Earlier this week we were left wondering why the ASUS Chromebox would not come to the USA in its Intel Core i7 configuration. Now we know why! It turns out Google has bigger plans for these more powerful versions of the Chromebox. The Search Giant has just announced Chromebox for Meetings, Google’s Chrome OS project for the Enterprise market.
Sadly, this seems to be the trend now. The new HP Chromebox is also said to be available in Intel Core i7 configurations only for this program.
What exactly is Chromebox for Meetings?
In a nutshell, Chromebox for Meetings is simply a bundle designed for simple video conferencing. Customers will get an ASUS Chromebox, a full HD camera, a microphone/speaker and a remote control. All of these are meant to work flawlessly with Google hangouts and are a breeze to set up.
What is the price?
Of course, this bundle won’t seem very affordable to the regular consumer. Google is charging $999 (not a typo)! This does come with a one year management and support fee, which amounts to $250.
Even then, this bundle seems a bit pricey at $749. Google does remind them that this is still thousands of dollars cheaper than the competitors, who happen to offer clunky and complicated systems.
The Chromebox does come with the i7 processor, which apparently won’t be available for the general consumer Chromeboxes in the US. This should make the experience much smoother, especially for those who will be video conferencing a significant amount of time.
Those who do have access to these machines will also have a nice time using the device as a computer. You can even install Ubuntu on them! That should run buttery smooth with those specs.
Those who are interested can contact the sales department for more details on purchasing Chromebox for Meetings. As for the rest of us, I guess we will have to stick to Intel Core i3.
[Google]
