Here at the Consumer Electronics Show, Intel is trying to cram its chips into every possible product, ranging from drones and door locks to watches and Chromebooks. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s an Intel Atom in the company’s new Compute Stick; a full computer in an HDMI dongle.
Today’s CES announcement of the Intel Compute Stick hints at just that. It’s a pocket-sized device with a quad-core Atom processor, and it delivers a full Windows 8.1 computer experience that you can plug into any display with an HDMI input. And there’s a Linux version coming as well that’s 40% cheaper.
We got a chance to see and hold the stick at CES this week. It’s just a bit bigger and bulkier than simple sticks like the Chromecast or the Fire TV stick, but they’re all basically comparable in size. The stick is big enough to block one or more neighboring HDMI ports depending on how your TV or monitor is laid out, but Intel says it will bundle a short extension cable you can use to keep this from happening.
Intel’s not the first company to have this idea. Android (and Linux) TV sticks have been around for a few years, but up until recently most models have been powered by ARM-based processors. Chinese company MeegoPad launched one for the first Intel/Windows-powered models in late 2014. But if you’d prefer to buy a product from Intel than a company called MeegoPad, I wouldn’t blame you.
Dell also showing off Project Ophelia back in 2013, the Compute Stick may still gain an audience. While home users will be able to use it for home streaming and accessing the Internet, treating it like a spare PC, businesses may use it as a highly-portable and cheap desktop system for employees, or to power digital signage.
The Compute Stick has both regular-sized and micro USB ports, although the micro port is used to power the thing, and it has Bluetooth 4.0 support and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi for connectivity with peripherals and Internet access. The Computer Stick also has a microSD slot for expandable storage.
There's two versions of this product available. One has the quad-core Z3735G Bay Trail chip with 1GB of RAM that can run the 32-bit version of Windows 8.1. The second has the Z3735F version of the chip with 2GB of RAM that supports the 64-bit version of the OS. It can also run Linux and Android.
If you have the Windows version, it will include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage, but the Linux Computer Stick only has half the RAM and 8GB of built-in storage owing to the operating system's smaller footprint. It does comes with a microSD card slot if you want to squeeze more capacity into the device. Other connectivity includes full-sized and micro USB ports, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. Unlike other sticks, Intel's can't currently be powered through HDMI, relying instead on the micro USB port to charge it.
Technically, we suspect it will be similar to some of the hardware specifications being used in the budget tablets, but that should be enough for Windows 8.1 to load some basic apps, such as web browsing, Office with Powerpoint, social networking, and showcasing photos. You might even get a few low-end games to work.
Sure, there will be voice saying that the Enterprise edition of Windows 8.1 comes with a feature called Windows To Go, which lets you build a portable version that you can run directly from a USB flash drive. However, for it to work at least decent, you will need an expensive USB 3.0 stick. The Windows 8.1 Compute Stick will set you back $149 and the Linux version just $89, but I’m wondering if there’s really demand for products like this among average consumers. Intel is aiming for a March release, in case you plan to buy one.