
Intel Compute Stick - stickhandle
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html
======
Jormundir
This looks awesome. Finally a piece of tech I actually want, and by Intel of
all companies.

The bigger consumer companies have been shuffling their feet, releasing
arbitrary, very closed off pieces of tech that I don't really need. I really
applaud Intel for making the tiny little PC I've been wanting for media and
linux tomfoolery. The Chromecast was a no-go, and now with an apple tv, I'm
feeling a little too enclosed; they don't have enough apps to satisfy all my
media needs.

I've been watching the mini-pc market, chronically unsatisfied with what's
been released up to this point. The Intel compute stick finally looks like the
thing I've been looking for, mainly because they balance the size and low
price, with just enough power for what I need. To top it off they're offering
a Linux version, so I don't have to be worried about buying into a closed off
platform.

~~~
_nedR
I find that Intel makes quite a few great products and initiatives. They just
don't market it as loudly as others. The Intel NUC
([http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html](http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html))
is quite a versatile machine - smaller, better performance and value for money
than mac minis, and more hacker friendly. It even has a cute unboxing
experience (The box plays the intel jingle when you open it)

Then there are initiatives like the Intel Realsense cam (like Kinect), Edison,
Moblin( which morphed into Meego and later Sailfish). Intel often doesn't get
the credit it deserves - Contributing to open source and open standards,
having intervened in the markets when someone (usually Apple or Microsoft) got
too dominant or comfortable(That was what Meego, Ultrabooks, NUC was about).
They certainly make the market more interesting.

I guess this one is aimed at Android TV, and meant to level the field for
Microsoft and Linux-based systems.

~~~
boyaka
I got my Dad a NUC for Christmas...He hasn't really been using it yet. I think
this might have been a more interesting and simple gift, wish it came out in
time. I did get to play with the NUC because I wanted to have it all
configured and ready to use. It was interesting to see how they got all of the
components packed in and I was impressed by the performance. Main issue I had
was graphics support, because I wanted to put Elementary OS on it to see if
he'd be interested in trying out Linux. Ended up going with the latest Ubuntu
instead (Elementary OS Luna is built on Ubuntu 12.04) which worked fine.

My Dad had gone through a couple of those Shuttle "Mini" computers (the
motherboards were Flex-ATX, slightly bigger than Mini-ITX and obviously needed
to be smaller than micro-ATX), so I thought the NUC (between Nano-ITX and
Pico-ITX [1]) might appeal to him. They both died and he's currently using a
standard desktop. I believe one or both of his Shuttle's died due to a PSU
failure, so it's nice to have the external power brick on the NUC.

He and my Mom had previously been using a Windows Media Center desktop with a
tuner card and Comcast cable, but they're using DirecTV boxes on all the TVs
now so not much need for a HTPC. He said he was thinking about trying to use
the NUC with Windows 8 and a touch screen somehow...Not really sure how he can
accomplish that. Besides introducing him to Linux, I was thinking he could use
it on his TV as just an alternate computer and wanted to show him how to use
Synergy to control it with his desktop keyboard/mouse. He's currently
switching his TV between the DirecTV box and his desktop as a second display.

At the very least it's a backup, and he could potentially take it on trips as
a more powerful alternative to a laptop. There's just so many different
options for computing these days. It's like information overload, but with
hardware.

[1] [http://www.anandtech.com/show/5800/slimming-desktops-down-
in...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/5800/slimming-desktops-down-intel-
reveals-next-unit-of-computing) (existence of Nano-ITX and Pico-ITX pointed
out in the comments)

~~~
toyg
_> There's just so many different options for computing these days. It's like
information overload, but with hardware._

Yeah. I have two Dreamplugs lying there unused at the moment, plus a CuBox
used as NAS/TimeMachine, and a MicroPython waiting for some free time... so
many options, so little time.

They are also getting so powerful, I'm seriously considering a few
"enterprise" scenarios. Remember when IT meant mainframes, so individual
departments would just bypass them and buy their own PCs? I think we're ready
for a new wave of that decentralized approach: between mobile and these little
bad boys, there's plenty of power around to run a number of applications that
would have required a rack server 5 or 10 years ago. Now John Accountant could
just buy a little silent box and put it on his desk, without having to go
through hellish rounds of IT approvals.

~~~
dragonwriter
> between mobile and these little bad boys, there's plenty of power around to
> run a number of applications that would have required a rack server 5 or 10
> years ago. Now John Accountant could just buy a little silent box and put it
> on his desk, without having to go through hellish rounds of IT approvals.

Which would be nice, if we had the hardware of today with the IT practices of
a time when enterprises might exert centralized control of departmental server
purchases but not exert the same control over individual desktop system
purchases and even the software installation on those desktops.

~~~
toyg
Today, I was working at the HQ of a major UK telco. I connected my personal
MBP to a random ethernet cable and lo, I could RDP on servers and do
everything I wanted, without any prior authorisation. If you think all
enterprise networks are as locked down as the ones found in banks, you're
sorely mistaken. BYOD is a reality.

------
fidotron
Hardware like that makes me yearn for one with no wireless and a pair of
Gigabit Ethernet ports to use as a firewall and server.

It's fairly interesting to note what it's not: Android or Chrome OS. I suspect
Microsoft will do quite well out of this, especially in the digital signage
market, anywhere which is reasonably price sensitive but if developer time and
cost can be reduced then they get a lot of leeway.

Still, yet another reminder that the cost of computing is collapsing. Most of
the cost here is Intel margin and in the case of the more expensive one MS
licenses.

