Up next in 10
In this video, I unbox the ASUS Chromebox. Also, we're doing a few things differently with this one. For one, I'm testing a handful of normal peripherals. Secondly, I'm taking requests for the review. So if you have any questions, leave them in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer them in the full review.
Thanks for watching!!!
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:02
hey folks this is Robbie Payne again
0:03
with chrome unboxed coming at you today
0:05
with an unboxing of the Asus Chrome box
0:09
now this is the Celeron version with 2
0:12
gigs of RAM and as many of you probably
0:15
know if you're watching this it's been
0:16
very difficult to get a hold of and so
0:19
my my review and unboxing has been put
0:22
off a little bit uh comparatively with
0:25
other people cuz I simply had a hard
0:27
time getting a hold of it and actually
0:28
ended up paying a little bit extra for
0:30
it from New Egg I want to say $1.99 is
0:33
what it went for so over the next month
0:35
or so we should see these things popping
0:37
up more uh with retailers and I'm going
0:40
to do a couple uh different things with
0:42
this particular unboxing just because of
0:43
the nature of the device most most
0:45
devices I inbox are um are Chromebooks
0:49
and so they come obviously attached with
0:51
a display a keyboard and a mouse pad and
0:54
so those things are worth going through
0:55
and talking about and you can kind of
0:57
get a a general feel for the device just
0:59
opening it up and starting it up and um
1:02
a few Hands-On Impressions can happen
1:04
there this particular device obviously
1:06
is just a box um and so I'm actually
1:09
going to attach a few peripherals to it
1:12
now if they don't work um I'll work
1:14
those things out for the for the main
1:16
review but for today's sake I will hook
1:18
it up to a TV I'm going to hook in um a
1:21
standalone hard drive I'm going to hook
1:23
in a Logitech keyboard and mouse uh
1:26
through the little Logitech unifying
1:28
receiver now I've done that on a
1:29
Chromebook before for and it's worked
1:30
just fine but I want to show you that it
1:32
does work and it will work on this setup
1:34
um I'm trying to think if there was any
1:36
other peripherals I was going to hook up
1:38
to this guy uh but and the TV obviously
1:41
so um I'll try to get all those things
1:43
on camera and a different shot but for
1:45
right now we're just going to cut into
1:46
this
1:48
[Music]
1:50
guy like I said New Egg um I'm sure
1:54
other
1:55
manufacturers know what they have in
1:57
this guy for right now for the for the
2:00
time being um a device is hard to get a
2:03
hold of and I'm guessing that fault goes
2:05
back to Acer or Asus I'm sorry uh it
2:08
have to I would think um we running into
2:11
issues um and it looks like new egg
2:14
included for that $2.99 or that 1999
2:17
price point and HDMI a v VGA and audio
2:19
converter so if you do have an older uh
2:22
VGA only display this is a great thing
2:25
uh it's going to give you a VJ output
2:27
for your for your monitor and then a
2:29
stereo output as well so it's splitting
2:31
that HDMI up for you if your particular
2:34
setup does not have that uh for a lot of
2:36
people this will probably be going on a
2:38
newer device or something with a DVI um
2:40
there are cords you can go on Amazon and
2:43
you can get the cables uh and such like
2:46
that that will actually convert your
2:48
HDMI into a DVI so here we go um Asus
2:52
Chrome box in search of incredible and
2:54
so um
2:56
actually much bigger box than I expected
2:58
it to be
3:00
we'll cut into this
3:02
guy now while I'm opening this um the
3:05
elephant in the room uh with with this
3:08
particular device and the question I've
3:09
heard quite a bit is why would you buy
3:12
this as opposed to say buying um that
3:15
one of the Acer C720 is right around
3:17
that same price range $200 for the C720
3:20
and ultimately you're getting the exact
3:21
same internals plus with the C720 you
3:23
get a keyboard a trackpad and and a
3:25
screen and the answer to that question
3:28
is I don't know uh at this point I I'm
3:30
not sure uh what the benefit would be
3:33
but for some people I think they would
3:34
want to have something that um that can
3:37
