While Chromeboxes haven’t caught on in the same way as Chromebooks, they are ideal for some use cases. The most notable aspect of a new “Fanless” Chromebox from Asus is frankly a design that heavily borrows from Wi-Fi routers.
Asus touts a “new fanless aluminum-chassis design” for this Chromebox that’s roughly book-sized (207 x 148 x 32mm) with two sizable antennas sticking out of the back. This contributes to the device looking like an older router that’s very utilitarian with clean lines and very few design flourishes.
Ridges at the top are part of an “extruded-aluminum chassis” that allows for “stable thermal performance anywhere.” Minimal fan noise is something that Asus also pursued with its CN62 model. A VESA mount lets this Asus Fanless Chromebox be attached to the back of a monitor for “expanded usage scenarios.”
The front face features a square power button, while a headphone jack, two USB-A ports, and microSD card slot is centered. Three more USB-A ports, joined by a single USB-C, are on the back with two HDMI connections. There’s also ethernet, DC-in, RS-232, and a Kensington lock.
Inside, it’s powered by an Intel Celeron, 10th Gen Core i3, i5, or i7 chip with up to 16GB of RAM available. Meanwhile, eMMC storage ranges from 32 to 64GB, while M.2 offers 128 or 256GB. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 round out connectivity.
Running Chrome OS, Android apps are touted, but pricing (via Liliputing) for the Asus Fanless Chromebox was not made available. It follows the Google Meet Compute System that the company released last year.
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
