The Asus Chromebox has been dubbed the “world’s smallest desktop” and at $179, it’s features and technical offerings may definitely way below the general standard for a PC. But according to reviews, this Mac Mini look-alike may offer some serious alternative and though cheap, does provide some real value.

Reviews have noted that one thing that the Asus Chromebox gives you is quick access to the net, connecting you to Web apps from Google, including productivity tools like Google Drive. Once connected or hooked up to a monitor of your choosing, the Asus Chromebox will give you the ability to create and edit documents on Google Docs and even watch movies and videos via Netflix or Amazon Prime.

One thing that the Asus Chromebox doesn’t have compared to a full-blown PC is that it doesn’t have any Microsoft Office nor Adobe apps available, requiring you to find an alternative that will work in your Chrome OS environment. A lot of your work would be web-based and the Chromebox performance when it comes to browsing and gamming is described as snappy and responsive.

“In our tests, using the Chromebox M400U was as easy as it was to use a Chromebook: The system boots up and wakes up in seconds, you can easily get to your home pages with your Google account (once you've logged in the first time), and all your work in Chrome auto-saves to the cloud,” wrote PCMag in its review of the product.

The Chromebox’s performance is helped by an Intel Pentium processor it possesses under the hood, 2GB of system memory, and a 16GB solid state drive. Users may find the 16GB storage, but purchasing a Chromebox would get you a 100 GB in Google Drive for free.

Not everyone is a fan of the Chromebox though. Some would still suggest getting a Chromebook to help you maximize your Chrome OS experience.

“From a productivity standpoint, we're inclined to recommend a Chromebook like the $279 Toshiba CB35-A3120 for people who have their hearts set on Chrome OS hardware,” wrote PC World.