The Tiniest Windows Computer Yet! - Intel Compute Stick
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,009 words · ~5 min read
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Since when is this full-size tower more attractive than this little HDMI stick?
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They're both computers and the impossible standard set by the media.
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All computers are beautiful and you're going to hurt the little computer
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stick's feelings. It's a computer, too.
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And if you don't think so, you can keep your scummy hands off of it.
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Non-aggressively hit the like button down below if you'd like us to check out
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a video on a portable IPS monitor in the future.
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FreshBooks is the super simple invoicing solution that lets you get organized,
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save time, and get paid faster. Click now to learn more. The definition of the
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Intel Compute Stick is actually rather simple. It's an Intelbased computer on a
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stick. Naturally, due to its size, it's not all that powerful, but there are
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also two versions of it. one of which was available now and the other of which
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is coming later. Depending on which model you get, the stick will have some
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pretty major changes. The first stick's unique items are Windows 8.1 with
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Bing. What they share is an Intel Atom
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Z375F processor, Intel HD graphics, an
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integrated single stream 802.11 BGN
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wireless connection, Bluetooth 4.0, a micro SD card slot, and one USB 2.0
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jack. and the obviously required since it's an HDMI stick, HDMI 1.4A connector.
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It's considerably bigger than your average USB stick. It's more like four
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of them kind of stacked in a little square at 103.4 mm by 37.6 mm x 12.5 mm.
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And it's powered through its micro USB jack, which can be plugged into
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essentially whatever can push 5 volts and 2 amps over USB. So, a nice battery
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bank or what Intel expects you to use, the included wall wart with travel
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adapters. Why does it come natively with travel adapters? Well, that leads us
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into usability. Intel wants you to be able to take and use this thing
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virtually anywhere that you can use a computer. Bring it with you to on your
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travels and have a power adapter for whatever plug you really need to use.
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bring it with you so that you can have a presentation and you don't have to have
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the classic fight of trying to figure out their crazy freaking computer. Uh,
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plug it into the TV in your hotel room and then you don't have to deal with
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whatever is on their TV and you can watch or listen or do whatever the heck
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you want. Intel is a very businessy company and this is a very businessy
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product, but that doesn't mean that it has to be. I mean, sure, this thing is a
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very super easy solution for digital signage or a really affordable way to
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get workers hooked up to computers when they just need to do something simple
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like using the Microsoft Office suite and maybe some other simpleish programs.
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But for the home user that is looking for something maybe more advanced than
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the experience that a chcast or Roku stick, this could do the trick. No, it
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won't have the inherent ease of use that casting has, but you can do more things
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with it. So, if that works for you, then great. In terms of gaming, I wouldn't
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expect much. The Wi-Fi connectivity is a little bit lacking with a single stream.
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If you're going to be game streaming, and the performance is a little lacking
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for playing games directly off the device. So, unless you stick to very
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basic games in both cases, you're not going to have that great of a time.
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There's loads of uses for this thing. emergency computer. You could keep it in
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your car or in your backpack. And if your laptop and phone and whatever else
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dies, you could plug this into any screen pretty much anywhere. TV screen
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in a hotel room, monitor, in a library.
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I don't know if that's legal. Don't hold me to that one. You can plug it into
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pretty much anything and have your own computer wherever you really need to go
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that can connect to Wi-Fi networks and do a whole bunch of other really cool
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stuff. or it can be a travel thing. So, it's not a like fallback. It could be,
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like I said, going into hotel rooms, plugging into TVs, using it for
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presentations. It could be used for school. You can go into libraries and
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plug it into that monitor there. So, you can use the libraries resources, use
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their printers, do all that kind of stuff, but then you don't have to use a
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school computer. You can actually use your own. It's an interesting device in
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an interesting spot. With value competitors like the Chcast and
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performance competitors like the NVIDIA Shield, it definitely has its work cut
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out for it and its value will be maybe a little bit hard to see because there is
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those really strong competitors, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place in the market. A whole Windows 8.1
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machine on a stick is super impressive. What do you guys think? Thanks for
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watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed to hit that like
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shop on Amazon.com. Buying a cool t-shirt that isn't my brother's Fireh
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Hall t-shirt and a direct monthly contribution through the community forum
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would help a ton as well. Now that you're done doing all of that, you're probably wondering what to watch next.
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So, click this little button in the top right hand corner to see a video where
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Lionus unboxes the first thing he's ever unboxed.