stay at home and they're not tempted to
3:38
take with them I don't know we'll see as
3:40
time goes by and I use this in some
3:42
different use cases we'll see if it uh
3:45
ends up being something that I think is
3:47
reasonable to keep around the
3:49
house and so here we have it Asus Chrome
3:54
box it is very small have relatively
3:57
large hands can just Palm a basketball
3:59
so that gives you a kind of idea um so
4:01
it's relatively
4:03
small
4:07
um instructions all this kind of stuff
4:09
what would this
4:13
be oh that's kind of fun it looks as if
4:18
this yeah
4:22
H I'm not really sure what this does
4:26
exactly some sort of Mount um I'll have
4:29
to get in the instru instructions and
4:30
figure out exactly what it
4:32
does
4:33
um cuz I'm unsure maybe it sits this
4:38
way um it's got we got pegs here to hang
4:42
something on it so obviously be looking
4:45
into that to try to figure out what
4:46
exactly this guy is um if you know
4:49
already you can leave it in the comments
4:50
of the video to answer that question for
4:52
anybody and as I said I will be figuring
4:55
out the answer to that um
4:59
instruction booklets set up we all know
5:02
it's Chrome OS it's simple but obviously
5:04
that thing is used for something we got
5:05
some screws and everything with it so
5:07
that'll be interesting to figure that
5:08
out and then uh big block if you've ever
5:11
had an Asus laptop this guy looks very
5:13
familiar to you interestingly enough
5:16
that that really looks like a laptop
5:19
cable so uh making the kind of
5:20
portability of this thing uh realistic
5:23
so nicely packaged to be honest with you
5:25
it makes me look forward to when Asus
5:27
Springs out their uh Chromebook that'll
5:29
be pretty
5:31
awesome so we got some simple plastic
5:38
here and overall um you know you got
5:41
some fan ports down here at the bottom
5:43
and again these these mounting screws um
5:46
I'm still not sure how that lines up
5:48
exactly so we'll see like I said we'll
5:50
we'll look into it uh some rubbery feet
5:51
down here at the bottom you got two USB
5:54
3.0 points ports around one side the
5:56
other side has another two of those HDMI
5:59
out uh you actually have a full-size
6:01
display port out which is kind of cool
6:02
because there's a lot of monitors that
6:03
use that you have your uh microphone
6:06
head headphone jack uh combo Jack here
6:09
you do have a dedicated um ethernet port
6:12
here and your power and some more fan
6:15
Vents and over here you get a fulls size
6:17
SIM card slot and interestingly enough a
6:20
Kensington lock slot here as well um
6:22
cool little power here on the
6:25
corner not sure how that depresses if it
6:28
even depresses at all
6:31
perhaps when it's plugged in it's on I
6:34
guess
6:35
um oh there it ises right at the top it
6:38
kind of depresses a little bit so that's
6:40
that's it um it's a really attractive
6:43
device um you can see it's got a nice
6:45
little uh lustery finish to it um very
6:49
tight it's not very heavy uh which is
6:51
kind of cool um so honestly between this
6:54
one and then the I3 one that's going to
6:56
come out um yeah this it would be nice
6:59
to be able to replace your big clunky PC
7:02
with something uh this small so I'm
7:04
going to take a second get the guy
7:05
hooked up and we'll we'll go through
7:07
some of those peripherals be right
7:13
back all right guys um here we got
7:16
everything set up um going to kind of
7:19
walk you through we got some stuff up
7:20
there by the television um real quickly
7:24
we have uh a hard drive uh DVD CD player
7:28
um got a couple different keyboards set
7:30
up we'll talk about those got a
7:32
Bluetooth speaker and we got the
7:33
Logitech t650 trackpad and so um right
7:38
off the bat all of these work uh they
7:40
work just fine no no drivers none of
7:42
that kind of stuff needed they work um
7:45
and they work exactly as you would
7:46
expect them to with the exception of the
7:48
hard drive now that is an old spinning
7:50
hard drive I want to say it is 6 years
7:53
old 5 years old um I don't know enough
7:56
about uh computer hardware to tell you
7:58
what may or may not not be the issue
8:00
with it working um other than to tell
8:02
you it's not picking up it's not seeing
8:04