~~~
chrismsnz
> Hardware like that makes me yearn for one with no wireless and a pair of
> Gigabit Ethernet ports to use as a firewall and server.

Unfortunately, general purpose hardware and operating system needs a fair
amount of juice to route and inspect 1gbps of traffic.

Best performance per watt I've found is the Edgerouter Lite but that has
dedicated routing acceleration hardware to achieve what it does with the
little mips processor it has.

Closest you'll find is Soekris, ALIX or APU for a routing platform. A
Beaglebone black makes a nice little box for lightweight serving on its own.

~~~
seanp2k2
+1 for the ERLite; it's a MIPS62r2 Cavium Octeon with 512MB RAM[1]. With the
latest firmware, it's running Debian Wheezy, and I've had no trouble with
adding the normal Debian repos and adding things like Privoxy to it (though I
suspect these would be overwritten in a FW update). With Privoxy loaded and
being used as an HTTP proxy for my local net with the EasyList rules, it
doesn't break about 5%CPU with 100mbit/sec of inbound traffic and some web
browsing going through it (I'm running NAT as well).

Being honest, it's a bit hacky for consumers...you'd be good to know Vyatta
(what it uses under the hood) to get the most out of it, since there are still
some things the web UI can't do (L2TP VPN being one, or PPTP without a Radius
server for auth). However, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, smaller, and more
power efficient than my previous P4 box running pfSense with Intel
Pro/1000GTs, so I'm pretty happy with it.

I do think it'd be super awesome if Ubiquiti released a pfSense or m0n0wall-
based EdgeRouter with the same hardware acceleration...I'd gladly pay $200 or
so for that, but the ERLite is damn hard to beat for $100.

1\.
[http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/MIPS/ERLite-3](http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/MIPS/ERLite-3)

~~~
donavanm
Check out the Intel Atom Avoton and Rangley SOCs. Nice x86 cores, ECC, crypto
acceleration, VT-x, passive TDP, and 4x 1/2.5gbe or 1x 10gbe depending on the
serdes. I only wish they had VT-d to get sr iov. If you really need more
connectivity going the trident + Intel + cumulus white box switch rate has
crazy throughput per watt.

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvermont](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvermont)

~~~
newman314
Can you shed more light/context on "trident + intel + cumulus". I'm familiar
with cumulus but not trident.

~~~
donavanm
Sure. By "trident" I really mean any merchant silicon switching platform. The
Broadcom Trident ASIC/chipset really kicked this market segment off in
2011/2012ish. I mentioned it specifically as products like the Juniper QFX3500
series really opened up the door for things like fat/high radix clos networks
that we're seeing in production.

From memory the Trident boxes supported 640gbs of throughput on SFP+ or QSFP
ports, about 10,000 prefixes/routes, a couple thousand ACL terms, 1 or 2u, and
around 200watts. They cost maybe $20,000 at launch are down to $5-10,000 now
depending on volume and vendor. That's great for a TOR or agg switch if you
can manage the individual devices (as opposed to a switch chassis like a nexus
7K).

The other thing those really opened up is cheap as chips edge devices. 10,000
routes isnt a lot, but it works if you have limited peers or can do
summarization off device like a route reflector. These chipsets, and trident
in particular, also work great with things like OpenFlow as you move that
expensive route computation off device to a specialized platform.

The trident platform is basically EOL'd, everyones moved on to Trident II for
the most part. Trident II is like 100,000 prefixes, 50,000 ACLs, 1 or 2u, 200
to 400 watts, 1.2TBs of forwarding, and SFP+/QSFP ports. Price is $15-25,000
depending on volume and vendor etc. Pushing 640gbs of throughput for ~$20,000
is pretty crazy. It means I could build a single 10kVa server rack that pushes
a legit 1tbs of traffic to the internets for about $200,000. Totally insane to
think about compared to just a few years ago.

The next big change should be moving from 10/40 serdes to 25/100 in the next
year or so. The Broadcom Tomahawk should be like 3tbs in 2u and a couple
hundred watts for comparable prices. If you need to convert between 10/40 and
25/100 ("gearbox") cost and complexity will go up a bit.

[http://etherealmind.com/merchant-silicon-vendor-software-
ris...](http://etherealmind.com/merchant-silicon-vendor-software-rise-lost-
opportunity/) [http://whiteboxswitch.com/collections/10-gigabit-ethernet-
sw...](http://whiteboxswitch.com/collections/10-gigabit-ethernet-switches)

edit: and to clarify these platforms usually use Intel CPUs to run the
OS/route engines. The OS/RE/HAL, like cumulus provides, is then responsible
for pushing updates down to the switching asic.

~~~
newman314
Thanks, that was really helpful.

Any thoughts on the just announced Annapurna purchase? I know it's not apples
to apples but would be interested to hear your thoughts.

------
aditya
$149 for Windows 8.1 version and $89 for Linux version, not bad.

via: [http://techreport.com/news/27619/intel-compute-stick-
is-a-14...](http://techreport.com/news/27619/intel-compute-stick-
is-a-149-windows-pc-to-go)

~~~
discardorama
... and the Linux version will have half the RAM (1GB instead of 2GB) and a
fourth the storage (8GB instead of 32GB).

