Besides the Chromebook x2 11 convertible, HP today announced a surprising Chromebase All-In-One (AiO) Desktop that’s pitched as a family computer with a rather unique physical design and display.
This Chromebase is defined by its 21.5-inch 1920×1080 IPS touchscreen that rotates from landscape to portrait. HP imagines the latter being ideal for scrolling through long webpages, social media feeds, and document editing, while it’s helpful for split screening. Besides the main 90 degree rotation that can be easily done one-handed, you have approximately 20 degrees of back-to-front tilting/adjustment.
The bezels are narrow enough with the top one housing a 5-megapixel camera with physical privacy cover. That three-position switch is unique (on a desktop) for also letting you disable the dual-array microphone for launching Assistant with Hey Google. Ambient Mode wallpapers/slideshows that feature the date and time are offered.
This display connects to a cone-shaped and acoustic fabric-covered base (with internal die cast aluminum) that houses the guts of the Chromebase. It’s slightly raised for airflow and to save you from minor spills, while the rear has 2x USB-A and 2x USB-C ports, as well as headphone jack and power button, that are arranged vertically. Dual 5W speakers tuned by B&O offer stereo sound that can be controlled by a volume rocker on the right side of the light gray (“snowflake white”) base, which can be wiped with a damp cloth.
The HP Chromebase is powered by either a dual-core Intel Pentium Gold (2.4GHz) or Core i3 (2.1GHz) processor with up to 16GB of user-expandable — a rarity outside of enterprise/education Chrome OS devices — RAM. The SSD goes up to 256GB, while there’s Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 connectivity.
This Chrome OS device runs Android apps via the Play Store, while Stadia is touted. A compact HP Bluetooth keyboard and mouse set, which is Works with Chromebook certified, is also included.
The HP Chromebase AiO will be available in August from $599.99 in different configurations — Pentium / 4GB RAM / 64GB storage, i3 / 4GB / 128GB, or i3 / 16GB / 256GB. It will be available at HP.com, Amazon, and Best Buy for wide availability.
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