anything off of that device so um there
8:07
is an SD card slot on this so you could
8:09
jump up to 128 gigs of memory um I
8:13
haven't priced them lately but it's
8:15
optional you can do that throw that
8:17
inside if you really want to store some
8:18
movies I that's what I would recommend
8:20
you might have a lot more luck with a
8:22
solid state external drive through the
8:24
USB but I honestly do not know um it it
8:27
fired up the the disc it's fun but it's
8:30
not reading it so I don't know if that's
8:32
a universal problem across uh Chrome OS
8:34
or not I've not looked at it enough I
8:36
don't use uh local storage enough to
8:39
have spent any time doing that anyway um
8:43
the DVD CD works just fine you see it
8:46
right here we can click the eject it
8:48
will eject uh from there um it's full of
8:51
photos of my of my daughter and
8:54
interestingly enough there the one issue
8:56
I've run into so far with this uh Chrome
8:58
box and I I don't think it's an issue
9:00
with the Chrome box I think it's
9:01
something with a TV it's an off-brand
9:02
television it is 1080p but for some
9:04
reason it's not picking up 1080 and so
9:06
when I go to change the display
9:08
resolution um it gives me the option to
9:10
click 1080 but when I go there it thinks
9:12
about it and then chooses no um so it's
9:14
doing a 1360 X 768 so full 16x9 would be
9:18
1366 X 768 so I don't know if maybe the
9:21
1080p um is a few Pixel Shy on the side
9:26
to side and so that's why the Chrome box
9:27
does not like it um I will have to test
9:29
it against uh a different 1080p
9:31
television but because of that you're
9:33
getting some of the things that happen
9:35
when you downscale 720 uh or put a 720p
9:39
resolution uh device on a 1080p
9:42
television the picture just looks real
9:44
grainy and funny looking and so again I
9:47
I'll cover that in the um in the review
9:50
if I find that that is universal I think
9:52
it's just because of the display that
9:54
we're running into some issues
9:55
displaying that
9:57
jpeg uh let's see so CD DVD Works uh for
10:01
the full review I'll throw a DVD in that
10:03
thing and see if it can decode and play
10:05
a DVD I'm not hopeful but you never know
10:09
um let's see so uh keyboard wise I've
10:12
got the Logitech um this is like the $30
10:16
uh keyboard comes with the
10:18
universal dongle I've Got U just a plain
10:21
anchor Bluetooth keyboard got a set of
10:24
bluetooth speakers and I've got the
10:26
Logitech t650 trackpad now I got both
10:29
both of these hooked up through the
10:30
single um the single dongle up there and
10:33
I will say that particular dongle uh
10:36
works and I've got another one that's
10:37
just the same and I put it in and it
10:39
doesn't do anything it doesn't recognize
10:40
these devices I don't know if there's
10:42
any type of uh firmware if there would
10:44
need to be repairing or exactly what uh
10:47
the deal is with that what I do know is
10:49
that the the dongle that I have in there
10:51
right now uh is the one that's attached
10:54
normally to my uh Windows PC that sits
10:57
at home and collects dust and so it was
11:00
set up with drivers and everything like
11:01
that so it works just fine um the other
11:04
one doesn't do anything so your mileage
11:06
may vary if you go buy a brand new
11:08
Logitech keyboard and mouse which I
11:10
might be doing they have a version of
11:12
this where it's these two together for
11:13
100 bucks and then they've got one with
11:14
a much smaller little trackpad no
11:16
numeric keyboard uh small little package
11:18
for $30 um right at Best Buy you can go
11:21
pick it up um and I'm probably going to
11:23
go pick one of those up just a half for
11:25
this review because ultimately for me
11:27
what would be the win is to be able to
11:28
sit on my couch and use this thing uh on
11:31
an ongoing basis and so I need something
11:33
where it's one piece where it can sit in
11:34
my lap this thing in your lap is useless
11:36
cuz it needs to sit on a flat surface to
11:38
click obviously a regular Mouse on on
11:40
your knee is no good either so um I
11:43
think that would be a good solution for
11:45
this uh in the living room scenario
11:47
anyway um a bit about the Logitech
11:50
trackpad um it's it's so precise and so
