ChromeBox versus ARM

[calzon65]

I continue to research my next ARM system to add to my array of ARM computers, so I have been looking at the ODROID-U3 because it's one of the supported ALARM systems and has some nice features like different sizes of eMMC storage, plenty of RAM for my needs and a quad core processor.

Last night I accidently came across some of the ChromeBoxes, specifically the ones from Asus and HP and how some people are running ArchLinux on them. I am still committed to ARM, probably because it's hard to let go of something I've become comfortable with, but when I looked at the stats of the low-end HP ChromeBox it caught my interest.

Below is a very basic configuration for the ODROID-U3 compared to the HP ChromeBox.

ODROID-U3 ($151 delivered)
Quad core Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime at 1.7GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM (not sure of the clock speed)
16GB eMMC storage (not sure of throughput)

HP ChromeBox ($171 delivered)
Dual Core Intel Celeron 2955U @ 1.4 GHz (2 MB cache)
2GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600 MHz
16GB (M.2) solid state storage (not sure of throughput)
Built-In WiFi

The systems have different graphics and integrated sound capability but I run my ARM systems as mini servers via SSH so that stuff is less important to me. CPU horsepower, RAM speed, and storage speed are more important to me. I would be grateful if anyone had any thoughts about these two systems, and yes I know the ChromeBox is not ARM.

[WarheadsSE]

The processor on that matches that of the Acer c720 and the HP 14 (not the Pavillion model) Chromebooks. You can see the testaments to their performances in plenty of places. The only major bonus after that would be expandability, and you would need to also consider the power differences.

[calzon65]

Thank you WarheadSE. I will probably continue to add more ARM systems to my inventory because I am comfortable with and like the ALARM community. I was just caught a little off guard when I came across the ChromeBox looking at the performance and price. It reminded me of the Intel NUC but I did not expect that low of a price.

[WarheadsSE]

There is a NUC relative that has similar specs. There is also "mainline" Arch as well, which is 99% identical so our distribution.

[calzon65]

WarheadSE, you are peaking my interest hehe ... could you give me another clue about this "NUC relative" you referenced?

I think with the pending Broadwell 14nm architecture, the impact to Intel's Celeron and Atom line may be interesting in the next three to six months. Incorporating14nm into the Atom line and Intel's SOC chips may provide some interesting small, low power, and low priced boards. From what I've read, the battle ground with Intel's SOC line versus ARM appears to be in the ChromeBook/ChromeBox arena. It appears Intel is heavily subsidizing (about $60 worth) the low-end Intel based ChromeBook/ChromeBox devices to battle ARM. Not sure how long Intel can/will continue to do this.