In terms of specs, Asus decided to keep it cheap and simple. The Chromebit is based on Rockchip’s RK3288 SoC, with four Cortex-A17 cores clocked up to 1.8GHz and ARM Mali-T764 graphics with four cores clocked at 600MHz.
As far as ARM parts go, this is a relatively attractive design for a stick computer. It dispenses with energy efficient small cores, doesn’t have an integrated modem, but sports a good GPU capable of handling H.265 and 3840x2160 output via HDMI 2.0.
The Chromebit features 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Unfortunately what you see is what you get – unlike many Android sticks based on the same chip, it does not have a microSD slot for additional storage, or a spare micro USB (most similarly spec’d Android sticks come with a card slot, micro USB for power, micro USB with OTG for expansion and a standard USB port at the end).
However, the Chromebit has one redeeming feature – it will sell for just $99. This is not a lot to pay for such a device and we can see a number of niches that could be interested. Schools come to mind, since they are big Chromebook consumers and this sort of device would allow them to reuse existing HDMI panels on the cheap.