11:53
wonderful to use uh it it just been a
11:57
joy I've Loved this thing since I came
11:58
out with it
11:59
you know on Chrome OS it's just as good
12:01
as youd expect it to be so if we're
12:03
moving between tabs three fingers either
12:06
way no problem um let me actually load
12:09
something in one of these so you can see
12:10
it's actually changing so we get the
12:13
switching no problem um expose Works no
12:16
problem three fingers up three fingers
12:17
down no issues um two finger
12:20
scroll works just
12:23
fine uh and you can see you know Google+
12:25
doing what Google+ does best you
12:27
Chromebooks and chrome boxes issues once
12:29
it gets fully loaded it's fine I do have
12:32
a a GF loading up here at the top um
12:35
anyway
12:37
so trackpad works wonderfully uh no
12:40
problems with it whatsoever keyboards
12:42
work fine you know you can pair up the
12:44
the F keys to you know what you would
12:46
see on Chromebook so f11 gives you full
12:48
screen um if you have something open f11
12:52
gives you full screen and that's in the
12:53
the 11th position on the Chrome or a
12:56
Chromebook normally so you can kind of
12:58
look across and go 1 2 3 4 5 okay full
13:00
screen is F5 I think no that's x a so F4
13:03
is full screen and you know back should
13:06
be
13:07
F1 see if it'll
13:12
go yeah F1 goes back so the function
13:15
keys are lined up exactly where they
13:16
would be um you just have to learn that
13:18
when you're using a third party keyboard
13:20
I don't know I think Asus or LG one of
13:23
the two are coming out with a chrome box
13:25
keyboard I think it's a a quartered
13:27
solution so not a big fan of that
13:30
myself um real quick Bluetooth speakers
13:34
are working just fine and we'll come off
13:36
got two birds with one stone here Lo of
13:40
the Netflix movie real
13:46
quick and was watching the cruise with
13:49
my
13:50
daughter we'll just load it up wherever
13:52
we were in this
14:01
so audio works just
14:04
fine full screen everything out there we
14:08
do this bluetoo key bluetoo we do this
14:11
as a
14:12
family and never Not
14:15
Afraid yeah Bluetooth speaker keyboard
14:18
working no problem so all this stuff
14:21
points to a good entertainment
14:22
experience honestly uh when it comes to
14:25
being able to sit on your couch and let
14:27
this thing kind of do what it needs to
14:28
do so um we'll be talking about much
14:30
more in the full review if you have any
14:32
other uh this I haven't done this before
14:34
but if you have any specific questions
14:35
something you want me to test or try or
14:38
uh uh put the the Chrome box through let
14:40
me know in the comment section below uh
14:42
in about a week we'll see a full review
14:44
up of this guy I'm going to use it at
14:46
the house some I'm going to use it here
14:47
at the office a little bit just to uh uh
14:49
maybe come in here and we've got a nice
14:51
big screen I could sit here and work for
14:52
a little while I guess um we'll see um
14:56
but I'm going to mess around with it in
14:57
a few different ways and so if you have
14:58
any particular things you'd like to see
15:00
uh shoot me a message in the comments
15:02
below or on Google+ I'm Robbie pay on
15:05
Google+ or I'm Chrome unbox on Google+
15:07
as well shoot me a message on there I'll
15:09
attempt to the best of my ability
15:11
probably not going to go buy anything in
15:12
order to answer a question but if I have
15:14
it at my disposal or if it's just a Time
15:16
related thing I will give it a try
15:18
there's some sites you want me to go to
15:20
um again you're going to see the same
15:21
performance on this that you would see
15:22
on the U Acer c720p that I reviewed
15:26
before so um that's about all we're
15:29
going to talk about today uh thanks for
15:31
tuning in thanks for watching uh if you
15:33
like the video Hit subscribe below be
15:35
sure to like the video and uh uh check
15:37
back in a week or so um if you're
15:40
subscribing hopefully you'll see it uh
15:42
in your feed but we'll have a full
15:43
review up and hopefully answer some any
15:45
other other questions you guys might
15:47
have about this again thanks for
15:49
watching youall have a good one
#Computer Peripherals
#Desktop Computers
#Consumer Electronics