Intel’s Compute Stick, an entire PC crammed into an HDMI stick that fits in the palm of your hand, is nothing short of a landmark in computing.
Fifty years of Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors that can be crammed onto an integrated circuit double every two years, has resulted in a little plastic stick that plugs into any HDMI-equipped TV or computer display, transforming it into a full-fledged Windows 8.1 PC.
Intel is not the first big name in tech to come up with such a device. Dell’s Wyse Cloud Connect used an ARM processor and Android instead of an Intel one and Windows (the Compute Stick is also available with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, as well).
This is a computer that’s supposed to be hidden away all the time. With that in mind, don’t expect it to win any beauty competitions – Intel designed it to be functional. The device’s dimensions – 103 x 37 x 12mm – are such that it can be slipped easily into a jeans pocket. There are also plenty of air vents in the front of the device (which sports a massive ‘Intel Inside’ logo) and on the side. That’s because the processor inside the Compute Stick warms up quite a bit; a fan has also been added to dissipate the heat more effectively.
There’s a power button, a micro-USB slot (for power), a full-size USB 2.0 port, a status light, a microSD card slot and a full-size HDMI port. The size of the device could be an issue as users risk running into trouble if the ports on their monitor are located right next to each other and are already occupied – that explains Intel’s decision to throw in an HDMI extender cable.
The rest of the specification sheet includes an Atom Z3735F processor, one that is usually found in countless Windows tablets around the world. It’s a quad-core Bay Trail model that runs at 1.33GHz, peaking at 1.83GHz, plus on the same die, there’s an Intel HD Graphics subsystem running at 311MHz.
There’s also 2GB of DDR3L 1333MHz memory, 32GB of flash memory from Samsung (about 23GB of which is free), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Windows 8.1 with Bing (32-bit), which can be upgraded for free to Windows 10 when it’s launched later this year. Note that the cheaper Ubuntu model has only 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage.
Just stop and think about it for a second: This little plastic stick can transform any HDMI-equipped screen into a decent PC. It’s a marvellous piece of miniaturization on Intel’s half. For £100, the Intel Compute Stick sounds like a steal — you get an entire Windows 8.1 computer that fits into your pocket.
