The Chromebit is a stick PC running Google's ChromeOS. It is able to be plugged into any display via HDMI to act as a personal computer. Keyboards and mice are able to be connected over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The device was announced in April 2015 and began shipping November 2015.
Functionality
A Chromebit uses a display with an HDMI port to control a desktop variant of the Chromebook netbook, which runs Google's ChromeOS operating system. ChromeOS primarily supports a single application, a web browser, thereby relying heavily on an Internet connection for software functionality and data storage.[1]
Chromebits have a superficial resemblance to the Chromecast, another Google device. But whereas the Chromecast is designed to display multimedia and web content from an Android or ChromeOS device on a television or other large-screen display, the Chromebit is a self-contained personal computer.[2] The device competes against the Intel Compute Stick, which offers similar plug-in functionality using two other operating systems, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.[3][4]
Technology
Internally, the first Chromebit resembles a standard Chromebook laptop.[5] 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.[2] The Chromebit has a total RAM capacity of 2 gigabytes and 16 gigabytes of flash memory.
Availability and models
Google announced the Chromebit on March 31, 2015. Google and Asus began shipping the first model that November.[6][7] The Chromebit no longer received updates after November 2020.[8]
