Pricing for the upcoming all-in-one Chrome OS PC from LG has been revealed – and it makes for disappointing reading.
Australia will be one of the first countries to bag the LG Chromebase, where it launches this April with the recommended retail price of AU $599.
The XE currency converter translates this as being roughly US $540; €400; and £330 – though these are not official prices, nor account for any locale-specific taxes, costs or, in the case of the UK, infamous price hikes.
LG is yet to officially confirm pricing for the US and Europe.
The USP
‘Are a fancy monitor and some bundled accessories worth a $400 premium?’
The LG Chromebase features a decent 21.5-inch IPS screen at 1920×1080 resolution, an Intel Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD, all housed within an attractive plastic shell a mere 3-inches thick.
A built-in webcam, USB, audio in, and ethernet come as standard, while a HDMI in socket allows the Chromebase to double up as an external monitor.
The cheapest ASUS Chromebox costs US$179 with a near-identical set of system innards: the same CPU, the same SSD size, the same amount of memory; while Touchscreen Windows 8 all-in-one PCs can be picked up for as little as $400.
But are a fancy monitor and some bundled accessories worth a $400 premium?
Too Much?
Back in January I posted an editorial reasoning that price, and price alone, would decide the success of the Chromebase.
“Priced above $500 and the Chromebase will struggle to sell,” I said at the time.
The recent reveal of new Chromeboxes from ASUS and HP has only served to underline cost as a potential deciding factor – in thick bold black marker.
The LG Chromebase can be a success. It has decent hardware in an attractive, tidy form-factor. Retailer discounts could yet see it positioned at the pivotal sub-$500 price point.
Time – and the LG press office – will tell.