Asus Chromebx release date, review: Specs of the “world’s smallest Chrome computer,” the newest variant of the Asus Chromebox, now includes a Haswell chipset powered with 2GB of RAM. The recently launched Asus Chromebox M075U is equipped with an Intel Core i3-4010U processor and 16GB of storage.

According to Geeky Gadgets, the new Asus Intel iCore i3 equipped Chromebox follows on from the recently launched Asus Chromebox M005U mini back in March and is equipped with a less powerful Intel Celeron 2955U Haswell processor. The latter has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

Other specs of the new Asus Chromebox M075U include a 16GB solid-state disk (SSD) and a connectivity provided by dual-band 802.11 in WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and graphics from Intel HD 4400 chip. Connectivity options for the machine include four USB 3.0 ports.

The Chromebox is pre-installed with Google’s Chrome OS, but the Asus minicomputers can run Ubuntu or any other Linux-based operating system you might choose. The Asus M075U system also has 4K Ultra HD via its HDMI and DisplayPort and also has a handy SD card slot for memory expansion.

The unit is now available for sale at $399 from Excaliber PC, Provantage and Amazon.

Asus has a cheaper Asus M004U, which runs on a dual-core processor and is priced at $179. The unit comes with either a 2GB or 4GB RAM and has 16GB of internal storage.

In terms of the M004U’s performance and speed, which a few benchmark tests is able to measure, the particular Asus Chromebox blew away the Chromebook Series 3 but was underwhelming compared to the Toshiba CB35-A3120. In a Sunspider Test done by PC World, the Asus Chromebox returned a score of 423 ms and generated a score of 2,661 in the PeaceKeeper test.

PCWorld noted that it felt snappy while browsing the web and playing a few Flash games. Java and Silverlight remain unsupported for the machine and number of ChromeOS packaged apps is very small.