The first Asus Chrome OS desktop system is now available for pre-order.
Dubbed the Chromebox-M004U, the $179 uber-mini desktop PC is equipped with an Intel Celeron processor (2955U), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a March 14th shipping date.
According to Liliputing’s Brad Linder, Asus will also offer the Chromebox M-005U, a web-centric system built around Intel’s Core i3-4010U Haswell chip in mid-March.
Aside from the different processors (and perhaps scaling memory capacity), both of the above-mentioned Chromeboxes feature approximately the same specs, including built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, four USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, HDMI and DisplayPort.
”It’s pretty easy to install Ubuntu, Debian, and other operating systems on Chrome OS hardware,” said Linder.
“That could make the Asus Chromebox a pretty nifty little machine not only for folks who buy into Google’s vision that a web browser is your most important app… but also for folks looking for a cheap alternative to an Intel NUC or Gigabyte Brix mini-PC.”
The first Asus Chrome OS desktop system can be pre-ordered on Amazon.
