ASUS Chromebox Pro Reviews

Every time we revisit Google's Chrome OS, the ecosystem feels slightly more feature-rich and appealing. And with Asus' Chromebox, we finally feel the OS is ready to take center stage as the primary operating system for users who have limited computing needs. Part of the reason we feel this way about the Chromebox is that, by virtue of being a desktop, it sidesteps one of the biggest issues with Chrome OS—its (very) limited usefulness when you find yourself without an Internet connection. Whether you plug the Chromebox in via Ethernet or give it access to your Wi-Fi network, it will always be connected, so long as your Internet provider is doing its job (and you're paying your broadband bill). Between the proliferation of Web-based services and the growing list of apps and browser extensions available in the Chrome Web Store, most common computing tasks can be accomplished in Chrome, although there will be a learning curve for those used to downloading and using conventional software.

Although its lack of portability is a bit antiquated, the M004U's performance is perfectly adequate to the task at hand: surfing the Web for less.

The Asus Chromebox M004U is a great alternative to buying yet another cheap Windows desktop and it's a steal for the price.

At $179 ASUS’ Chromebox is an excellent entry level, small form factor desktop PC. Unlike other solutions in this new small form factor desktop space, the Chromebox comes fully functional out of the box. You get WiFi, solid state storage, DRAM, CPU and an OS all ready to go. The result is a great balance of price, performance and usability. ASUS' Chromebox is an affordable desktop that feels much faster than its pricetag would otherwise imply. A huge part of the Chromebox’s success is due to Google’s Chrome OS. Make no mistake, this isn’t a replacement for every single entry level desktop user on the market. You need to have a workload that can live almost exclusively within the confines of a web browser. That means relying on Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office, and Gmail’s web interface instead of Outlook. The good news is that Google’s online services tend to be really good. Google Docs is an excellent alternative to Office, particularly for light use cases, and Gmail’s web interface does better than many offline email clients. Facebook, Twitter and streaming music/video services are all easily accessible from within a Chrome browser window.