Last month ASUS announced its NUC-sized Chromebox, a small form factor affordable desktop running Google's Chrome OS. The Chromebox will be available with three different CPU options, all based on Intel's Haswell architecture (dual-core Celeron 2955U, Core i3-4010U or Core i7-4600U). Contrary to what ASUS told us last month, none of these units are fanless.

The ASUS Chromebox will start at $179 for the dual-core 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U model. The very low price point includes 2GB of memory, a 16GB M.2 SSD, 100GB of Google Drive space, and dual-band 802.11n WiFi.

ASUS Chromebox ASUS Chromebox Intel Haswell NUC OS Preloaded Google Chrome OS None CPU Intel Celeron 2955U (2C/2T 1.4GHz 2MB L3)

Intel Core i3-4010U (2C/4T 1.7GHz 3MB L3)

Intel Core i7-4600U (2C/4T 2.1/3.3GHz 4MB L3) Intel Core i3-4010U (2C/4T 1.7GHz 3MB L3)

Intel Core i5-4250U (2C/4T 1.3/2.6GHz 3MB L3) GPU Celeron: Intel HD (200/1000MHz)

Core i3: Intel HD 4400 (200/1000MHz)

Core i7: Intel HD 4400 (200/1100MHz) Core i3: Intel HD 4400 (200/1000MHz)

Core i5: Intel HD 5000 (200/1000MHz) Memory 2GB/4GB configs, 2 x DDR3 SO-DIMM Slots 2 x DDR3 SO-DIMM Slots Storage 16GB M.2 SSD + 100GB Google Drive for 2 years 1 x mini PCIe (full length) LAN 10/100/1000 Ethernet 10/100/1000 Ethernet Wireless dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n, BT 4.0 1 x mini PCIe (half length) External I/O SD card reader

4 x USB 3.0

1 x HDMI

1 x DisplayPort

1 x Audio Jack (mic-in/speaker out) 4 x USB 3.0

1 x mini HDMI

1 x mini DisplayPort

1 x Audio Jack (mic-in/speaker out) Power Supply 65W 65W Dimensions 4.88" x 4.88" x 1.65" 4.59" x 4.41" x 1.36" Starting Price $179 $285

The Chromebox is available for preorder now at Amazon, Newegg and Tiger Direct with systems shipping on March 14th. ASUS doesn't plan to do a preorder for the Core i3 version (also available on the 14th), and the Core i7 version won't be available in North America.