Asus has announced a new fanless add-on to its Chromebox family: the Asus Fanless Chromebox. Like previous models from Asus, the compact size of the Fanless Chromebox is designed to be mounted on the back of a screen or desktop to save space in size-conscious work environments. Perhaps subconsciously, it also looks almost exactly like a wireless router.
The Asus Fanless Chromebox measures approximately 8.15 x 5.82 x 1.26 inches, giving its aluminum chassis a small, rectangular shape. But the true wireless router aesthetics come from the corrugated design at the top of the box and the two adjustable antennas at the back.
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Inside, the Chromebox contains a tenth-generation Intel Core or Celeron processor: you can choose between an Intel Core i7-10510U, an Intel Core i5-10210U, an Intel Core i3-10110U, or a Celeron 5205U. It also offers up to 16 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of SSD storage.
Depending on the configuration, the Chromebox offers different ports, with the biggest difference between the Celeron and Core models being the number and type of USB ports: the Celeron model contains a mixture of two USB 2.0, one USB 3.2 and one USB-C port, while the Core models have three USB 3.1 and one USB-C port. All configurations have two HDMI 2.0 ports to connect to monitors and one microSD card slot to add extra memory.
Asus says that the Chromebox specifications, along with the fanless design, should make it work up to three 4K screens while using Chrome OS (and also Android apps from the Play Store). With a starting price of $ 399, the Asus Fanless Chromebox can be a solid Chrome OS experience – just do not accidentally buy a wireless router.
The Asus Fanless Chromebox will be available in the US in February 2021.