Intel's Compute Stick !!!

Got an HDMI port handy?  Sure, you could plug in a Chromecast to get your Netflix fix. Or you could pay $150 to get a full Windows 8.1 PC in the same form factor. This is the Intel Compute Stick, a humble HDMI dongle that houses a full desktop computer experience. It's not a particularly powerful one—you get a quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of solid state storage—but it does have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and both a full-size USB port and a micro-SD card slot for expandability.

More likely, it'll find a home in small businesses, schools, and the like who want to roll out super cheap computers to their employees, since all you need is this stick, an HDMI monitor and a couple peripherals to get things cranking. The Compute Stick takes the guts of a fully-functional Windows 8.1 or Ubuntu Linux computer and puts it into something the size of a Chromecast. The full Windows 8.1 version of the Compute Stick will sell for just $149. The Compute Stick uses Intel's Bay Trail Atom Z3735F quad-core processor and includes Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4Ghz 802.11n wireless and a single USB port. It also includes a micro-SD expansion slot for more storage.

 

The Windows 8.1 version of the Compute Stick has 2GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage built-in. As we said, it's just $149, a steal when you consider that a full version of Windows is included. A Linux version of the Compute Stick is also available for $89. It comes with 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM.

The current lot of Android Stick PCs are good for gaming and multimedia, but Android itself can’t compare to Windows when it comes to getting work done in a desktop environment. 

The Compute Stick is essentially a complete PC, but in the compact form factor of a slightly large pen drive. It connects to a TV via HDMI, but also has to be powered with a micro-USB cord. Here’s a quick look at the important specs:

·         1.33GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3735F processor

·         2GB DDR3 RAM

·         32GB internal storage

·         Micro-SD slot (up to 128GB)

·         Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

·         Bluetooth 4.0

·         Full-size USB port

·         HDMI 1.4

·         Windows 8.1 Bing

Intel wants to help you turn any TV into a Windows PC, for the low cost of $149. All it takes is a little stick. As someone who likes to travel but loathes toting a laptop around, keeping something like this with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse in my luggage would be a compact way to get a more robust computing experience than my iPad is going to offer, without tipping the scales or putting much of a dent in wallet.