not just extend the ChromeCast to have the ChromeBit's features?
I've read Chromebait.
Smaller form factor, USB overcurrent protection, built-in Bluetooth & WiFi, case included, power supply included and a reputable supplier behind it.
If it's going to be in a semi-public area, you'll probably want to connect it via F-to-M HDMI cable so you can securely fasten the dongle to something. That form factor tends to have a habit of growing legs...
Set up a project on SourceForge or something. Let's do it. I vote Perl, for nostalgia, but whatever tool/language is fine (ok, maybe not Ruby)
Those are new phangled things...
Use a Pi. For the same price you can have four and construct a video wall.
+1
That's exactly what I thought also some time ago and was surprised when I searched "Raspberry Pi signage" and found this site RPi Projects/Digital Signage.
Having seen how clumsy Cisco Digital Signage solution (DMM and DMP's are) is in practice it's not even funny. I'm not a great fan of it after 2+ years experience. We'll at least evaluate all that stuff available there before putting any more money on that Cisco soultion. (I am quite happy with many many enterprise class devices and solutions they have sold and I used over the 25 years, but this product is way under the usual Cisco standard, even with more recent DMP's).
... or you can just use any of the already available in much cheaper HDMI dongles and install linux on them. For example, here's one way to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://www.cnx-software.com/20...
You can get an RK3188 based HDMI stick on amazon for $40 - $50 (I didn't spend much time searching... I'm sure there are cheaper ones and beefier and more expensive ones). Alibaba has them much cheaper too, if you're willing to wait for it.
I'll mention to the IT department that they could save $30 by buying a generic stick from a random Chinese guy rather than buying a popular product form the third-largest company in the world.
If you're a hobbiest playing around, seeing what you can do with your new toy, you might want to save that $30. If you're a business spending $100 / hour to employ someone to set it up and maintain it, that Chinese stick is much more expensive. It's much less expensive to get something well documented and supported by the world's third-largest company than to choose something with instructions that read "Push of button the power electric to on".