Acer Chromebox CXI-i38GKM
Acer Chromebox CXI-i38GKM
Design and Features
Chromeboxes are little things, and the CXI-i38GKM is a compact 6.51 by 5.12 by 1.3 inches (HWD). It’s the same size as its stablemate, the Acer CXI-4GKM, and the small design means that it can be placed on a desk or shelf, tucked away in a drawer, or even stashed behind a monitor. The upright design works alone, attached to the included base, or mounted to the backside of a monitor with the included bracket.
VIEW ALL The compact, black chassis is constructed from plastic 
with textured side panels. The CXI-i38GKM is marked with logos for Acer and Google Chrome, but you’ll also notice a sticker touting the Intel Core i3 processor inside. The Chromebox comes bundled with a wired keyboard and mouse, and while both are very basic, they are perfectly adequate.
On the front panel you’ll find a Power button, an SD card slot, and two USB 3.0 ports. On the back is a case-lock slot, a headset jack, a full-size DisplayPort, an HDMI-out port, two USB 3.0 ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. This is the standard connector selection and layout for Chromeboxes—the same is found on the Acer CXI-4GKM and the Asus M004U.
The CXI-i38GKM comes with 16GB of dedicated storage. It also serves as a local cache for cloud storage and apps, like Google Drive or Google Docs, which offers expandable online storage, as well as an offline mode. In addition to the usual free Google apps and services, the system comes with an extra 100GB of storage space in Google Drive (free for 24 months). As with other Chrome-OS-based devices, the CXI-i38GKM doesn’t support Windows software, but you can use a number of Chrome apps and browser extensions to perform the same basic functions.
Setting up the CXI-i38GKM is very simple. Start up the system, connect to your network (via Wi-Fi or Ethernet), and then sign in to your Google account. If you have an account with Gmail or YouTube, you already have a user account, and signing in to it is almost exactly the same.
Performance
The distinguishing element of the CXI-i38GKM is its 1.9GHz Intel Core i3-4030U processor, a dual-core CPU with Intel HD Graphics 4400 and 8GB of RAM. Since most Chromeboxes run on low-power Celeron processors, this is a significant step up in capability, but by and large, the only noticeable difference between them is that the Core-i3-equipped CXI-i38GKM is a little faster, renders Web pages more smoothly, and does a much better job of handling multiple tabs and apps simultaneously. It also boots quickly, going from a cold start to the login screen in 4 seconds, and waking from sleep almost instantaneously.
The area where the processor makes the biggest difference is in video conferencing. Chrome OS may be built to make the most of Google’s many Web apps and extensions, but the minimal hardware that most Chrome OS devices use falters under the heavier load of Google Hangouts, which may run anywhere from two to 10 simultaneous live video streams.
Conclusion
The Acer Chromebox CXI-i38GKM offers faster boot times, smoother performance, and better video chatting capabilities than the average Celeron-powered Chromebox, but that improvement comes at a price, and at $400 the Acer Chromebox CXI-i38GKM is the priciest Chromebox on the market. That’s more than double the price of the Editors’ Choice Asus Chromebox M004U, and while the Dell CXI-i38GKM’s performance is superior, it doesn’t offer much else to justify the higher cost. If you can make do with a basic Intel Celeron processor, the Acer Chromebox CXI-4GKM looks the same, but costs half the price. For a Core-i3-powered Chromebox, however, the faster performance and vastly improved video chatting may be worth the extra money.
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