I think I might pass on this.

~~~
damian2000
Linux will probably run fine on those specs, remember Windows has a ton of
overhead in terms of RAM and storage.

~~~
nacs
I'm not really concerned about whether Linux will run 'fine' on less hardware,
I'd just want to be able to purchase the higher-end (hardware-wise) version.

I'm not going to buy the high-end version if it requires me to buy the
prepackaged Windows license however.

~~~
damian2000
Yeah, its strange that the OS is preinstalled, whereas with the Intel NUC I
believe it comes without an OS and you need to do the setup yourself, which is
preferable.

~~~
Tomte
It may be preferable to you, but it's certainly not for the intended audience.

------
bobbles
"Bookmark this page, and then set a reminder to check in soon." this is how
product announcements work these days?

Would've been nice to have a bit of actual information.

~~~
kolev
They should at least collect emails, but, I guess, they expect a new wave of
PR when it actually launches.

~~~
joezydeco
Like Edison did. Or didn't. Did that ever launch?

~~~
Alupis
Yes, but it's overpriced and the specs are poor (when compared to other
embedded-like solutions)

~~~
asynchronous13
I'm quite happy with an edison board for $50. Is that overpriced?

~~~
kolev
Haters gonna hate. Microsoft, Intel, Google - these brands are never cool for
some ungrateful as where we are today is in big part thanks to those three.

------
briandh
"TV sticks" of this form factor have been all the rage on AliExpress,
DealExtreme, and the like, although their popularity seems to have waned
somewhat compared set-top-boxes (I read somewhere that it was due to trouble
managing heat while customers demanded more powerful processors, but I don't
know). See [http://www.google.com/cse?q=tv+stick&sa=&cx=partner-
pub-8120...](http://www.google.com/cse?q=tv+stick&sa=&cx=partner-
pub-8120806476788575%3A3386820028&ie=UTF-8#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=tv%20stick&gsc.page=1)
and [http://liliputing.com/?s=tv+stick](http://liliputing.com/?s=tv+stick)

They've mostly run on ARM and Android, with some hobbyists loading more
traditional Linux distros on. Probably the most notable exception that I know
of is the following: [http://liliputing.com/2014/12/100-bay-trail-pc-stick-
can-run...](http://liliputing.com/2014/12/100-bay-trail-pc-stick-can-run-
ubuntu-windows.html)

If this is priced well it will be interesting to see how it impacts that
landscape.

------
ekr
This has already been done by some Chinese manufacturers,
[http://www.szapec.com/default.asp?id=1793](http://www.szapec.com/default.asp?id=1793),
and the Meegopad ([http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/10/15/meego-t01-hdmi-tv-
sti...](http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/10/15/meego-t01-hdmi-tv-stick-
supports-android-windows-8-1-and-ubuntulinux/)).

And given that the Intel's Linux version will only have 1GB of RAM, and maybe
a slower CPU than a Windows version, these Chinese alternative could get quite
a bit more attractive, given that their price will go down in time as well.

------
pellaeon
It's already on sale in Taiwan for 1 or 2 months. (with a different case
though)
[http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=514&t=4112495](http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=514&t=4112495)
(specs inside)

~~~
damian2000
Here's a brief english article about it

[http://focustaiwan.tw/news/ast/201410080025.aspx](http://focustaiwan.tw/news/ast/201410080025.aspx)

Cost is listed as NT$4,990 (US$164) for the Win 8.1 version

------
untog
I was pleasantly surprised to find the Intel NUC ("next unit of computing ",
sigh) devices recently - I've bought one and it sits under my TV. Having a
full PC instead of a Chromecast/Roku stick/whatever really is awesome. Not
only can I use every streaming option out there, I can also browse the web and
order food, look up maps, etc. etc.

It'll be interesting to see how these perform, but if they are similar to the
NUC units, they'll be worth the extra money. The only complaint I have with
mine is actually software based - I can't find a way to make the Windows 8.1
tiles larger (and more suitable for TV viewing distances)

~~~
spinchange
This post and comments thread have brought the NUC to my attention for the
first time and they look really cool. Curious, though, how did you handle
storage? It appears they don't ship with memory? Do you just install your own
in its chassis or use external?

I currently "tab cast" from a laptop running Chrome to a Chromecast for
viewing non-video web content on the big screen, but these NUCs look really
cool. I can totally see the value in having a full blown PC like an NUC or
this compute stick as well.

~~~
kbaker
The NUC we just got at work to play around with uses standard laptop size RAM
in 2 SO-DIMM slots.

For storage, there are two NUC models - a slimmer one has just room for an
mSATA SSD, then there is a thicker one the mSATA/mini-PCIe slot with a
standard 2.5" mounting tray.

