After introducing a Windows 8.1 stick at last CES, Asus is repeating it today with the Chromebit, a pocket PC that packs in the dimensions of an HDMI dongle under Chrome OS. Turn your TV into a Chromebook fully functional at the lowest cost.
Slightly larger than a Chromecast, the Asus Chromebit includes a Rockchip 3288 ARM Cortex-A17 quad-core processor powered by 2GB of Ram, Mali 760 GPU, 16GB of storage and a USB 2.0 port. A micro USB port can also be seen on the side. You will have to rely on Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi 802.11ac for connectivity.
The object, which is available in three color options, will be available in stores this summer for around $100. with us, so you’ll have to count about 100 euros. The Rapsberry Pi 2, which will be sold for around 30 Euros, is a bit of a high price when compared to a mini PC under Windows 10 or Ubuntu.
Unlike Chromecast, which is limited to multimedia use, the Asus Chromebit is a true handheld this allows you to surf the web, play games and even do office work and, above all, take it anywhere. Note that for practical reasons the HDMI connector is collapsible.
Bluetooth connectivity will allow, for example, to add a wireless keyboard, preferably with an integrated trackpad for navigation. Hence the functionality that will be much more advanced than those of Chromecast, and above all the possibility of moving Google’s operating system from Chromebooks to other media types. The price is probably a little high, but the product is quite attractive.
For now, Asus has been the first to try the experiment, but it looks like Google is determined to push this type of format to other manufacturers.
