Asus is showing off some of its newest compact desktop computers at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, including the company’s latest Chromebox and two new Windows-ready PCs.

Asus Chromebox 3

The new Asus Chromebox 3 features the same basic design as earlier models, but the port layout has been changed a bit and the latest model is the first to support an 8th-generation Intel Core processor.

It has two full-sized USB ports on the front, along with a microSD card slot and headset jack. On the back there’s a USB Type-C port, HDMI, Ethernet, and three more USB Type-A ports.

The little Chrome OS computer supports DDR4-2400 memory, has 802.11ac WiFi, and it’s expected to support the Google Play Store and Android apps out of the box.

Asus is introducing a new mini PC design with the launch of the Asus PN40. It’s a small box that measures about 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 1.9″ and which will be available with Celeron or Pentium Gemini Lake processors. It offers a fanless design and supports dual storage devices thanks to an M.2 SSD slot and a 2.5 inch drive bay.

Asus PN40

This model has headset, USB 3.1 Type-C, and two USB Type-A ports on the front and two more USB ports on the back, along with Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort, and VGA ports (although you can get the computer with a COM port instead of VGA).

If VGA and COM ports both seem kind of outdated to you, then maybe you’re not in the target market for this little computer. While it would make a nice home media PC or low profile desktop, it’s the sort of device Asus and other companies often sell for use in commercial and industrial spaces.

The last new model is a bigger, model that has a semi-modular design, with support for stacking accessories like optical disc drives on top of the base unit.

The Asus PB40 mini PC is also available with Celeron or Pentium Gemini Lake processors, and the Celeron model uses passive cooling for a fanless design.

Asus PB40

Asus is showing off a PB40 sample with separate mci and headphone jacks, four USB Type-A ports on the front panel, as well as a USB Type-C port, and additional ports on the back including VGA, DisplayPort, USB, Ethernet, and COM prots.

There’s also an optical drive stacked on top with another USB port, COM Port, and another that I think is a DVI port looks like a parallel port.

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6 replies on “Closer look at Asus 2018 mini PC lineup (Chromebox 3, PN40 and PB40)”

  1. Do you know if the Chromebox will be available with a Celeron processor? I have an Acer Chromebox with a Celeron processor (and 4 GB RAM) – and for Chrome OS that is plenty powerful enough. If I buy the new Asus model I wouldn’t want to spend much more than $200 – however with an Intel Core processor I imagine they will try to sell those Chromeboxes for $350 & up. But IMO it’s really just overkill for Chrome OS.

  2. lol they need to fire the engineer that decided to put a parallel port on it

    1. Are we talking about the good old LPT? Does anything come with LPT interface any more? Last time I had something with LPT was 18 years ago when I was in college.

      1. Yea, I think it’s still used by some industrial systems and such. Much cheaper to buy a computer with LPT than to replace a giant piece of machinery.

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