Asus' forte has not remained limited to smartphones, tablets and motherboards because the Taiwanese tech firm has announced the C201 Chromebook, a $169 price mobile machine that is able to deliver up to 13 hours of battery life. Chromebooks are generally designed to provide users with sufficient battery life while trading off a large degree of performance. On this occasion, C201 fits the description of a low-performance and high-battery-life machine perfectly. The product is fitted with a Rockchip quad-core processor that is clocked in at 1.8 GHz.
Additionally, C201 also features 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of on-board storage. The product is extremely lightweight, featuring a mass of just 2 pounds, which is largely due to its 11.6 inch screen size. However, the astonishing aspect concerning C201 is that it is incorporated with an 802.11 ac Wi-Fi adapter. If a router and mobile product both possess an 802.11 ac adapter, then users will be able to enjoy a performance upgrade when they browse the internet and/or stream high definition videos. For a $169 product, C201 comes with an abounding number of connectivity options, with all of them listed below:
- Two USB 2.0 ports
- One USB 3.0 port
- One HDMI port
- One Ethernet port (RJ45)
- SD card reader for expandable storage
- Bluetooth 4.1 module for transferring and receiving files wirelessly
Since C201 is running Google's Chrome platform, users will receive 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage absolutely free for a period of 12 months. Asus' Chromebook does not possess sufficient amount of storage, so the additional cloud storage space will always be handy the user is on the move. For a $169 priced machine, Asus will be able to tap in to the cost-effective Chromebook market with severe ferocity.
The one drawback of owning a product like this is undoubtedly sacrificing a great deal of performance for mobility and affordability. However, with its aggressive price tag, it appears the C201 might eventually become a favored product down the line.
