Asus's $85 Chromebit can turn any display into a Chrome OS machine

Google unveiled the Asus-made Chromebit dongle, a compact stick running Chrome OS back in April. Now Asus and Google have launched the Chromebit.

The Chromebit can be plugged into the HDMI port of any regular monitor or TV to transform them into a full-fledged Chrome OS desktop PC offering 1080p output. It is able to run most web apps on it. It can be used to play movies and TV shows from Google Play, or from other media streaming service providers like Netflix or Hulu.

Since it has a fanless design, if it gets too hot (over 35-degress), Chromebit will shutdown automatically to prevent overheating.

The Chromebit is equipped with a quad-core Rockchip RK3288-C processor with four ARM Cortex-A17 cores and Mali T764 GPU aided by 2GB RAM. On-board storage is 16GB. Other features include WiFi 802.11ac (dual band), Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0 port and HDMI port. Unfortunately, there is no microSD card slot for storage expansion.

The Asus Chromebit ships with an HDMI extension cable and adhesive hook and loop stickers, so that you can hide the device behing a display or position it out front for easier access to the USB port. It also comes with a seperate DC adapter that provices power.

The Chromebit is priced at $85 (Rs. 5600) and initially will be available in the U.S through Amazon, Newegg, Fry's Micro center, B&H Photo, NCIX, Canada Computers and Memory Express starting today. Soon after, it will be made available in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and UK as well.