US$149 Intel Compute Stick at CES 2015 – Computing Power in the Palm of your Hand that needs a Processor Upgrade

CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2015 is a place where the unusual can surprise you. But I never expected Intel to pull something so good at CES that I’d recommend that you buy.

The product in question is the Intel Compute Stick, basically a HDMI Computer shaped like an oversized USB Dongle that plugs into your HDTV, turning it into a computer as explained in the article “Intel’s pocketable Compute Stick now has a release date and price”, published January 7, 2015 by Adrian Diaconescu, Digitaltrends.

The Intel Compute Stick comes with a Quad-Core Atom Z3735F Processor supported by 2 GB or RAM and 32 GB or Internal memory expandable by another 64GB and possibly 128 GB using the MicroSD Card slot.

It runs Windows 8.1 and should run smoothly inside of 2GB of RAM as stated in the article “Intel's Compute Stick puts Windows 8 in the palm of your hand”, published January 8, 2015 10:16 AM PST by Nate Ralph, CNET News.

There is no 3G or 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Internet built in; it's just got Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. As the Intel Compute Stick cannot be powered by the HDMI Port, a micro-USB along with a micro-USB Cable are used to draw power from a Power Adaptor or any free USB port on the back of your HDTV.

This is not a device for streaming or casting like the US$59.95 Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter as described in my blog article entitled “US$59.95 Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter - Poorly designed 1080p P2P HDMI Wi-Fi Direct Miracast Streaming Stick with No Streaming Content”.

US$149 Intel Compute Stick – Computing Power in the Palm of your Hand

This is just a straight computer that comes in two (2) flavours:

1.      US$149 Intel Compute Stick running Windows 8.1 on 2 GB RAM and 32 GB Internal Memory

2.      US$89 Intel Compute Stick running Linux on 1 GB RAM and 16 GB Internal Memory

There may be more power versions, possibly running Intel's new Core M 14nm Processors codenamed Broadwell as detailed in my blog article entitled “Intel Core M Processor codenamed Broadwell – How Fanless, Smaller and Thinner proves that If Life Gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade”.

Due to the fact it's clearly NOT a low Voltage processor running the Intel Compute Stick, the Intel Atom Processor needs a cooling fan.

Other than that overheating issue, mouse and keyboard are all you'll need to bring to make the Intel Compute give your Smart TV some computer smarts to go along with the best picture in the house.

The US$149 Intel Compute Stick goes on sale in March 2015.