Introduction and design
With the release of its first Chromebox ($199, £132, AU$271) in the micro desktop form factor, Lenovo is giving business and education users the option of creating a modular, all-in-one (AIO) Chrome OS PC.
The device sports the same compact, flattened desktop form factor as Lenovo's Windows-based ThinkCentre M Series Tiny ($299, £198, AU$407), making it easy for offices to swap out older Tiny-in-One units for the new Chromebox Tiny. Lenovo also sells a separate 23-inch ThinkVision Tiny-in-One monitor ($279, £185, AU$380), which comes with a 1080p twisted nematic panel with a fast 5 millisecond (ms) refresh rate, with a slot on the rear that the Chromebox Tiny slips into. In this configuration, you would have effectively created your own modular, all-in-one desktop.
As a small form factor PC, the Chromebox Tiny competes not only against its Windows-powered ThinkCentre M73, but also against other Chromeboxes and Chrome AIO setups. The Chromebox Tiny will closely compete with the Asus Chromebox M075U ($246, £163, AU$335), HP Chromebox ($246, £163, $335) and Dell Chromebox ($329, £218, AU$448).
Design
The ThinkCentre is a compact desktop that's even more compact than Apple's iconic miniature desktop, the Mac Mini. Encased in an angular, black aluminum enclosure with a plastic front panel, the Chromebox measures 7 x 1.4 x 7.2 inches (17.78 x 3.56 x 18.29cm) and weighs just 2.2 pounds (0.99kg), giving it the same thickness as the Mac Mini, but 0.7 inches (1.78cm) more narrow and 0.5 inches (1.27cm) shorter. The Chromebox Tiny also weighs 0.5 pounds (0.23kg) less than Apple's unit.
The Dell, Asus and HP Chromebox are even more compact, and all three share similar dimensions. The Dell Chromebox measures 4.8 x 4.8 x 1.6 inches (12.19 x 12.19 x 4.06cm), making it the most compact Chromebox. HP's Chromebox is slightly bigger at 4.8 x 4.9 x 1.5 inches (12.19 x 12.45 x 3.81cm), while the Asus measures 4.88 x 1.65 x 4.88 inches (12.4 x 4.2 x 12.4cm). Because of their plastic constructions, these three units are lighter than the metal-clad Lenovo Chromebox Tiny, coming in between 1.1 (0.50kg) and 1.4 pounds (0.64kg).
The unit comes with rubber feet on the bottom for horizontal use, but you could also position the Chromebox Tiny upright in a plastic stand on your desk or even mount the desktop to the rear of Lenovo's ThinkVision monitor to save space.
Lenovo maintains its signature rectangular, box-like design that's found on the company's enterprise-focused ThinkPad notebooks on the Chromebox Tiny. This likely won't deter businesses from purchasing the Chromebox Tiny, especially when it's mounted to the ThinkVision monitor to create a modular Chrome OS AIO PC, but students and home users may find HP's subtle curves and color options of white or ocean turquoise more playful.
Ports are also abundant on the Chromebox Tiny. You'll find two USB 3.0 ports, a combination headphone/mic jack and a large power button on the front. In the rear, there is a swiveling Wi-Fi antenna, which kind of mars the clean lines of the Chromebox Tiny.
You'll also find two additional USB 3.0 ports, HDMI connector, DisplayPort and a wired Ethernet jack. Lenovo's flat-tip laptop-style power connector is also found on the rear.
Specifications and performance
The Chromebox Tiny is available in two configurations. The base configuration ships with a 1.5GHz dual-core Intel Celeron 3205U processor, while the higher-end unit ships with Intel's mainstream Core i3 Broadwell processor. You can choose either 2GB or 4GB of RAM on either model.
Here's how our review unit of the Chromebox Tiny was configured:
Specifications
Processor: 2GHz Intel Core i3 5005U (dual-core, 3MB cache)
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5500
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 16GB
Connectivity: 4x USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, DisplayPort, combo mic/headphone jack, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0
Weight: 2.2 pounds
Dimensions: 7 x 1.4 x 7.2 inches
At this configuration, the Chromebox Tiny is priced at $235 (£156, AU$320), making it a better value than the base configuration with an Intel Celeron processor. Intel's mainstream Core i series CPUs deliver better performance than ARM, Celeron or Atom processors.
Benchmarks
Mozilla Kraken: 1,683.2
Google Octane: 18,586
The Chromebox Tiny scored 1,683 on Mozilla's Kraken benchmark test and 18,586 on Google's Octane 2.0 test. This makes it one of the faster units available. For comparison, the more powerful Intel Core i5 processor on Google's Chromebook Pixel laptop helped it post slightly better scores of 23,910 on Octane (higher score is better) and 1,430 on Kraken (lower score is better).
Still, the Chromebox Tiny's Core i3 chip blew away the Celeron-powered Lenovo Chromebook 100S, which delivered an Octane score of just 8,938 and Kraken marks of 3,704. The Chromebox Tiny's Core i3 processor also performed better than ARM-based processors, like the Rockchip CPU found on the Asus Chromebook Flip. Asus's convertible Chrome OS laptop posted scores of 6,795 on the Octane test and 5,447 on Kraken.
Performance
Performance on the Chromebox Tiny was great, and I didn't notice any lags when multitasking. Since I rely on the cloud for most of my workflow, I didn't mind the limitations of Chrome OS except when I need to do photo or video editing, as Adobe's Creative Suite isn't available on Google's operating system yet. For creative work, I would turn to my Mac or Windows PCs.
