Asus was at the show to promote, mainly, its client devices and professional systems. The main headline at the show for the company was a new Chromebook, described to us as a new 14″ and called the C421. There were no details of timings or pricing. Asus told us that it has been very successful with Chromebooks in some schools, but there are other companies that prefer the familiarity of the Windows environment. Last year it did well with the C213 which was specifically ruggedised for education (it was put through Mil-spec testing) and was built around an Intel CPU, a Celeron Dual-Core N3350.
We had a look at some new mini-PCs, the Vivo range, that has proved popular in education. They have VESA mount fittings so can be mounted onto the backs of displays.
As well as the chromebooks, it was showing monitors including the ProArt PA32UC-K UltraHD HDR monitor that we reported on from CES. The sample had only arrived in the UK three days before the show, so staff are still evaluating it. (Asus OLED Monitor is Previewed).
The BE27AQLB is a commercial monitor with a 27″ 2560 x 1440 resolution IPS panel with a three narrow side design. Brightness is 350 cd/m² and inputs includ dual link DVI as well as HDMI, DisplayPort and mini-DisplayPort. There is stereo 2W audio. It was announced a while ago, but it looks as though we missed it at the time. The monitor has a 150mm height adjustment and the company surprised us by pointing out that it had won a large tender because the monitor got very close to the desk, but not close enough to crush fingers!
The company also had the USB-powered MB16AC monitor with 15.6″ diagonal. Again it has been around some time, but there are not many players in the segment.