You will still have to get a WiFi adapter if you need WiFi. There are lots of
standard half-size mini-PCIe WiFi cards.

Not sure how the video works yet, but if you order one make sure to get a
mini-HDMI to HDMI or a mini DisplayPort to regular DisplayPort adapter.

------
bla2
Somewhat similar open-hardware project that'll ship in March:
[https://www.crowdsupply.com/inverse-path/usb-
armory](https://www.crowdsupply.com/inverse-path/usb-armory) (I'm not involved
with the project)

~~~
beefsack
There have been so many ARM mini PCs over the last couple of years, this one
is vastly different from those and the one you posted in that this one will be
x86.

------
epaga
Fascinatingly in one of the comments sections, someone referred to this
product which looks like it's almost exactly the same product, just not
directly made by Intel: [http://de.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Original-MeegoPad-
Meego-T...](http://de.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Original-MeegoPad-
Meego-T01-Mini-PC-Windows-8-1-CPU-64-Bit-intel-Quad-
Core/32245105251.html?recommendVersion=1)

------
veidr
Why this is interesting to me is that most of the _popular_ hot-dog-on-a-stick
devices run some crappy, limited, or proprietary OS (although if you have time
to invest, many can be upgraded to Linux). But this one will ship with Linux
or Windows.

For some decent background info on this form factor, see:
[http://www.stickcomputing.com](http://www.stickcomputing.com)

------
pedalpete
As the power increases beyond Atom processors, I think this will be very
compelling.

I'd love to be able to unplug a dongle from my desktop monitor at home, and
plug it into a tablet sized device to use on the train, then plug it into my
monitor when I get to work, or a hotel rooms tv screen, or the presentation
screen in our office conference room, etc. etc.

~~~
prawn
Wouldn't that often just be easier if it were your phone, so you didn't have
to carry multiple devices?

~~~
pedalpete
Yes, phone would be ideal, but I think we're seeing that a phone OS is usually
quite stripped down vs a desktop.

Though I haven't tried the Ubuntu Touch stuff, so maybe that is the right
solution.

Pluging an HDMI or USB dongle into a display is pretty simple, I suspect
pairing with your phone would be more difficult, or would require cables and
such.

------
barrkel
Presumably this thing needs a power brick too, though?

As I read it, HDMI as standard only supports +5V at 55mA. Taiwanese versions
of this thing linked on this discussion suggest it needs +5V at 2A:
[http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=514&t=4112495](http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=514&t=4112495)

~~~
jdoliner
According to [http://techreport.com/news/27619/intel-compute-stick-
is-a-14...](http://techreport.com/news/27619/intel-compute-stick-
is-a-149-windows-pc-to-go) it's micro usb right now but they're going to make
it HDMI only eventually.

~~~
barrkel
Do TVs these days come with high current USB ports? 500mA probably isn't
enough.

~~~
fredsted
Some do

------
johnvschmitt
Cool.

Close, but not what I need. What I want (& maybe others?) is:

Compute on a stick that's a VM. Then, I can plug this into my laptop's HDMI or
USB port to work on my project's local data/apps that's inside the VM.

Then I can take the stick when I travel, instead of taking my laptop. I can
plug the stick into any laptop for full keyboard/trackpad. Or, I could plug
the stick into a TV/monitor & use my phone/tablet's IO (keyboard/touch) over
the same wifi. (Yes, the stick would need a minimal host OS to run a VM on a
dumb monitor.)

Small local storage (working cache) with the rest in the cloud.

If such a device exists, please educate me/us.

~~~
afro88
This is totally unfeasible unfortunately. Either you support running the VM on
the stick inside the host device's OS (supporting every major OS), without
requiring root access nor installing anything. Or you boot from the stick and
include display, keyboard and mouse/trackpad/touch drivers for every potential
device you're going to plug it into. And for your last option (TV/monitor
using phone/tablet IO) you'll also need an app for Android, iOS, Windows
Mobile etc.

~~~
rab_oof
Without metric tons of engineering effort for a questionable use-case. The
cheaper and more sensible options are: bigger laptop or run the workload
elsewhere.

~~~
johnvschmitt
I appreciate your inputs, but IMO this use case is kind of inevitable.

Yes, it's hard, and not quite doable today. But, there are millions of people
working on making the components of this solution better.

It's so attractive to carry around a computer in our pockets (our "phones")
and it's really not much of a stretch to envision a near future where the
thing in our pocket is our "local data/projects" that we can plug into any
larger display or keyboard /IO on demand.

Before you know it, it's going to seem archaic to have local working data on
any other device than the one in your pocket. And it's going to seem archaic
that any nice large interface (screen or keyboard) is tied to only 1 device.

~~~
walterbell
_> Small local storage (working cache) with the rest in the cloud.

> Before you know it, it's going to seem archaic to have local working data on
> any other device than the one in your pocket._

These requirements seem to contradict each other. Do you want a thin/cloud
client or offline compute?