In my use, I have several Chrome browser windows open, each with multiple tabs for web browsing, checking my Gmail and Outlook accounts, running Google Apps to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets, watching YouTube videos and running several messaging clients. None of these tasks managed to slow down the Chromebox Tiny.
Boot-up speeds were similarly fast, and the Chromebox Tiny is ready to go within five to ten seconds of pressing the power button. In use, I didn't notice the fan at all, but the fan does give a loud whirl when the Chromebox Tiny initially powers on.
Lenovo ships the Chromebox Tiny with a wired USB mouse and keyboard. If you want to shed cable clutter on your desk, you'll either have to provide your own USB peripherals or add the cost of a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to your setup.
I found the keyboard to be comfortable with excellent travel, and my only complaint is that the keyboard feels slightly mushy. Lenovo even equipped the keyboard with shortcut keys that are relevant to Chrome OS. The only downside is that if you rely on the Caps Lock key, you won't find it on the keyboard that ships with the Chromebox Tiny, as the key has been replaced with a search button instead.
With 4K support on the Chromebox Tiny, output to a UHD monitor made text small. I found that I needed to increase the zoom level to between 125% to 150% when working inside the Chrome browser when I connected the Chromebox Tiny to my 4K monitor. The upside is that pictures and videos look sharp.
It's unfortunate that Lenovo didn't make the most of the 4K output support in its Tiny-in-One ecosystem. The ThinkVision monitor is currently only available with a 1080p display and in only one size.
Since I store most of my work in the cloud on Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Music and Microsoft OneDrive services, I didn't encounter any problems with the rather limited 16GB of flash storage on the Chromebox Tiny. If you do store documents and images locally, you can expand storage capacity by connecting a USB flash drive.
Students and business owners who live in the cloud will appreciate Chrome OS's light footprint. If you can live within the limitations of Google's Chrome browser, then you'll benefit from an always up-to-date OS, low cost, speedy operations and ease of manageability.
Conclusion
Lenovo has made creating an AIO Chrome desktop easy by bringing Chrome OS to its Tiny-in-One ecosystem. The modular design brings several different benefits to users.
First, this makes the Chromebox Tiny easily upgradeable. In the future, if you want to keep your ThinkVision display and want to upgrade the performance of the Chromebox, you can buy a new Chromebox from Lenovo and snap it into the rear of the monitor. Second, if you want to migrate between Windows and Chrome OS, you can do that by switching out the Chromebox Tiny for a ThinkCentre M Series Tiny system.
And finally, unlike a one-piece all-in-one desktop, if you damage your display or if Lenovo makes a higher resolution ThinkVision monitor in the future, you can just upgrade the screen and keep using the Chromebox. The space-saving design of the Chromebox makes it easy to use with your existing office or home setup, so you don't need to invest in a ThinkVision display if you already have a screen you want to use.
We liked
With a metal enclosure, the Chromebox Tiny feels like a solid device, but one that takes up very little space on your desk. The Chromebox Tiny is a versatile Chrome PC that can be used on your desk or in the living room to transform your HDTV into a smart TV.
When compared to more inexpensive devices, like Asus's Chromebit, the Chromebox Tiny's higher price feels justified, as it includes a wired keyboard and mouse, peripherals you'll need to supply with the Chromebit. The Chromebox Tiny also has a much faster Intel Core i3 processor, which makes it a better value than the Asus Chromebox M075U, which ships with an older Haswell processor, and the Celeron CPUs on HP's unit. Dell's Chromebox with a similar Core i3 processor is pricier.
The Core i3 Broadwell processor also feels snappier when paired with Chrome OS compared to a micro PC form factor Windows desktop, like the HP Pavilion Mini and Lenovo's ThinkCentre M73 Tiny. Additionally, the Chromebox Tiny is cheaper than the Windows-based rivals, as it doesn't require as much local storage or RAM.
We disliked
The protruding swivel antenna makes the Chromebox Tiny look more like a TV box from the late 80s rather than a modern desktop. Lenovo could also do more to make the Chromebox Tiny user serviceable for easy upgrades of internal components, like adding a larger capacity SSD or increasing the RAM.
The Chromebox Tiny's black box design may limit its appeal to business users, as students and home users may prefer more stylish alternatives with playful design options. It's also somewhat ironic that Lenovo is marketing the Chromebox Tiny's desk-saving form factor, but the included peripherals are wired, contributing to cable clutter on your workspace.
Final verdict
With high-end hardware, the Chromebox Tiny delivers great performance. It's one of the cheapest ways to get Intel's Core i3 processor on a desktop, but going the Chromebox Tiny route means you'll be limited to Google's Chrome operating system.
Whether you're streaming songs on Pandora or playing a Netflix movie, browsing the web or checking your emails, the Chromebox Tiny can handle multiple Chrome browser windows and tabs without slowing down. Multitasking business users who rely on the cloud will find a lot to love about the Chromebox Tiny, especially if they've migrated to Google Apps or use Office 365.
Creative professionals and gamers will want to look elsewhere. You won't find Adobe's creative titles on Chrome OS, although there are a few third-party substitutes to Photoshop, and there aren't any native games for the platform. A Windows-powered solution or even Apple's Mac Mini will be better for these uses, but these devices come at a far higher cost.
If you're okay with Chrome OS and aren't tied to Windows, then Lenovo's Chromebox Tiny offers exceptional value for an internet-connected computing experience in a compact package.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1QfyngM
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