The Intel Compute Stick, a snazzy $US150 dongle that can turn anything with an HDMI port into a full-fledged Windows computer, made a bit of a splash when it touched down at CES 2015. And now it’s landing for real, preorders have started at Amazon and Newegg.
The quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom machine-on-a-stick with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of solid state storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is as nifty-sounding as ever, but it’s worth noting that between January and now, the playing field has changed juuuust a touch. Google’s dongle that turns any TV into a ChromeOS machine has been announced — and for cheaper — but if you have designs on running Windows applications on your TV, the pricier Intel stick is still the way to go.
How does it hold up under pressure? We don’t know just yet but you can bet we’ll put it through its paces as soon as we get our grubby little paws on one. It looks like the stick actually touches down on May 6, and we can’t wait to mess with one. [Liliputing]