Moka5 has an offline compute offering,
[http://www.moka5.com/2014/10/21/comparing-moka5-livepc-vs-
vm...](http://www.moka5.com/2014/10/21/comparing-moka5-livepc-vs-vmware-
horizon-flex/)

~~~
rab_oof
Does Moka5 have something new eg they're still alive?

Moka5 was basically running apps on packaged VMware hypervisors on Mac and
Windows endpoints, but centrally-managed like Citrix Metaframe.

The better approach is simply wrap the app up in a read-only bundle, use an fs
driver to redirect writes to a shadow vol and deploy it to endpoints without
having N addl VMs to manage (so it can work ThinApp or client-side.). Even the
OS minus config should really be a verifiable, read-only archive.

Disclaimer: I've had mtgs with Monica at Stanford. The similar word from both
Citrix and Vmware is that that neither could develop sustainable professional
relationships for an acquisition event to occur. Sad, but typical.

------
damian2000
My 2c ... I see a problem with it not being able to fit into the HDMI ports on
my TV ... due to the design of the TV there is only room for a compact HDMI
cable (the port is located in a small recessed section). In this case I'd need
to connect it with an HDMI extension cable, and would end up having to mount
the dongle itself somewhere.

Its probably better to buy an ultra compact PC such as an Intel NUC or
Gigabyte Brix, which come with VESA mounts for mounting onto the back of the
TV, and store data on an SSD drive.

~~~
nevdka
NUC and Brix are also more powerful. I could almost see myself carrying one of
these around like I used to carry around a USB memory stick. Plug it into any
monitor or TV and I've got a computer. Not sure what I would do about mouse a
keyboard, though.

~~~
supernovae
Bluetooth mouse / keyboard

~~~
GrayParsec
Having public places like schools, libraries and even the local Starbucks just
have a stack of Bluetooth peripherals and screens whilst you carry your own
computer in your pocket would suit so many people.

Laptops are great but clunky and not really solving the issue of computing
without lugging it around. Tablets are great but are exceeding difficult to
work on at the moment.

This will be a fine middle ground.

~~~
icebraining
_Tablets are great but are exceeding difficult to work on at the moment._

How so? Something like a Surface seems fine if you need a tablet for work.

I think the peripherals dock would be a decent solution for certain
environments (schools, libraries, maybe hospitals, military bases, cruise
ships, and such), but relying on public places to have well-kept and generally
available peripherals would be folly.

------
medecau
Is it expectable that this will ship with Intel Management Engine?

And if so why is it that 4 hours after posting there is no mention of this? We
should be asking these questions upfront.

~~~
walterbell
Do Intel Atom chipsets support an AMT / ME processor? ARK has no mention of
AMT: [http://ark.intel.com/products/82116/Intel-Atom-
Processor-Z37...](http://ark.intel.com/products/82116/Intel-Atom-
Processor-Z3736G-2M-Cache-up-to-2_16-GHz)

[http://www.pymnts.com/in-depth/2014/intel-adds-encryption-
to...](http://www.pymnts.com/in-depth/2014/intel-adds-encryption-to-pos-chip/)
says, _" The protocol, code-named Baker Beach, “adds an extra layer of
software to protect the payment process .. software resides and runs on the
Intel chipset for enhanced security .. tablets with the Intel Atom processor
code-named Bay Trail-T and future Intel Atom processors,” will also work
...Intel’s position is that it’s approach is more secure because it is using a
security co-processor that appears to the OS as a separate external device"_

That description implies a separate chip is added for use cases where Atom
processors need OOB management/security.

------
fit2rule
This is a very welcome leap towards a new platform. From the perspective the
musical-instrument manufacturers, this now allows us to do something we've
wanted to do in synthesizers, effects, digital-audio processing, and so on:
build an instrument that can be upgraded.

I imagine a new controller category, akin to the current iOS USB/MIDI
controllers that allow music-making with iPads/etc., albeit its a synth
workstation with all the knobs you could possibly want, and maybe a little
screen.

And of course, a place to stick the 'compute device' of choice. I'll get 3 or
4 of these, put a different pre-configured music-production system on each
one, and make a complete suite of instruments that can be easily upgraded in
the future.

Very nice to see this happening.

------
ryan-allen
I bought a i5 NUC [1] which I use for work (in the places I contract where I'm
there for a bit longer than a few days). It's such a cool little device, the
build took all of 15 minutes, and now Intel release this!

The NUCs come in a few sizes, the cheapest costing around 150 AUD. They make
great media, desktop replacements or linux servers!

As soon as this little guy comes out I'm totally buying one (a stick), I like
what they're doing with this stuff!

[1]
[http://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/nuc/overview.html](http://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/nuc/overview.html)

------
DigitalSea
This is fantastic. As a car PC enthusiast, this kind of device is going
transform the car PC community once again. Up until now, small form-factor
PC's have been somewhat unaffordable.

~~~
CamperBob2
A Dell Venue 8 Pro with Windows 8.1 is about $150-$200 (and is a damned nice
machine, surprisingly enough.) I'm having trouble seeing the use case(s) for a
headless Intel PC.

~~~
DigitalSea
The headless Intel PC has the benefit of being easier to conceal in the car. I
could put this thing in a nice fan enclosure and put it under the passenger
seat or equivalent out-of-sight place. Not to mention, the Intel headless PC
looks smaller than that of any laptop out there. Each to his own though.

