Manufacturer Asus; Google Type Computer on a stick. Connection Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Cost US$85 Memory RAM 2GB, ROM 16GB | |
Introduced March 31, 2015; 22 months ago (2015-03-31) | ||
The Chromebit is a dongle running Google's Chrome OS operating system. When placed in the HDMI port of a television or a monitor, this device turns that display into a personal computer. Chromebit allows adding a keyboard or mouse over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The device was announced in April 2015 and began shipping that November.
Contents
Functionality
A Chromebit turns a display with an HDMI port into a desktop variant of the Chromebook laptop, which runs Google's Chrome OS operating system. Chrome OS primarily supports a single application, a web browser, thereby relying heavily on an Internet connection for software functionality and data storage.
Chromebits have a superficial resemblance to the Chromecast, another Google device. But whereas the Chromecast is designed to display video and still images on a television or other large-screen display, the Chromebit is a self-contained personal computer. The device will compete against the Intel Compute Stick, which offers similar plug-in functionality using two other operating systems, Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu.
Technology
Internally, the first Chromebit resembles a standard Chromebook laptop. The device features 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, as well as a USB 2.0 port at one end. The other end swivels, enabling it to fit into a variety of HDMI slots.
Availability, models
Google announced the Chromebit on March 31, 2015. Google and Asus began shipping the first model that November.