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The Asus Chromebox 5a is a small desktop computer with support for up to an Intel Core i7-1355U processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and PCIe Gen 4×4 storage.
It’s looks a lot like last year’s Asus Chromebox 5, but Asus replaced 12th-gen Intel Core P-series processor options with 13th-gen Intel Core U-series chips, while also making some changes to the computer’s ports.
Entry-level versions of both the Chromebox 5 and Chromebox 5a come with an Intel Celeron 7305 processor based on 12th-gen Core architecture. But higher-priced configurations of the Chromebox 5 has 28-watt Intel Alder Lake-P processors, while the Chromebox 5a has 15-watt Raptor Lake-U chips.
Basically that means you’ll probably get better single-core processor performance from the Chromebox 5a, but better multi-core performance from the older model.
Another change that’s more of a lateral move than a straightforward upgrade? The Chromebox 5a has more USB ports… but the fastest of them tops out at USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds (10 Gbps). The older Chromebox 5 has a Thunderbolt 4 port with support for 40 Gbps data transfer speeds.
Both the Chromebox 5 and 5a have a single Ethernet port, but the older model supports 2.5 GbE wired network connections, while the newer version tops out at Gigabit speeds.
Otherwise, the two little ChromeOS computers are pretty similar, with both measuring 167 x 167 x 46mm (6.6″ x 6.6″ x 1.8″) and support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. And both support up to four 4K displays.
| Chromebox 5a | Chromebox 5 | |
| Processor | Intel Celeron 7305 Intel Core i3-1315U Intel Core i5-1335U Intel Core i7-1355U |
Intel Celeron 7305 Intel Core i3-1220P Intel Core i5-1240P Intel Core i7-1260P |
| RAM | Up to 32GB Up to 2 x DDR4 SODIMM slots |
|
| Storage | 128GB – 512GB 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD |
|
| Front ports | 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1 X 3.5mm audio 1 x microSD card reader |
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 1 x 3.5mm audio 1 x microSD card reader |
| Back ports | 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 2 x HDMI 2.1 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 1 x DC power input |
1 x Thunderbolt 4 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 2 x HDMI 2.1 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 1 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet 1 x DC power input |
| Wireless | WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 |
|
| Starting price | $294 | $309 |
via LinuxGizmos and Asus press release