The ASUS Chromebox was announced earlier this year, and it’s finally available for pre-order through Amazon. It’s going to cost you $179, which isn’t a bad price if you want to get a desktop Chrome OS device. Although the specs aren’t amazing, they are plenty to run Chrome OS.
As far as specs, we’re looking at the Intel Celeron 2955U Processor, along with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 16GB 5400 rpm Solid State Drive. It weighs just 2.2 pounds, and dimensions are 4.88 x 4.88 x 1.65 inches. As far as the ports go, we’re looking at an ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, Display Port and headphone jack on the back. On the front we’ve got two more USB 3.0 ports and on the side is your Kensington lock and SD card reader.
ASUS is touting this Chromebox as being a simpler and smarter digital life, as it boots up in a flash and syncs instantly with your Google services. Which we’ve seen this with other Chrome OS devices like the C720 from Acer and the HP Chromebook 14. It will sync with Google Drive, Gmail and all the rest of Google’s services. They are also touting the easy accessible ports, and robust connectivity which is nice to have. It’s a pretty small Chromebox but has plenty of features that you’re going to love.
Now this is just a Chromebox, so you are going to need a monitor as well as a mouse and keyboard. Which I’d recommend the Acer G246HL 24-inch monitor. It’s what I’m using right now (connected to my laptop) and I absolutely love it. It’s the perfect size and its a 1080p monitor which is also great. It’s just $150, which is one of the cheaper monitors out there. As far as mice go, Logitech has a nice performance one, and keyboards, I’d suggest the Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360, as it is pretty small so it won’t take up a ton of space.