The Dell Venue 8 Pro sadly is $300 here in Australia. Obviously given the low
Australian dollar, buying it overseas and shipping it will cost over $300 for
me.x

------
krisgenre
Damn! Wonder why Ubuntu Edge didn't get the funding. It was quite similar but
much better, why carry a separate stick when your smartphone itself is
capable.

------
damian2000
If they support a keyboard and mouse via USB then wouldn't supplying power to
2 USB ports be an issue? Assuming the stick itself gets its power from HDMI.

~~~
zevyoura
>Assuming the stick itself gets its power from HDMI.

I wouldn't make that assumption; Chromecast can't do it, and it's a lot less
demanding than this.

~~~
eco
Chromecast doesn't because it doesn't support MHL-HDMI which added a power
over HDMI option (HDMI does have power but it something like 50mA). The newest
version of MHL-HDMI does 2A. I'm not sure if that's enough to power this Intel
stick however.

------
mperham
Such an elegant name.

~~~
encoderer
I look forward to Windows 8.1 Professional Compute Stick Edition

~~~
godzillabrennus
Maybe they'll have a special collectors version at launch.

------
hengheng
Wait, so, an HDMI stick similar to those ARM/Android ones that we've all been
using as media centers since 2012?

~~~
SG-
with a real OS this time around and quite a bit more than just a 'media
player'.

------
Shivetya
I just love the idea of having the computer being a plug in accessory to my
display. Small enough that where ever I go and a display is available I have
my computer and data.

Now if it is topped up with good sync software so I can have the truly
workhorse computer at work/home and take whatever partition of it I want I
will be sold

------
tailrecursion
Intel's compute stick strikes me as a vehicle for "Windows 8.1 with Bing",
which also appears in cheap laptops. There are already many powerful followons
to the Raspberry Pi, with 1-2 GB RAM and up to four ARM cores for $40-$100.
Microsoft must have jogged Intel and said, Do something!

------
xbryanx
This could be a direct competitor to the digital signage folks over at
Brightsign - [http://www.brightsign.biz/digital-signage-
products/overview/](http://www.brightsign.biz/digital-signage-
products/overview/)

------
cottonseed
Can you do touch screen over HDMI?

~~~
lucb1e
I know a tv can send back commands from e.g. the remote control over HDMI, it
really is bidirectional communication, but I wouldn't know whether it's good
enough for something like touchscreen.

~~~
freehunter
Well you can do 100Mbps Ethernet over HDMI 1.4 with a compatible cable, so I
don't see why it would be technically impossible. The question is, can this
stick do it?

------
auvi
Lately Intel is trying to enter several device markets. Other than their core
products they now have at least the following "compute" products:

    
    
      - Intel NUC
      - Intel Galileo
      - Intel Edison
    

Now comes the Compute Stick.

~~~
xanderstrike
The sad thing to me is that none of them are even remotely innovative.

The NUC is just a small form factor PC, exceptionally well executed but
nothing new.

Galileo is a Raspberry Pi

Edison is an Arduino (sort of)

Compute Stick is a Fire TV/Android Stick

None of these could be really considered booming markets. ARM is eating
Intel's lunch in the mobile market and Intel is shooting for the products that
are least likely to turn a profit. If they could get a viable x86 phone on the
market (or start making ARM processors) I think they'd be in much better
shape.

------
jostmey
Great concept. I really like the idea of owning cheap computing devices. That
way, if I break it I won't feel bad. Nothing feels worse than accidentally
spilling water all over your expensive laptop. It would fit me just perfectly.

~~~
interdrift
Hold on, who said it will be cheap?

~~~
dangrossman
Given Intel/Windows tablets cost less than $100 in stores today, there's no
reason to think similar hardware minus the touchscreen will cost much more.

~~~
interdrift
"Quad core" \+ wireless + storage for 100$.. what is going on here?

~~~
dangrossman
Intel is selling Bay Trail CPUs for $5. Microsoft is selling Windows 8.1
licenses for low-end devices at $15. Given an Android tablet with all the rest
(wireless/storage) can be had for $40, sub-$100 Intel/Windows PCs became
feasible.

~~~
guardian5x
They pre-install the Windows 8.1 with Bing version, which is free.

------
murbard2
Now imagine if this were wireless, so that you didn't have to connect it to a
TV? And while we're at it, add a screen, so that you can use it when you're
not around a monitor.

And... it's a smartphone with chromecast.

~~~
walterbell
Compared to a smartphone, this has:

    
    
      unlocked bootloader
      open-source graphics driver
      no app store restrictions
      no Java overhead
      no OEM customizations

~~~
murbard2
Compared to the smartphones currently on the market, I agree. My argument is
that the form factor / functionality of the smartphone is very compelling.

I am not going to buy this Intel product, but I would if it were a smartphone.

~~~
walterbell
Intel has spent/lost a lot of money pursuing smartphone design wins, without
success. Maybe Project Ara modules will give Intel another shot at smartphones
or handheld devices.

------
alsocasey
Does anyone happen to know whether the quad-core atom mentioned would be
sufficiently powerful to handle being a Plex client or Steam streaming client
machine? This would make a remarkably cheap living room client PC.

