ASUS Launches The Chromebit CS10 HDMI Stick
by Brandon Chester on November 17, 2015 7:05 PM EST_1000_678x452.png)
Earlier this year ASUS launched a pair of Chromebooks, and they also teased another product that would be launching later in the year. It was the Chromebit HDMI stick, and it's essentially a Chrome OS computer that you plug into the HDMI port on your monitor or television. ASUS thinks the Chromebit will be great for applications like digital signage, but pairing it with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse allows it to be used as a consumer Chrome OS computer as well. You can check out the Chromebit CS10's specs below.
| ASUS Chromebit CS10 | |
| SoC | Rockchip RK3288-C 4 x Cortex A17 + Mali T764 |
| RAM | 2 GB LPDDR3 |
| NAND | 16GB NAND |
| Dimensions / Mass | 123 x 31 x 17mm, 75g |
| OS | Chrome OS |
| Other Connectivity | 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, HDMI 1.4, USB 2.0, DC-in |
| Price | $85 |
A combination of size and price means we're not going to be seeing something like an Intel Core i5 in an HDMI stick any time soon. Thankfully, Chrome OS tends to run pretty well even with minimal hardware power. At $85, the Chromebit CS10 comes with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of eMMC NAND, dual-band 802.11ac, and a Rockchip RK3288-C SoC. RK3288-C is a quad core Cortex A17 part paired with a Mali T764 GPU. The same SoC has actually shown up in some of ASUS's actual Chromebooks as well, so it's not surprising to see it in the Chromebit.
As with all HDMI sticks, you still need a separate power adapter because HDMI 1.4 can't supply nearly enough power for even such a smaller computer. Even with that, the Chromebit could still make for an interesting computer of sorts that can be taken anywhere in your pocket.
The ASUS Chromebit CS10 will cost $85, and it comes with a year of 100GB Google Drive space. It'll begin shipping today.
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zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Pretty awesome stick. They're may be better alternatives, but an idea of having a desktop anywhere is flatout cool indeed.nevertell - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Anywhere where there's internet.Arnulf - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
And a power brick (unless you're carrying one in your pocket).dsumanik - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
Anyone have any idea of the OS on this will always be updatable? I'd buy one just for app development testing purposes if so.T1beriu - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
Google guarantees 5 years of updates, bugfixes and patches.dsumanik - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
Thanks t1bFlunk - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
I was really disappointed when I read what OS this was going to run. I was hoping it would be a nice little Android TV stick. Who cares about another cheap kiosk stick? There are plenty of those already, most of them even run more fully-featured OSes.quidpro - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
There are too many android sticks/hockey pucks to count over at Amazon. I was amazed and also, not interested in a single one.tuxRoller - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
Oh, for crying out...https://developer.chrome.com/native-client
This is ahead of the coming wasm, and it's running a standard linux stack (unfortunately still stuck on X, but at least they've good drivers and window manager).
taisingera - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
Too expensive for what this is. It should be about $50 for a Rockchip Chrome Stick.