------
jaimeyap
Attach a highspeed microSD card reader (or build one in) and this would make a
very compelling low power, personal media file server. Although needing to
keep the television on to power it might get annoying.

~~~
Jayd2014
I see this device as the perfect next-generation-chromecast. You can download
anything you want wirelessly and play it on your HD TV. No need for Chromecast
to load youtube and be a "closed garden" of google.

------
chavesn
Too bad the plug is on the end... my guess is that it's impossible to pick an
arrangement that works for every TV, but this seems likely to be a problem for
wall-mounted TVs like the one in the picture.

~~~
acjohnson55
I'd have to imagine it probably comes with a short M-F cable or something like
for such cases.

~~~
beefsack
These ~10cm M-F extension cables are very common for these stick style mini
PCs.

------
quarterwave
Consider the use case suggested by the image on the copy i.e; on-screen
projection of slides in a business meeting. Can this use case be met with a
tablet/smart phone using a VGA adapter?

~~~
bulatb
The "business meeting" use case pictured doesn't make a lot of sense. The copy
at the bottom says the stick _itself_ is a computer, not a video receiver, so
there'd have to be a keyboard/mouse/controller of some kind connected to it,
and they'd have to get the slide deck onto it somehow, and open PowerPoint,
and that just doesn't seem particularly useful. It's much easier to use some
wireless display technology and cast it from a laptop, or plug in a cable.

What they say they're aiming for are simple, self-contained (display-only?)
kiosks... which maybe could be useful, for some people. You could also use it
as a media center. If it could magically transform a huge TV into a touch
screen, on the other hand... that would be amazing.

~~~
wtracy
It supports Bluetooth, so you could pair a remote or a smartphone with it, and
it's easier to carry than a laptop. Remember there's a full version of MS
Office on it, too.

What makes more sense to me, though, would be a phone with an HDMI port (or
wireless video capability) that connects directly to the projector. It's one
less device to carry. If you don't want to walk over to the phone to advance
to the next slide, you could still add a Bluetooth remote or control it from
one of those smart watches.

(I'm kind of suprised that Blackberry never tried something like what I just
described--it would have been a great way to differentiate themselves in the
enterprise sector and keep the iPhone at bay.)

~~~
xanderstrike
Some phones tried the HDMI out (I bought my Droid Razr because of it), but I
guess market research has shown that people don't really care. Most phones
(including the iPhone) still support the HDMI out over USB in some form, and
still next to nobody uses it.

------
allworknoplay
Here's hoping they'll offer a version for embedded computing (and support it
better than they historically supported their embedded motherboards).

------
fasteo
Cotton candy [1] has been around for some years. This looks pretty similar.

[1] [http://www.fxitech.com/](http://www.fxitech.com/)

------
OedipusRex
I really hope they get a 90 degree adapter for the HDMI.

------
interdrift
This looks sick.Now all I need is a resizable monitor.

~~~
nickbauman
I think this will come in the form of an LCD on flexible fabric in a few
years. You'll roll it up into a tube and take it with you in your messenger
bag.

~~~
interdrift
Can't wait to go camping with my 53 inch LCD screen in my backpack LOL.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Short throw micro-projector and a [white 'canvas'] tent?

------
ohashi
I wonder if you could hook this up to your computer and run it like a VM but
it's just a whole computer you can use from your main machine?

~~~
icebraining
Well, it has wireless, so you could just use it as a remote desktop.

~~~
Jeffreytooker
I actually run a Chromebook 14 with a 27 in monitor and wireless mouse and
keyboard. It suits my needs. I am presently able to control my two Win7
computers through Chrome remote desktop. It seems that the Compute Stick once
set up should be able to be run from any remote desktop with only power to the
stick. This gives me a Win8.1 computer inside my Chrome system. I need to
maintain a Win computer due to legacy issues, with some of my hobbies. I can
combine all of my data from the two Win7's and an XP in one Win8.1 computer
and retire a lot of old equipment. I will have to try it when I get the
Compute Stick. My needs are simple, and it works for me, I am not a high end
user. It will clear a lot of space on my computer desk, and fit in my computer
case when I travel.

------
iwince
This is really big. We might now upgrade to the next Roku with Netflix running
in Chrome on Linux, fast, now an Intel CPU device, really cool.

------
theandrewbailey
Off topic: while running Noscript I know I am just begging for broken
websites, but this page shouldn't be outright unstyled without JS.

~~~
nhayden
I run into lots of sites that won't load at all with scripts off. Just a blank
screen. Or image sharing sites (flickr) where the image you want to see won't
load at with scripts off.

------
rebootthesystem
I've been looking for a board like this that has HDMI in and out for real time
image processing. It seems nobody makes such an animal.

~~~
undersuit
Your dream board would have far to small of a market because no one is going
to license a hackable system that can sit between two HDCP devices for HDCP.
If the board doesn't have HDCP why would you pay the HDMI royalties. Would be
much simpler to use DVI capture card and HDMI->DVI adapters.

~~~
rebootthesystem
HDMI is separate from and does not require HDCP. You can have an unencrypted
HDMI signal from, for example, an industrial video camera.

Yet, I do agree with you: It's a small market.

------
akshaykarle
So any comments on how is this better than a Raspberry Pi for example? You
could all this using an arduino or a pi isn't it?

~~~
lmedinas
The advantage of this Intel stick compared to RPI is: \- more power

\- x86

\- Run Windows (this might be interesting for lot's of users)

\- Bigger storage

\- Better and compact pack

Disadvantages: \- More power consumption (??? any numbers on this)

\- Expensive compared to RPI

\- I guess it will be hard to beat the RPI community with this product.

\- No GPIO

EDIT:

Add GPIO

------
Nimi
Can a malicious display install a rootkit on the device? If there's USB
access, this seems like an avenue worth exploring...

~~~
nailer
It can via DP (make a DP connection that's actually Thunderbolt, flash the
firmware) but that's on OS X - see [http://bgr.com/2014/12/30/mac-os-x-
thunderbolt-hack/](http://bgr.com/2014/12/30/mac-os-x-thunderbolt-hack/).

And this DP connection isn't Thunderbolt, it just does DP.

------
aaronbrethorst
"Bookmark this page, and then set a reminder to check in soon."

Hello, Marketing 101 called, and said, "sign up for Mailchimp."

------
mark_l_watson
Very cool, but...

I think the future is our compute power in our "phones" that work with ambient
peripherals (keyboards, monitors).

~~~
prawn
Could we see people move from a phone to carrying two devices? One which is
quite personal (phone, social, camera, etc) and one which is a little more
generic (general computing device). I'm thinking about how most people would
be reluctant to let their phone out of their sight, while they could also use
a general stick that allowed tasks, work, etc.

~~~
veb
I usually have my phone in my pocket, and my Moto360 watch on my wrist. Two
devices. I used to be really reluctant to let my phone out of sight but since
getting the smart watch, I no longer mind because it does an absolute
fantastic job at notifying me of emails, texts, and other alerts. No longer do
I have to pull out my phone to check stuff etc.

I may be in the minority but it's definitely changed my habits. I feel as if
it's "easier" for some reason.

------
sentinel
"compute-on-a-stick" what a name...

~~~
logicallee
I seriously couldn't decide if the copywriter was laughing when he or she
wrote "The Intel Compute Stick is a new generation compute-on-a-stick device."
(Because x-on-a-stick is an inherently funny phrasing.) But I read the text
very carefully and concluded that it was written earnestly, so I didn't leave
a comment.

It really is a new generation of compute-on-a-stick device.

~~~
niels_olson
The code names would all have to come from Something About Mary

------
andyidsinga
I'm totally thrilled about this ..cant wait to try one,

( ps. i work there, funny i heard about it here first ...big company :) )

------
Gonzih
Wow, very impressive.

But > Bookmark this page, and then set a reminder to check in soon

Where is email subscription form?

------
igl
I am currently crafting together a new desktop, seeing this makes me feel
really silly.

------
lsiebert
The interesting thing would be if you could stack them and cloud compute.

~~~
sandworm
Bundle of sticks = Tree computing?

There is another, less-PC, name for a bundle of sticks but I don't think they
would go that way.

~~~
eru
Fasces?

------
Aissen
What's the SoC in this NUC? Is this a Broadwell i3 ? Which one ?

------
spurgu
Any idea whether this will run on 5V or 12V or something else?

------
integraton
What are the existing products this will compete with?

~~~
mschuster91
For the media enthusiasts, likely the Chromecast and I believe Amazon also
offers a HDMI stick computer.

~~~
notduncansmith
It doesn't seem like it's really competing with the Chromecast. My impression
was that the Compute Stick can actually run software by itself, not requiring
a connection to another device.

------
reidrac
"Bookmark this page, and then set a reminder to check in soon."

That made me chuckle. If just there was a technology based in XML that could
be used to do that...

------
ummonkwatz
So long, NUC!

~~~
Sanddancer
The NUC has different niches than what this is going for. The NUC line at the
low end will probably be pushed out by this, but a lot of NUCs are sold with
things like PCIe ports and the like that this thing almost certainly won't
have. The low end has a lot of differentiation, especially in boutique devices
where you just need a processor, and some kind of output.

------
bedhead
They are such idiots for not having the picture of the device in the palm of a
hand or something. Marketing fail.

------
blueberry73
what do you need to have besides a tv or monitor to use the Compute Stick?

------
pzxc
Wow.

I have a feeling this could be a game changer.

I'm more than impressed... I'm stunned.

------
frik
Can one install WinXP, Win7, Win10 or Linux too? Or is the BIOS/Efi locked
down?

------
dholowiski
But, it doesn't exist. This will be interesting, when it exists.

------
justizin
"Bookmark this page, and then set a reminder to check in soon"?

Intel, you totally fail at social media!

------
rubiquity
I'm anxiously awaiting for Intel to team up with Justin Timberlake and offer
us Compute in a Box.

------
olaf
Intel offers "... Pre-installed with Windows 8.1* or Linux, ...".

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
win." Mahatma Gandhi

~~~
vincentkriek
Are you talking about Windows 8.1 or Linux?

~~~
olaf
About Intel.

